LOT pilots' poor English almost led to crash

[Keith009]

Polish pilots' poor English almost led to crash - Times Online

A Polish airliner came within seconds of colliding with another plane near Heathrow because its pilots had such poor English that they could not understand basic instructions from air traffic controllers. The Lot Boeing 737, carrying 95 passengers and crew, wandered the skies for almost half an hour as the pilots struggled to identify their position. A controller had to instruct another aircraft to change direction to avoid a collision.

 

[markis10]

A certain airline used to use a translator in the coughpit for the pilots when flying to Sydney many years ago, I remember asking them to make a left turn at 5 DME as part of their take off clearance, something in the read back did not jel so I asked the crew if they had a working DME (which is a navaid called distance measuring equipment), after a little more clarification the translator confirmed they had distance measuring equipment in the coughpit - a wooden ruler! Needless to say the clearance was modified!