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).
In this post:
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?
I continue to be both amused and frustrated by public commentary and the fact that Ben and others spend far more time critiquing inconsequential minutia like this rather than advocating for improvements in conditions for controllers.
You all have me on the floor talking about layoffs and DOGE and firing this controller and 'why doesn't management get involved'. Lol, please... We are grossly understaffed... most of us work 6 days a week up to 10...
I continue to be both amused and frustrated by public commentary and the fact that Ben and others spend far more time critiquing inconsequential minutia like this rather than advocating for improvements in conditions for controllers.
You all have me on the floor talking about layoffs and DOGE and firing this controller and 'why doesn't management get involved'. Lol, please... We are grossly understaffed... most of us work 6 days a week up to 10 hours a day, and have been for years. Pay is moving at a snail's pace while Ben posts practically weekly about pilot and FA 25-35% raises across almost the entire board (here in the states). Hell even the guy that HAD NOTHING TO LOSE and was allegedly pro-labor only gave us 2%. Pay, I might add, is one reason why we are having a staffing problem. New hires are realizing that in spite of the higher-than-median pay, it is no longer so much better that it's worth 6 day workweeks, a grueling rotating schedule that has been scientifically shown to shorten our lives, and in many cases the sacrifice of living where you don't want to live (since you don't get to pick exactly where you want to go, and our staffing problem means you can't easily transfer to where you do want to go once you finish training). All on top of--you know--the STRESS OF THE JOB.
But let me get this straight--- some of you want the department of government ***efficiency*** to fire this controller in the middle of our staffing crisis--- a controller that cost taxpayers 100s of thousands to train and certify, I might add---- all for WHAT YOU PERCEIVE AS being rude? Oh how EFFICIENT!!!
If you want better controllers, spend more time fighting for us than against us. Hell, you might as well get on board with Trump's wild plan to hire MIT grads--- a plan that would at least require doubling or tripling our pay to attract those types of people. When we're staffed well and paid appropriately, then you the public have both the grounds to demand and leverage to follow through with removing controllers that you don't like.
Personally, I've used "on request"--- maybe not quite in that context, but close enough. If the pilot didn't understand, my second transmission after the pilot didn't understand would be "standby" or "hold position", but again--trivial, and the flying public is really in no position to be critiquing trivial crap like this when they never stand up for us on far less trivial matters--- like our quality of life.
Sheesh!
End Rant.
You may be confused about Ben’s motivations. They are:
Get traffic/ engagement to the site (posts like this, and his reviews).
Get those people to click on credit card referral posts and apply (money to him).
I'm also advocating for improvements in conditions for controllers.
They're all obsolete and should be replaced by computers immediately.
Walmart and McDonalds are also understaffed and a person like you would fit in just fine. A definite improvement to your life.
This way no one will blame you for 'inconsequential minutia like this' anymore.
Joe clean up on aisle 5.
No stress on the job anymore for you.
We all want better...
I'm also advocating for improvements in conditions for controllers.
They're all obsolete and should be replaced by computers immediately.
Walmart and McDonalds are also understaffed and a person like you would fit in just fine. A definite improvement to your life.
This way no one will blame you for 'inconsequential minutia like this' anymore.
Joe clean up on aisle 5.
No stress on the job anymore for you.
We all want better controllers, and they're currently available, most humans just lack the visionary to implement them.
The only sheesh is your kind is living on 60 year old technology borrow time and not realizing it yet.
Comments on the air china video always piss me off as someone with surface level knowledge about FAA phraseology vs the rest of the world. “What taxiway do you want to enter the ramp” is a statement that makes no sense to any pilot who has not flown in the U.S, and even within the U.S. is very strange phrasing. Instead of arguing or raising his voice, as soon as it was clear the pilot...
Comments on the air china video always piss me off as someone with surface level knowledge about FAA phraseology vs the rest of the world. “What taxiway do you want to enter the ramp” is a statement that makes no sense to any pilot who has not flown in the U.S, and even within the U.S. is very strange phrasing. Instead of arguing or raising his voice, as soon as it was clear the pilot was confused by the question there’s a hundred better and more standard phrases he could have used.
Ben’s quote: 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.
Oh my gosh. I was just thinking that when I first read ‘you’re on request’ earlier in the post. It reminds me of how my friends from other countries would tell me how Americans...
Ben’s quote: 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.
Oh my gosh. I was just thinking that when I first read ‘you’re on request’ earlier in the post. It reminds me of how my friends from other countries would tell me how Americans suck at grammar, haha. I would tell them ‘Come on, now. Not all Americans are bad at grammar and there are also people from other native English speaking countries who are terrible at grammar as well.
Wow- just wow! You’re faulting the overworked, underpaid air traffic controller that keeps us all safe for Al Nippon not understanding standard instructions? Sorry OMAAT, you overreached with this one. Shame on you for blaming the controller.
It's the controller's fault that the controller is making up his own terms and jargon and then condescending to those who are understandably miffed that he's inventing new phrases. The controller has control over the controller.
Feel free to boycott OMAAT.
The controller is not using made up terms. How is that the ANA pilots fault? They should fire you too if you can’t comprehend.
Well I've been an Air Traffic Controller for almost 30 years in 2 different Continents and I have absolutely no idea what "You're on request" is meant to mean.
It's not standard phraseology anywhere and is a completely meaningless phrase. No wonder the poor ANA crew was completely baffled.
One of the keys to being a controller is being able to work in a team. In fact its one of the most essential skills....
Well I've been an Air Traffic Controller for almost 30 years in 2 different Continents and I have absolutely no idea what "You're on request" is meant to mean.
It's not standard phraseology anywhere and is a completely meaningless phrase. No wonder the poor ANA crew was completely baffled.
One of the keys to being a controller is being able to work in a team. In fact its one of the most essential skills. That team includes pilots. I always make a point to thank a pilot when they request clarification of something they are unsure about, because I'd rather them do that than just assume something and do something I am totally not expecting. The system can only be safe when we are all on the same page.
You also need to have just a touch of awareness of what you are dealing with. A Japanese crew at the end of a 14 hour flight are not going to be at their peak performance so dropping casual conversational English into an instruction is only going to end badly. Too often controllers who work the same airspace day in day out forget that non-based crews might only visit said airspace once or twice a year. You can't expect them to know every nuance and detail of the operation in your area. This is one of the reasons standard phraseology was invented.
Also some controllers seem to forget that we provide a service. these aircraft are our customers. That will from time to time mean dealing with pilots with varying ranges of English ability - and indeed piloting competence - and while yes we all get frustrated sometimes, that can't ever come out. You have to be calm, clear and professional one hundred percent of the time.
Air Traffic Control often follows a narrow line between being highly confident and borderline arrogant. We've all had moments in our career we would like to have back but honestly stuff like this is just hard for me to listen to.
If someone doesn't understand you, you get paid the big bucks to deliver the message in such a way that they do. In this case a simple "Hold position, I will call you" would have ended this situation after 20 seconds, not continuing to repeat non-standard phraseology which was utterly nonsensical and confusing.
Stuff like this really pisses me off because it reflects badly on us as a profession - one that is currently very much under the microscope, which is not where we like to be.
100% concur
Not proper use at all.
I fly my own aircraft and normally if I'm looking to Taxi and the situation doesn't allow, the controller will give something way better than that. If they are stretched and need to get back to me normally I get a "(My calls sign) Stand by, I'll call you back". NOT "ON REQUEST"
On the rare time I've waited 3+ min or so and heard nothing and the channel is...
Not proper use at all.
I fly my own aircraft and normally if I'm looking to Taxi and the situation doesn't allow, the controller will give something way better than that. If they are stretched and need to get back to me normally I get a "(My calls sign) Stand by, I'll call you back". NOT "ON REQUEST"
On the rare time I've waited 3+ min or so and heard nothing and the channel is quiet I will politely ping "(My Callsign) at (location), ready to Taxi when you're good" - never had a controller get upset at that.
This guy is just a jerk - he should know better working on airport with lots of crew that have English as a second or third language
Very seldom have I experienced a testy controller; however, they can have bad days also.
Just go with the flow and you will get your clearance without the hassle.
The pilot should have just repeated - “request taxi” every time the controller said “you are on request”
When an employee acts rudely/stupidly/dangerously in their course of work, that is on them.
When their manager is made aware of the behavior and does not address it with the employee, that is on the manager.
Allowing and employee, in such a safety critical job, to make up lingo that even us native (American) English speakers don’t understand, is, at best, irresponsible.
Fire them both.
I am not a pilot but native English speaker. If someone says "you're on request" when I request something, I might get puzzled too. Especially on a noisy radio. Why can't he say 'Acknowledged, I will tell you when it is OK' or something like that?
ANA is just Fing with him :-)!
Arigato NYC
Paging D.O.G.E...
The controller needs psychiatric evaluation.
I do not know what this you are on request mean at all
Not sure. Usually just told to "continue to hold '.
I am a native English speaker and I would not have understood what that controller was saying. Why does he have to be such a jerk? Can someone give HIM a number to call?
Pilot here. "On request" is a pretty standard phase in US ATC, but if it's not in the ICAO book, I wouldn't expect a foreign pilot to know it, cause it is a weird phrase unless you know. Seems like a case of controller arrogance here.
This controller is doing his job perfectly. I see no 'attitude' in his wording. As a pilot, I would expect a take-down-this-number-and-call-the-tower response from the controller half way through this conversation.
I was on 3 separate ANA flights last week. Each captain spoke perfect English. Not saying this is definitive but it's for me a recent indicator.
American English, either written or spoken, is often less understood around the world than the written or spoken English of Foreign nationals.
Uh... I highly doubt that. Source?
Anecdotal, but most English as a second language persons I've interacted with from a work context (largely India, France and Italy) or just visited with tend to use British English as a default.
That's not scientific, just personal experience.
Watson, doubt all you wish old bean, however, if one cares to compare Oxford English to Webster’s, you might become enlightened. As for the spoken word, anyone who has spent time in both countries should not have to request the “Source”.
Cobblers!!
Aero berk will give you sausage & mash and rubber duck his skin & blister for ya.
Enough porkies. That oily rag thinks American English is less understood.
Full of pony and trap.
"On request" seems to be of a piece with dozens of other needlessly ugly, peculiarly American phrases.
"off of", "wait on line", "come with", "bleed out", "head up", "change up" come to mind. I'm sure there are dozens more, all "replacing" perfectly serviceable, often shorter, counterparts that the rest of the world uses.
What also doesn’t help this situation is the FAA being understaffed. Wonder what the JFK tower actual staffing is versus plan but when you’re short staffing it really hurts on management of employees, but in this case if it’s repeated issues of non standard terminology management should be acting.
Native New Yorker and pilot here. That level of rudeness is not called for. The Japanese are so polite and respectful. I’ve been to Japan and attempted to ask a Tokyo transit worker directions in broken Japanese. He responded in perfect English. Was very impressed and said arigato. He spoke better English than many NYC transit workers. That said, a more proper response would be “hold position” or “standby”.
Why do we ever hear recordings of angry atc employees anywhere apart from the USA ?
Sec. Duffy should tell the ATC to clean their act up, or to be fired.
I'm pretty good at translating stupidese, and even I struggled with what the heck "You're on request" is supposed to mean. Could not imagine being the ANA pilot trying to decipher that with a potential language, audio, and situational issues preventing full comprehension.
Typical arrogant American who believes everyone should understand. He could have apologised and explained a different way. Repeating “ on request” was unhelpful when the meaning isn’t the same everywhere.
It’s like saying wait in the sidewalk. I said wait on the sidewalk. Sorry, I don’t understand sidewalk. JUST WAIT ON THE S I D E W A L K … pavement. Rather than saying I’m sorry, I would like you to wait on the pavement.
That's right - the native speaker should have the skills to recognise when their audience is struggling with comprehension and use plain terms. 777 pilots are not morons, and there's no excuse for being a douche to them.
"The air traffic controller isn’t an idiot".
I'd be less polite. This person is not only arrogant, but also an idiot. Unfortunately, there're way too many idiots these days.
The controller while not the most pleasant sounding person specified exactly what he means. In order to be a pilot for International flights you are expected to have a conversation level control of the English language. It's a job requirement. To the point when a controller says wait and I will let you know you as a pilot know to wait until the controller gives additional instructions.
I guess some of the commentors here expected...
The controller while not the most pleasant sounding person specified exactly what he means. In order to be a pilot for International flights you are expected to have a conversation level control of the English language. It's a job requirement. To the point when a controller says wait and I will let you know you as a pilot know to wait until the controller gives additional instructions.
I guess some of the commentors here expected the controller to get out google translation.
If you tell someone foreign something 2 times and they don’t understand, you change your phraseology to help them. If you don’t, you’re a toolbag.
George, this situation can't reasonably be attributed the Japanese pilot's English language proficiency. Standard terminology is essential to efficient comms in the air traffic control space (doubly so at busy international airports).
Some random ATC creating his own personal lexicon and then being rude when others don't automatically understand it is uncalled for.
Except that "you're on request" makes absolutely no sense.
Sorry, that's just not correct. ICAO minimum standard of English proficiency is Level 4 (Source: ICAO Operational Level (Level 4) of the ICAO Language Proficiency Rating Scale - available online)
"Comprehension is mostly accurate on common, concrete, and work- related topics when the accent or variety used is sufficiently intelligible for an international community of users. When the speaker is confronted with a linguistic or situational complication or an unexpected turn of events, comprehension may...
Sorry, that's just not correct. ICAO minimum standard of English proficiency is Level 4 (Source: ICAO Operational Level (Level 4) of the ICAO Language Proficiency Rating Scale - available online)
"Comprehension is mostly accurate on common, concrete, and work- related topics when the accent or variety used is sufficiently intelligible for an international community of users. When the speaker is confronted with a linguistic or situational complication or an unexpected turn of events, comprehension may be slower or require clarification strategies."
Note comprehension may be slower or require clarification strategies. The crew clearly did not understand and were correctly seeking to clarify what this totally non-standard instruction was meant to mean. They did exactly the right thing. It is 100% on the controller to deliver the instruction in a way that is clearly understood.
There is absolutely no requirement, nor would it be close to possible to achieve understanding in conversational English for every pilot or controller around the Globe. In fact my manual where I work expressly advises against using conversational English unless absolutely necessary and there is no standard phraseology that can be used.
In this case the controller wanted the aircraft to wait where it was and he would call them back, and as I posted above . A very simple, "Hold Position. I will call you" would have had the desired result without any drama.
I'm a native English speaker and have spent a lot of time in and around NYC. I have never, even once, heard the phrase "You're on request," and I would have been just as flummoxed as the poor ANA pilot.
After a pilot makes a request, there are several very standard responses to indicate the controller has received it. One of them is simply "Acknowledged." So in this case the appropriate response to the pilot...
I'm a native English speaker and have spent a lot of time in and around NYC. I have never, even once, heard the phrase "You're on request," and I would have been just as flummoxed as the poor ANA pilot.
After a pilot makes a request, there are several very standard responses to indicate the controller has received it. One of them is simply "Acknowledged." So in this case the appropriate response to the pilot would have been just "Acknowledged, continue to hold."
No idea why an ATC needs to make things more difficult than they already are.
Why do you always refer them as “All Nippon Airways”? Their English brand name is ANA, and even in Japanese most people call them by their katakana name「エーエヌエー」, which literally just means ANA,
Because that’s officially their full name. All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.
Zen Nippon Kuyu Kabushiki Gaisha.
That’s true, but why doesn’t Ben refer to “Delta Air Lines” or “United Airlines.” Doesn’t make sense, stylistically, to say “Delta” or “United,” but not ANA.
Lived in Japan for almost a decade and everybody I met called them 全日空 not エーエヌエー.
全日空 is still an abbreviation of the full name, which as someone else pointed out is 全日本空輸(株式会社).
nah most people in japan call them アナ
In the northeast US, this attitude is how a large number of people communicate. The communicator has no animus. The communicator may be unaware or unable to control the perception of their style.
This is why when people say northeasterners are rude, northeasterners throw up their hands. Northeasterners don’t perceive this as rude among themselves.
Northeasterners who recognize that their style is unpalatable to the rest of the world, and make adjustments to their communication...
In the northeast US, this attitude is how a large number of people communicate. The communicator has no animus. The communicator may be unaware or unable to control the perception of their style.
This is why when people say northeasterners are rude, northeasterners throw up their hands. Northeasterners don’t perceive this as rude among themselves.
Northeasterners who recognize that their style is unpalatable to the rest of the world, and make adjustments to their communication (and in the way they educate their kids on the same), go far in life, such as making equity partner at $6MM++ PPEP law firms.
I'm a northeasterner and this guy is a dick.
Jake, how can you insult the real “Dicks” of this world by accusing Arps of being one too?
Sadly this narcissist lives in his own little world and travels in coach pretending that it’s F.
Hey all you bunch of strangers…come look at me…how successful I am.
Fantasist actually Ole.
What's the deal with this Arps person?
Can't speak for New Yorkers. But I grew up in New England. Yes, sometimes we're just being direct.
Having said that, many people I grew up with hid behind "we're not rude, we're just direct" when they genuinely wanted to be rude.
Knowing both things, I'm going to make a ruling here. This guy was having a bad day and decided to take it out on someone he perceived lacked the power to retaliate.
Just FYI, as far as I know, US ATC does not conform to ICAO terminology (and is not required to). Classic example is use of "declaring an emergency" rather than "mayday" in the US, which is acceptable (and to many pilots, there is a distinction between the two), and effective absence of "pan-pan" in the US.
"US ATC does not conform to ICAO terminology"
Well there's another reason why accidents are more likely in US airspace.
How about using some international standards?
Working part of the time in the US, I am finding the lack of the 24 hour clock the most common annoyance.
This has been happening for years right? I've seen so many clips with this guy. Wonder if he'll be cut anytime soon with the massive layoffs happening.
On the contrary, this is the preferred behavior of our new overlords.
Fire this air traffic controller already.
He's probably getting a bonus.
He should have been managed-out years ago by the sound of it, but all too often people like this have gutless managers who are either scared of them or scared of the union, so nothing is done.
I can't even imagine how this guy on his free time treats service industry employees, who don't speak English as a first language. He probably takes the yell louder until they understand approach.
The irony is that he's functionally in a service role himself.