Dranon

Posted by Sylvia

https://fearoflanding.com/demystifying/pilots-or-toilets/

https://fearoflanding.com/?p=112183

There’s a YouTube video by ATC Audio making the rounds with a shocking title: She says Both Pilots INOPERATIVE. Real ATC Audio. The video claims to have real ATC audio of Tap Air Portugal flight TAP484H, a scheduled passenger flight from Lisbon, Portugal to Nice, France. The audio covers an aviation miscommunication which led to much consternation among Nice controllers. Specifically, the pilot is reporting that the toilets are inoperative but the French controller understands her to be saying the pilots are inoperative.

There is no hint of when this happened, no date or even a year is mentioned. Every other article which mentions the incident is using this video as its reference.

It’s an amusing video but…is this actually legitimate? I have my doubts and I will tell you why.

The earliest version of the audio seems to be this one: Pilots or Toilets? A true Example of Aviation Miscommunication published on Instagram on the 2nd of July. The poster writes:

A flight operated by Air Portugal traveling from Lisbon (Portugal) to Nice (France) contacted Marseille ACC with a request for a direct routing and to maintain high speed until reaching FL100 … Every toilet on board had stopped functioning — and understandably, passengers were eager to land as soon as possible.

French ATC misheard the transmission as “the pilots are inoperable.”

This led to several tense minutes filled with confusion and rising concern — until it was clarified and everyone could breathe a sigh of relief. The issue was sorted out, and the flight proceeded without further trouble.

This one has a tone of a lesson in clear communication, including headings like WHY DID THIS HAPPEN and HOW COULD IT HAVE BEEN CLEARED UP FASTER? It concludes that this “humorous scenario” is a meaningful reminder that effective communication is about clarity, shared expectations and using the right context.

So, why am I dubious?

First of all, there is the combination of radio calls and internal phone calls among controllers and ATC supervisors. These phone calls are internal and only available to ATC. The phone calls include the sound of a phone ringing and then frantic conversation about what is happening on the aircraft. I can’t think of an instance where internal ATC phone calls have ever leaked. But of course, the exchange on the radio isn’t anywhere near as funny without the phone calls explaining the confusion and escalating the situation into a full-blown emergency. My point is that the phone calls don’t make sense from a sourcing perspective, but are also necessary, as they make the scenario genuinely funny. The exchange on the radio alone doesn’t make it clear how deep the misunderstanding goes.

Then there’s the fact that the French ATC transmissions exist at all. French privacy and data protection laws are very strict. The French Code Pénal Article 226-1 and 226-2 states that the unauthorised use and interference with radio frequencies and communications is prohibited with interception, recording and broadcasting carrying a penalty of up to one year of imprisonment and a €45,000 fine. If the victim is a person in public authority, which an ATC controller is probably considered to be, then the penalty is increased to up to two years imprisonment and a €60,000 fine. This is just for recording and rebroadcasting ATC.

Edit: This actually looks like the more appropriate statute, thanks James! I can’t find much information on the legal situation other than people being very clear that they are not going to risk sharing ATC communications because of the current situation.

Comment écouter les avions parler à la radio ?

Est-ce légal ? Oui ! Vous avez parfaitement le droit d’écouter la bande aéro ! Mais attention, il est TOTALEMENT INTERDIT d’émettre ! Veillez donc, si vous achetez une radio, à ce qu’elle ne possède pas de fonction émission. Avant de voir les méthodes d’écoute, un peu d’aspect technique peut s’avérer utile si vous êtes motivés. Autrement, vous pouvez descendre directement à la partie des méthodes d’écoute !

Be that as it may, it would be a separate offense for leaking the phone recordings, presuming they were legally recorded in the first place. I can find no other instance of French ATC and phone calls being leaked and broadcast like this.

Further, the YouTube video around the same date cites ATCLive as the source for the communications. No other source is ever given. But ATCLive would not have recordings of phone calls for any flight control operation, as they are internal only. And ATCLive does not cover the live feed from any French airports.. In October 2022, the LiveATC.net site founder posted to their forums on the subject:

We are involved in a dispute with the aviation authority in France. All feeds are offline until that dispute is resolved. We have sent a response to the authority and they seem to be refusing to respond. The basis for their claim is also questionable and doesn’t seem to have solid legal footing at all.

And in July 2023

It really has no basis in law as someone who transmits over open airwaves without encryption has no reasonable expectation of privacy. They are alleging that air traffic controllers can be personally identified by the fact that they merely issue instructions to pilots over the air (voluntarily, because they chose their job). It is a ludicrous assertion.

Now again, there’s no date given on the video, but it just seems unlikely that this audio was languishing on LiveATC.net archives for years before being discovered by someone with a YouTube channel.

To recap: we have no details, we have no source, we have internal phone calls mixed in with the radio call, and we have no means of corroboration. You can see why I’m dubious.

Finally, although I concede this is a weaker point, it seems very clear that the Tap Air Portugal pilot’s use of “toilet” sounds more and more like “pilot” as the video goes on. I can’t help but think that any competent flight crew would enunciate more clearly, not make the situation worse by dropping the o completely. Further, the woman is clearly aware of the misunderstanding early on: “No sir, we have the autopilot functioning properly. Our problem is with the toilets… it doesn’t matter anymore. We are not declaring anything. We just need to arrive as soon as possible.” And yet, with proficient English and good radio skills, she does not switch to the unambiguous official term, lavatory, or at the very least WC (which she uses at the end of the recording, so she is aware of the term). She could also have simply spelled out T-O-I-L-E-T, which should have been instinctive upon not being understood.

But of course, if she had used another word to clarify, the issue would have been solved …and there would have been no need for the amusing phone calls trying to work out what to do.

I know everyone loves to pick on the French but I find the whole sequence all very questionable, especially the frantic phone calls that the aircraft is planning to land with no pilots on board: “The fire fighters are out, everyone is aware. And that’s it.”

No one in the comments seems to be questioning the veracity of either video, so perhaps I am just very jaded. The discussion all seems to be about whether ATC is at fault for escalating to an emergency for such a simple issue, or the fault of the pilot, for not using the correct terminology and not disambiguating.

So is it real? Who is to blame? Let me know in the comments what you think.

https://fearoflanding.com/demystifying/pilots-or-toilets/

https://fearoflanding.com/?p=112183