THE government has agreed to allow airline pilots and air traffic controllers to communicate in Spanish. An EU directive requiring use of English at all times was appealed by the pilots’ unions SEPLA and USCA.
They said that precedence should always be given to effective communication and argued that it was illogical for native Spanish speakers to communicate with one another in a foreign language, especially in emergencies. The Public Works Ministry has now agreed that Spanish is permissible, “where operative scenarios make it advisory”.
This is utter madness!!!!!! The international language for flying is English… Let me give you an example. When I flew in the States the radio for domestic pilots was one frequency, millitary another.. We had a near miss when a C150 near took us out as we crossed his airspace when he took off.. How long before a Spanish speaking pilot forgets he hasn’t also relayed it in English and 500 people die plus people on the ground.. EVEN in FRANCE and the French are very anti-english language do the pilot and airtraffic control use English
Madness for you but there are million Hispanophones globally. Why should an Iberia pilot communicate in English with the ATC of e.g. Equatorial Guinea or the Galapagos or Chile? That’s absurd.