AA182 Medical Divert to Tokyo Haneda

[jbadger10]

Happened to be listening to Tokyo Control this morning (first time tuning into that freq) and heard AA182 from Shanghai to LAX discussing a medical situation and requesting a few minutes to determine if they would divert.

I picked it up on: http://archive-server.liveatc.net/rjtt/RJTT-Control-Sep-16-2014-1530Z.mp3 around the 23 minute mark, but imagine it started a little earlier on.

It then continued at the 5:50 mark on: http://archive-server.liveatc.net/rjtt/RJTT-Control-Sep-16-2014-1600Z.mp3

I am at work so I don't have anything I can do at the moment to edit the clips down and/or continue to follow it and potentially capture the remainder of the flight. If someone wants to take it from here, please have fun!!

[Squawk 7700]

I'm following this too. Thanks for the heads up!

When he switched over to Tokyo Approach you can catch that clip here:
http://archive-server.liveatc.net/rjtt/RJTT-App-Dep-Sep-16-2014-1630Z.mp3 (Starts 0:58 / Ends around 12:40)

Then over to Tokyo Tower:
http://archive-server.liveatc.net/rjtt/RJTT-Twr-TCA-Sep-16-2014-1630Z.mp3  (Starts at 14:27 / Ends at 25:02)

[Squawk 7700]

Clip Attached:

American Airlines Flight 182 - Shanghai to Los Angeles with a "Pan Pan Pan" medical emergency divert to Tokyo Haneda RJTT.

Clip runs about 13 minutes and is a composite of Tokyo Control, Tokyo Approach, and Tokyo Tower.

Narita was the first choice but both runways were closed due to construction. Haneda was the airport they ultimately landed at.
Pilot requested to land on Runway 34L which is closer to the spot where the ambulance would meet the plane, but that runway was also closed due to construction.

What a long day for the passengers and crew. AA182 landed at LAX at 10:26PM PDT

Thanks to jbadger10 for picking this up!

Ken

[jbadger10]

Thanks for putting it all together!

I am well traveled and have the utmost respect for other cultures. I am not ethnocentric and am not one of those that believes everyone should speak English, etc. However, when it comes to ATC, if the worldwide standard is English, controllers should have a greater proficiency than what was heard on this recording re: Tokyo Control. There was so much back and forth between RJTT Control and AA182 that was unnecessary due to language barriers. If the situation was more dire, or if it was during a period of critical flight, that could have been an issue.

Again, I'm not suggesting that everyone in the world has to speak perfect English - nor am I saying that these Controllers also have to speak perfect English. But, there has to be some sort of minimum standard. The confusion and back and forth was very concerning.

[AADFW]

Totally agree. The level of English ability on the part of the controller, both in terms of speaking and comprehension, falls far short of what I would expect for an ATC controller.

[rustybugs11]

There were a few times you could hear the frustration of the pilots. I am sure at times they would have liked to reach through the radio and slap some english into that controllers mind. Seriously though, I hope that someone made some sort of statement addressing the poor english comprehension of that controller.

[Conan0910]

Agree. The controllers even asked the pilots if they wanted a  fuel dump and thought that they were declaring an emergency..shouldn't they have more experienced controllers who can take over under such circumstances?