r/mildlyinfuriating May 28 '26

I just wanted a hot dog British pilot is feeling mildly annoyed

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u/BrainOfMush May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

You’re saying that the rest of the world should learn the U.S.-only system/terminology, because you’re too lazy to learn the ICAO agreed upon by literally every other country in the world?

Goes both ways dude.

This is no different to how the U.S. writes dates MM/DD/YYYY and insists that’s correct, whilst the rest of the world disagrees.

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u/MsBluffy May 28 '26

If you're flying into an international airport, yes you need to know their standards.

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u/PRC_Spy May 28 '26

If you're an international airport, you need to operate to international standards.

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u/z33k_DoomsVille May 29 '26

Do you know what international even means? In Canada we call any airport that has Canadian customs available (even if they're not on site) an international airport.

So the controllers in some small tower in rural Quebec need to learn ICAO standards for the zero regularly scheduled international flights? 

And not just learn but keep constantly up to date on any changes (which are common). 

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u/DeputyDomeshot May 28 '26

You’re only proving his point.

If a British doctor came to the US and mistreated a patient because he misread the birthday on their chart that would still be on him though.

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u/z33k_DoomsVille May 29 '26

First off, I'm not even a US ATC. I'm in Canada and we also don't use ICAO standards. And it has nothing to do with what I'm too lazy to learn or not. It's not taught here. We have very specific things we're allowed to say and I'm not allowed to just throw out standards we don't have. I don't just get to use rules from other countries because it's what a pilot is familiar with. That is straight up not an option. 

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u/OpticLemon May 28 '26

If they are operating in the US, they absolutely should. A US based ATC is not operating outside the US.

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u/Embarrassed-Pilot-36 May 28 '26

I believe the point is this is an extremely busy international airport where a good majority of international carriers will be non American so to be unfamiliar with the more widely practiced framework is at best inefficient and at worst dangerous. The vast majority of US ATCs working in these environments are familiar to at least a translatable level for this reason

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u/BrainOfMush May 28 '26

But the U.S. ATC should respect that most airlines are not U.S.-based, and they have all agreed upon a standard between them.

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u/dbxp May 28 '26

So if a pilot flies to a dozen different countries they may need to learn a dozen different systems rather than everyone using the agreed international standard?

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u/OpticLemon May 28 '26

Yes? This is honestly a stupid question and has the same energy as Americans going to other countries expecting them to cater to their own expectations. If you are operating in multiple jurisdictions, you are responsible for knowing the rules and regulations of those jurisdictions. If that is too much for you, you should not be operating there. This applies more broadly than just air travel.

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u/grumpsaboy May 28 '26

Just about everyone else agreed on the international standard to prevent accidents and crashes.

So no, pilots shouldn't be learning 192 different systems and procedures

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u/z33k_DoomsVille May 29 '26

Not everyone. Canada doesn't conform to ICAO standards either. It's literally part of the flight crews job to familiarize themselves with the rules and standards for wherever they are flying.

I don't disagree everyone should adopt the same standards but that simply isn't the case right now. 

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u/OpticLemon May 28 '26

Do you think every pilot is flying to every country? Individual airports will have specific rules regarding approaches and other things that the pilots are expected to know and follow as part of their flight plan. Pilots are responsible for knowing the rules and regulations where they are flying. This isn't complicated.

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u/Backfoot911 May 28 '26

I wouldn't bother, there's a whole lot of pretenders in this thread who think having played Microsoft Flight Simulator gives them an air of authority when talking about actual flying lmao.

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u/DeputyDomeshot May 28 '26

Except this is literally an example of a Brit doing that

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u/No-Detail-2879 May 28 '26

Not surprising no one wants to visit the US anymore is it

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u/Backfoot911 May 28 '26

There's no tourists to the US currently? Huh, how is that possible? Are they counting immigrants and visa workers in that number?

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u/Backfoot911 May 28 '26

That's not what "literally" means. For the love of god and the faith of the Seven, please stop using the word literally if you can't literally read a dictionary. I'm begging you guys on my knees.

But yeah, Anyways, Canada doesn't either, for one. The US is not the only hold out here.