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On the Air: September 2021

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Aviation communication can present humorous challenges, from strong regional accents causing difficulty understanding instructions to playful banter between pilots and air traffic controllers.
  • Pilots and controllers occasionally engage in lighthearted exchanges, such as a controller jokingly asking a pilot if they want to see aliens when their flight path nears Area 51.
  • Airport navigation procedures sometimes incorporate creative and culturally significant waypoints, like Austin-Bergstrom International Airport's references to the University of Texas, LBJ, and Star Wars characters.
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In my Air Force, then airline career I have dealt with many accents speaking English. Most are fairly easy to “decode” but one day flying into Boston, I was defeated.

With my copilot flying, I was handling the radio. Handed off to Boston Approach, I was greeted by a female voice with a pronounced Boston accent. In addition she spoke very fast in a Hi‑C pitch which could have shattered glass. Now, Bostonians can pronounce Rs, they just put them where they don’t belong and omit them from where they do belong.

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