Ah well, we've already discussed the problems of BA arriving early ....

Also, it's Dean Cross, not Dean's Cross.

If you can't read back a clearance on the first prompt, that will presumably mean that you are going to have problems with complying with it, doesn't it?

The most important one is conditional line up clearances. That's partly what killed so many people in Tenerife - and more recently a pilot in Paris. People have to know what is going on - and know that you know what is going on as well. This is not a question of following rules, but airmanship. Following rules might not be enough to save your life.

Early...ah, no. More than an hour late. Must have been on overtime.

A mandatory readback is MANDATORY, like it or not it has to be done, As a twr/apr controller I find that both US and UK crews are equally negligent in the readback area, US crews flying into my airport are mainly guilty of not reading back the type of service they are receiving (RAS/RCS), UK crews have problems with QNH, it's swings and roundabouts, If they miss a readback a couple of times, I tell them they are requires to readback in full the ???? they generally do, if not (as has happened a few times with Spanish crew), then they are told to hold position (if on the ground) or to route to the hold (if on the approach), it's remarkable how the understanding of the English language can change if they think a delay might result!!

Standard Terminal Arrival Routes would be a help....instead of a string of intersections, VOR's, NDB's etc.
Good gosh, someone thought of that already....
Wonder WHY it is NOT used more often in the UK? :p

The US FAA announced about a year ago that a pilot is responsible for the clearance as given by the controller. If a pilot reads the clearance back wrong, the controller has no obligation to correct him and the pilot is still legally responsible to follow what the controller issued, even though he doesn't know he misunderstood it. Great system, huh?

So much for checks and balances. The NTSB is against this FAA ruling, but since they are not a regulatory organization, the FAA can ignore them.

Hey HAL, note that you are from LAS...and also note that the FAA is set to introduce VNAV arrival routes there soon. Let us know how these work out in practice....we will be flying to LAS with a TriStar soon and might fit these in our aeroplanes.

411A,

I would but I've been on furlough since October. Expect to be recalled in June or July.