Ask HN: Why is air traffic control radio comms so poor?
I have been following Blancolirio's videos about the DC mid-air collision and every time I hear ATC audio I am shocked that these are people who communicate professionally in a safety critical field. In particular in today's video[0] there is a lot of audio comms between the tower and the two aircraft (around 6:30 in this video). I am a native English speaker who consumes a lot of American content, so it's not about my own comprehension or deciphering American accents.
I literally would have no idea what these guys are saying if there weren't subtitles. Even with subtitles I struggle to keep up.
1. The audio quality is extremely poor. I have to believe that the receivers in the tower and on the aircraft must give a better quality than this. I find it impossible to believe this quality of audio would be acceptable in 2025.
2. More importantly, the pilots and ATC folks speak excessively quickly and do not enunciate at all. It almost feels like they are intentionally speaking in an incomprehensible way. I'm sure some pilots will come and say that this is just how they speak in the business and you adjust to it, but to me it feels unacceptable. I have had jobs where I spent a lot of time on CB and RT radios and we intentionally speak clearly and enunciate. We do not slur or blur words together.
I literally would have no idea what these guys are saying if there weren't subtitles. Even with subtitles I struggle to keep up.
1. The audio quality is extremely poor. I have to believe that the receivers in the tower and on the aircraft must give a better quality than this. I find it impossible to believe this quality of audio would be acceptable in 2025.
2. More importantly, the pilots and ATC folks speak excessively quickly and do not enunciate at all. It almost feels like they are intentionally speaking in an incomprehensible way. I'm sure some pilots will come and say that this is just how they speak in the business and you adjust to it, but to me it feels unacceptable. I have had jobs where I spent a lot of time on CB and RT radios and we intentionally speak clearly and enunciate. We do not slur or blur words together.
What is going on here?
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9mAUks0krI