This has to be one of the most hilarious cases of miscommunication that I’ve seen between pilots and air traffic controllers, as flagged by PYOK.
TAP Air Portugal toilet problem mistaken for pilot emergency
This incident happened on a recent TAP Air Portugal flight between Lisbon, Portugal (LIS), and Nice, France (NCE). The flight was operated by a 106-seat Embraer E190, and at some point during the flight, the lavatories became inoperable.
This wasn’t an issue worth declaring an emergency over, though obviously it was unpleasant for all onboard, and the pilots tried to get priority landing, to minimize the inconvenience. However, this caused an absolutely massive miscommunication, which seemingly stems from the word “toilet” being misunderstood as “pilot.”
Here was the initial part of the communication:
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “Just for information, we have some problems with the toilets on board. We don’t have it operational, and we need to land as soon as possible at Nice. So, that’s why we are asking for a more direct route to Nice and more speed, if possible.”
Air traffic controller: “Just say again your request.”
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “We are requesting more speed if possible, until flight level 100 at least, and more direct route. We don’t have toilets onboard during our flight of today, that’s why we need to land as soon as possible because of the passengers.”
Air traffic controller: “Copy, are you declaring an emergency?”
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “No, we are not declaring an emergency. Just help on this situation and a more direct route and an increase in speed if possible.”
The TAP Air Portugal plane was then handed over to the next air traffic controller, where the situation went downhill:
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “We are asking for help because we have a problem onboard, but we are not declaring an emergency. We are just asking for some help to land as soon as possible. We don’t have toilets, so this has been in all of our flight today, so that’s why we are trying to ask for some help to land as soon as possible. But we are not declaring a Pan Pan or Mayday for now.”
Air traffic controller: “I don’t understand, what is the issue?”
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “We don’t have toilets. There are no operative toilets, so the passengers need to land so they can relieve themselves.”
Air traffic controller: “Just to be sure, you have the autopilot which is out of work?”
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “No sir, we have the autopilot functioning properly. Our problem is with the toilets. For now, it doesn’t matter anymore. We are not declaring anything. We just need to arrive as soon as possible. That’s all.”
Air traffic controller: “Your pilot has a medical problem?”
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “Sir, I will say again. We don’t have a medical problem. We just don’t have toilets. But that doesn’t matter anymore. We just need to land. I will explain better on the ground. But for now, we are not declaring anything.”
Air traffic controller: “Alert status, alert status, alert status for a traffic that we suspect having no pilot able to operate the aircraft. I’m not sure I understand. You said you had no pilot on board?”
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “Our operation is normal, sir. We would like to proceed with the arrival normally.”
Air traffic controller: “You said before you had no pilot?”
TAP Air Portugal pilot: “I didn’t say that. We will speak on the ground for now, we just need to do our approach.”
You can listen to the communication for yourself below.
This is kind of hilarious and ridiculous
It’s nice to have an air traffic control situation that for once doesn’t involve a NYC-area controller with a bad attitude who is on a power trip. 😉
English is of course the international language for air traffic control, but the challenge is that English isn’t the first language of many pilots and air traffic controllers, and that can make communication complicated.
It seems that the challenge here stems from the similarities between the words “toilet” and “pilot.” Air traffic controllers seemingly understood that the plane was without operational pilots, rather than without operational toilets. Talk about an important detail. Perhaps this is one of the situations where using the word “lavatory” would come in handy.
I suspect because English was no one’s first language, they might not have picked up on how that was the source of the miscommunication, complicating things further.
While miscommunication with air traffic controllers happens, I’ve never heard anything quite to this level before…
Bottom line
The pilots of a TAP Air Portugal plane had a major miscommunication with air traffic controllers in France. The pilots were hoping for priority on approach due to inoperable toilets, which the air traffic controllers misunderstood that to mean that the plane didn’t have pilots.
What’s so wild is that no matter how much clarification was provided, there was no clarity between the two parties.
What do you make of this TAP Air Portugal air traffic control communication?
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