Miscommunication and its impact in the aviation

The term miscommunication refers to the phenomenon in which, the prime objective of the communication is not accomplished due to some critical issues. Explaining the disposition of miscommunication, the author has identified that there are three prime reasons due to which, either the information is not be able to communicate from one end to another in the accurate and desirable format. The problem can be arisen due to inefficiency of sender and receiver, inappropriate mode of data transmission, and ineffective or not suitable tools used in the transfer of information from one place to another.

In the same line, miscommunication of the data in the special reference of Aviation industry is elaborated prominently in the report published by U.S. Department of Transportation (1998). As per the findings of the report, the miscommunication in the aviation takes place due to some distinctive communication related errors. The report has divided these communication errors in three different categories.

1. Absence of a pilot Readback: In this type of errors, pilot fails in acknowledging the clearance that he has misunderstood the instructions provided by ATCs.

2. Readback and Hearback error: This error takes place in the cockpit and ATC communication chain due to the faults at both the ends. In this type of errors neither pilot reads back a clearance of instruction correctly, nor is the controller able to detect this error effectively.

3. Hearback Type II Errors: In such types of errors, the pilot correctly acknowledges the clearance but the controller fails to check whether the right instructions are passed to the pilot or not. Moreover, in the conditions when the action undertaken by the pilot during the flight is not consulted with ATC and considered problematic them.

In addition to this, Baldwin (2012) has stated in their literature that voice radio communication can be identified as prime source of information exchange between pilot and Air Traffic Controller (ATC). Although, nowadays, some of the airport and aircrafts have started using text based system, namely data link for the purpose of communicating some crucial data and information, yet still speech and radio transmission of information are the most preferred mode of communication between cockpit crew and ATC. In this regard, the author has explained that chances of miscommunication in this type of communication channel enhances as there is high degree of human involvement in this communication. As per the author, lack of clarity in the instruction, exchange of wrong information, and misinterpretation of information and instructions are the prime sources of information between two important ends. This communication accounts for about 50% of total severe incidents such as technical errors and accidents.

In the views of Estival and Molesworth (2012), the increasing intensity of air traffic has also made the situation challenging for the pilots and ATCs. Increasing frequencies of the flights and additional pressure of handling heavy traffic in the air can be a cause of emerging some sort of vagueness and imprecision in the pilots and ATCs. During the formal communication between cockpit and pilot, there are several crucial vague vernaculars, for instance, use of confusing acronyms and jargons in the languages, sometimes confuses the pilots and ATCs regarding orders and instructions that can be resulted in an accidents. In this way, the use of the inappropriate language and phrases in the communication is the major reason behind the miscommunication in the field of aviation. The author also stated further that in order to reduce the communication errors due to use of inappropriate language in the process of communicating instructions and commands, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has set some specific set of terminology and phrases that should be taken into account in the communication process between cockpit and ATC.