Pilot-Controller Communication Errors: An Analysis of Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) Reports.

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that contribute to pilot-controller communication errors. Reports submitted to the Aviation Safety Reporting System ASRS offer detailed accounts of specific types of errors and a great deal of insight as to why they occur. The communication errors found in this study could be classified into three types Readbackhearback errors the pilot reads back the clearance incorrectly and the controller fails to correct the error, the absence of a pilot readback, and Hearback Errors Type II the controller fails to notice his or her own error in the pilots correct readback. In the 386 reports analyzed, the most common contributing factors were similar call signs on the same frequency, pilot expectations e.g., accepting a clearance that they expected rather than what the controller actually said, and high controller workload. The identified results of these communication errors were in order of prominence altitude deviations, loss of standard separation, ATC operational errors, pilots landing on the wrong runway, and runway transgressions. The report concludes with recommendations for reducing the number of communication errors between pilots and controllers.