Air traffic controllers have stressful jobs, and a vast majority of them go above and beyond to be professional. But then you have this one dude at JFK, who just can’t help himself. JFK is notorious for having air traffic controllers with a bit of an attitude, but this guy somehow always manages to steal the spotlight (if you listen to JFK ATC with any frequency, you’ll immediately recognize this guy’s voice).
Air traffic controller’s “you’re on request” causes confusion
Let me start by saying that this is hardly the most offensive interaction that this guy has had, but it’s so indicative of an unnecessary hostility.
This incident happened in the early morning hours of March 2, 2025, and involves the pilots of an All Nippon Airways Boeing 777, who were trying to get taxi clearance. After the request is made, the interaction goes as follows:
Air traffic controller: “You’re on request. As soon as this aircraft lands, I’ll get you moving.”
All Nippon Airways pilot: “All Nippon Airways 159 heavy, sorry, say again.”
Air traffic controller: “You’re on request.”
All Nippon Airways pilot: “Oh, we request runway 31L, All Nippon 159 heavy.”
Air traffic controller: “You are on request.”
All Nippon Airways pilot: “All Nippon 159 heavy, request taxi via A1, left turn A…”
Air traffic controller: “All Nippon 159 heavy, I don’t know if you’re not familiar, it seems like you’re not. When somebody says ‘you are on request,’ that means they have your request. That’s it. Just wait.”
All Nippon Airways pilot: “So you mean we can taxi by our own, All Nippon 159 heavy?”
Air traffic controller: “All Nippon 159 heavy, absolutely not. ‘You’re on request’ just means just wait. You don’t say anything. You just wait for the controller, which is me, okay? Just wait.”
All Nippon Airways pilot: “Okay, holding position, All Nippon 159 heavy.”
Air traffic controller: “Yes, I have your request. That’s what that means.”
You can listen to the interaction for yourself below.
The arrogance and stubbornness is astounding
Air traffic controllers have stressful enough jobs under normal conditions, but somehow this guy loves to make more work for himself.
Here’s the thing — you might be thinking “well this All Nippon Airways pilot needs to work on his English,” or something. That’s not the core issue here. The ICAO publishes the standard language that air traffic controllers are supposed to use, and this guy isn’t following that, but is instead using his own terms.
Like, “you’re on request” isn’t a standard term to tell pilots to stand by for their taxi clearance. Never mind that the grammar of that phrase doesn’t make much sense. How about something like “I have your request, standby.”
But this controller has clearly decided that’s how he wants to talk, and he likes to call out anyone who can’t interpret what he’s trying to say. The air traffic controller isn’t an idiot — surely he realizes that the pilot is having a hard time making sense of what he’s trying to say, no? But rather than trying to make the pilot’s job easier, he doubles down, and tries to be condescending and teach him a lesson.
JFK is one of the most international airports in the world, so you’d think it would also be an airport where use of standard phraseology is particularly important. There are definitely some pilots in the airspace who probably aren’t proficient in English (like the below Air China 981 pilot clip), but I think the issue here is the controller, and not the pilot.
Bottom line
Air traffic control audio at JFK can be really amusing to listen to, for better or worse. There’s one particular controller who gets a lot of attention for his attitude. In this case, he argued unnecessarily with an All Nippon Airways pilot, who didn’t understand his non-standard phraseology. Rather than switching to language the pilot might understand, he doubled down.
What do you make of this JFK ATC interaction?
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