Short Final

Editorial Staff

Monday, July 14, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A novice pilot, with less than ten hours of experience, faced a communication challenge when flying to a large, controlled airfield.
Attempting to ask an aircraft on the apron to "expedite" its movement, the pilot, whose native language was Afrikaans, humorously mispronounced the word as "excavate."
This incident highlights the potential for amusing miscommunications and language barriers in the English-speaking aviation environment for non-native speakers.

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I fly from a small air field outside Johannesburg, South Africa. When I had less than ten hours experience, I thought it would be a great idea to fly to one of the larger (controlled) air fields closer to Johannesburg to refuel.

I requested joining and landing instructions from the tower. Very nervously. Tower requested that I report on final approach next.

In South Africa, the broadcasting language is English, and I speak an indigenous language, Afrikaans. I wanted the aircraft on the apron to expedite because my approach was slow in the light sport aircraft I was flying.

My language failed me at that moment, and this is what I said:

“Tower, ZU-ABC. The aircraft on the apron is welcome to EXCAVATE.”

Eben van Niekerk