FT Weekend
 

If you didn't catch Tyler Brule column last weekend then it is worth a read FT.com / Columnists / Tyler Brûlé - An air of confidence
As a passenger, and businessman, who is generally extremely cost sensitive about most things this article struck a chord - and reinforces why my preference when flying to/from HK is Cathay Pacific.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am based in HK but have no connection with CX other than as a passenger.

Have you got your flameproof suit on? Get ready for a blasting!:ok:

This should be good!

Spot on Tyler. As an ex-ATCO and now SLF this had a definite ring of truth to it. I'm sure many a crew have the same reaction when flying into far-flung, non-native-English-speaking destinations. It says something about the training, doesn't it?

On the beach :ok:

Please, oh please don't let 411A read this...

Well, it's becoming increasingly rare to see such an open and frank display of bigotry, prejudice and racism these days. I have to hand it to this guy, he is pretty bold to write that kind of junk in an international newscast, especially when knowing little about aviation safety...

And funny enough, I more often hear english speaking pilots (who often don't speak any other language) asking for clarification from a BKK or MNL controller than the other way around. But then that's the damn gook's fault for cannot speak engrish, right? :rolleyes:

And yet, funnily enough, western airlines, flown by folks with big round eyes, have managed to bend a lot of metal in the last couple of years.

Continental
Federal Express
Southwest
BA
Air France (twice)
Continental connection
Kalitta (twice)
Spanair
Comair

Looks like there's a thread about it in the pax & SLF board as well, here

I had to have a giggle when the author felt safer onboard a CX aircraft with a typhoon looming in HKG. Yeah right.

Dangerous habit to confuse good English with good flying. It certainly helps, but it is only part of the equation. The irony of this, and I am sure that Smiley may not be aware of this, is that some of the most confusing and dangerous RT/procedures are just as likely to occur when flying into New York as when going into Bangkok. He may also not be aware that when Nigel was galavanting around in his Phantom, the RAF was enduring the dark ages of safety awareness. I fondly refer to these as 'the bad old days'. By the time I joined the military we had seen the light and realised that CRM didn't just mean asking the copilot to put the gear down.

Spot on! If you don't believe me watch where some of the TCAS paints go and what their little up and down arrows do!