Banter with air-traffic control is a learned skill

Q: Listening to pilots and air-traffic controllers on the website Liveatc.com, specifically at JFK airport, I am always amazed at how the pilots understand the commands from the controller. They speak so fast, and some of the foreign pilots speak English with heavy accents. Are pilots trained for this? — Bob, Long Island, N.Y.

A: Listening and understanding radio calls from ATC is a learned skill. The more experienced crews fly into more complex airports. Part of the training process for first officers before upgrading to captain is experiencing many different ATC environments. Experience is the primary means of learning ATC phraseology.

Q: I am curious about how pilots and air-traffic control communicate with each other, particularly on international flights. Also, since altitude and airspeed can fall under English or metric measurements, how do international situations handle those? — Marc St. Paul, Austin

A: On international flights, the critical data are increasingly linked up and down via the Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC). This includes route, altitude, speed and position. Voice communication is always available in English. Aviation uses a mixture of English and metric measurements in many countries.

Q: Have you had problems with communications with ATC? — Jose, Chicago

A: There have been some communication problems caused by a misunderstanding of a frequency, or flying in a location where radio contact was very difficult. Overall, I have had very few communication problems.