Air Traffic Control: Swiss Airbus Bird Strike

A Swiss Airbus 319 (tail number: HB-IPT), operating flight LX1311 to Zurich, struck birds while departing St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport in Russia. The multiple bird strike caused vibrations in both engines. The crew declared and emergency and returned to Pulkovo airport for an emergency landing.
The air traffic control recording is from Radioscanner.ru. I edited the air traffic control conversation audio to remove some parts in Russian, and provided the subtitles.
Edited by Daniel Mori ( / kenadamsusa )

[@giuseppe.ferrara]

LX: [...] Two engines problems. Controller: 28 problems? Wonderful!!!

[@Tang0Fox1]

That pilot sounds so Tired at the End and the thing is it's the communication that seemed to give him more stress than the actual emergency.

[@MrCoopa97]

"Do you need to disembark passagers?" "No we need a tractor!" :-)

[@flyingtrashbin]

2:34 Russian pilot of other aircraft (probably on the ground): "He has vibrations due to the bridstrike" ATC: "That's what i'm trying to find out" Pilot: "You frazzled him out" 4:02 The same pilot "He asks for a fire brigade" ATC "I got it, I got it"

[@y.4237]

тот случай, когда позорники - диспетчера, а стыдно мне, простому слушателю((( спасибо нашим пилотам, подработали переводчиками заодно.

[@eromadrol]

Lucky the other Russian pilot spoke and understood English !...

[@MrFresh-kv7rh]

Так вы замучили его уже... :-)

[@killchessmat]

М-да, стыдно, словно нет.

[@diz808boi]

Lmfao "what is the situation? Becausah u catch bird" lmfao

[@FlowerCrownOfPoppy]

4:29 ATC: Two-eighty problems? 4:33 PLK254: Two engine problems. 4:35 ATC: Thank you...

[@WildlifeBeauty1234]

The Swiss pilot's calm and handling of the situation is every bit as good as Sullenberger's in the Hudson landing. This happened on a two-engined aircraft and that the pilot came close to losing BOTH engines shortly after take-off ... .

[@DanielCharry1025]

Ketch buurd (Catch bird)...

[@intrepid_wandering]

Pilot: 2 engine problems! ATC: uh 28 problems? lol

[@cosmosliger]

because... catch... BUD?

[@Dee-Jay]

LOLOLOL You've made my day! Thank you!!!!!! :D

[@cebanuolesea8111]

Mine too 😁😁😁

[@MrPceneviva]

Q: "What do you need to say to him?" A: That I am in a broken plane talking to the most stupid controllers in the world and please send someone with a brain! And that speaks english. And a pack of hay for you...

[@WilmaJonson]

A nightmare for the ears...

[@jfsimon1981]

Oh my god ! Such a control service ! Need repeat again and again.

[@Mazeboxx]

I caught 28 birds with my engine, now I want you to smoke a tractor with my company

[@prankmonkey650]

Tamborean cook the birds on the car.

[@cebanuolesea8111]

😁😁😁😁

[@aametriigraham8489]

Rofl!!

[@97espi]

They sent a car to pull the a319... I mean tractor...

[@AndreaPinti]

Thanks for the subtitle. Terrific situation.

[@bf9142ftw]

Thankfully that other Russian pilot was able to translate for the atc

[@feang0]

28 problems xD jajaja

[@maespip]

"You catch Bud??"

[@explorer914]

The russian controllers need better english training. This is scarry to listen to...

[@LjL-Videos]

You mean "scary". "Scarry" is when you have a scar on your body. As with the other comment: I don't always nitpick on this kind of stuff, but you are criticizing people's English without reviewing your own.

[@wilsonLWT]

@@LjL-Videos I finally came here to reply your comment after 2 years due to I am taking icao english language proficiency test and I need to listen more accent. There is a reason to let flight crew and ATC to have a high standard to avoid disaster because too many of them in history. Please, he is not too criticizing if the accident happened. Not everything is political correctness. Anyway I am Chinese pilot and I do really think "Correct English" is super important to declare emergency. Hopefully your next flight pilot has the same thought. Good luck

[@k0alafi3d1]

@@wilsonLWT Your english is understandable but still far from "high standard"

[@wilsonLWT]

@@k0alafi3d1 I never say so. I was explaining that not everything need to be political correctness. There must be a reason to have a training.

[@Terminator2310]

ATC was a total mess.

[@comwarrior69]

you catch bird? Yep, it went straight in the blender and then the oven. Anyone for pie?

[@CobraFlying]

@kenadamsusa At 4:30 a russian pilot tells him that he has two problems. You can hear the controller say "spasiba" meaning thank you. Hope you can add this. greetings!

[@Luch1516]

What is most important is that the emergency situation was understood and the aircraft was able to land safely. What I find slightly troubling is the level of English that is able to be understood and spoken.

[@user-vd1bk3go2q]

дуболомы. ....бояться как таких можно принимать в диспы если они и половины не понимают,а пилоту русскому надо было сказать в эфир пару хороших

[@user-zi3cv8hb2x]

Вот будете скажете

[@udspacearrow]

lol 28 problems :D that made me laugh.. hopefully the pilots found it funny even in such a distressing situation

[@emillotyanu2350]

Something tells me the pilots were not laughing at the time 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Dimitry999]

"2 engine problems, 2 engine problems.." "28 problems?"

[@ICEGTN]

Holy shit, If I ever fly to russia, I'll make sure to bring a russian interpreter, or learn russian myself.

[@mastercfromhalo3]

Holy shit why are these people controllers.....

[@jjaus]

Terrible ATC. Well done to that Russian pilot who pointed out ATCs bad behaviour. If somebody declares a mayday you do not harass them. He told ATC his problem already. He is now very busy trying to save his own life and his passengers. Not have a chat about birds. What an idiot. ATC centres with international traffic should speak better English.

[@steveclea77]

28 problems????? WOW! Great Controller!!!

[@Joost10054]

Do you also have the recordings when the controller contacts Swissair? I can only imagine the message... 'plane machine catch bird.'

[@brgimscht]

this is the chaos theory

[@Clooney8888]

Unbelievable , the poor skills displayed by the Ground controllers!

[@vwsambabus]

very friendly pilot!!

[@IvanIvanov-zu5pe]

Лет ми спик ин инглиш фром май харт!

[@cebanuolesea8111]

😂😂😂

[@escapamento]

Guess I'll think twice before travelling to Russia. Even after my first English class I was able to speak a better English than those ATCs

[@pouria1361]

The poor pilot!!!

[@kuznetskiy.]

facepalm..

[@soundsamerican9938]

The pilot should have two paychecks - one for being a pilot and the second one for teaching English as A Second Language. I love how this professional enunciates the words clearly after the tower misses the point and asks for clarification. :-)

[@prankmonkey650]

You catch bird? LMFAO!

[@Swissman81]

hooly mooly i would have gone nuts with this atc...good job swiss!

[@aametriigraham8489]

I wish this was longer...

[@cobra1010]

This case is an absolute scandal. Swiss should think twice about flying there in the future. This could have turned out much worse.

[@Astrolia1]

I thought of Iron Man 2. "I want my bird!"

[@alx744]

Declaring mayday with Borat on ATC is the worst thing that can happen to you...

[@emillotyanu2350]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 The were lucky they didn't have an engine fire. Otherwise it would have been over long before the morons at the tower could understand the message!

[@L9bus]

Бля, шедевральный английский

[@julysweet3749]

It's a shame and they call it 4th level ICAO. Most ATCs are quite professional and I can't see any fault in this guy directions apart from English, but whay to repeat this question several times? It's strange that the Captain/FO was so patient not to ask the ATC to stand by. Do give ATC some English practice, otherwise it's really dangerous. P.S. to be honest pilot's English is not that ideal either.

[@sotirzdravkov2144]

July, the pilot's least problem is English pronunciation at that moment. They had to deal with both engines barely running and saving of some 150+ passengers lives. So they should be excused. But even so, their English was quite good, just some accent. Russian ATC was horrible, they were completely unaware what's going on because of their English. In the same time, Russian pilots were, and they tried to help. Don't blame the crew, they did a great job.

[@icemachine79]

The approach controller's directions were OK apart from his lack of English proficiency, but the ground controllers were both nearly useless. The last one didn't even contact Swissair to let them know about the emergency and had no idea how to even call them in the first place. This happened at Pulkovo, the 3rd busiest airport in the largest country in the world and a country that's agreed to follow ICAO standards. There's no excuse for it.

[@jscottcurrier]

I noticed that the pilot didn't repeat the heading back correctly. The controller gave it as one one zero and I listened to the readback several times and I heard the pilot say one hundred. If he meant one hundred he should have said one zero zero. At any rate, while the controller's English was poor, even without the help from another plane in translating, I believe that the controller would have got the plane back to the airport ok, he just wouldn't have known what the problem was. Fortunately the pilot did properly declare an emergency so the controller knew something was up and was prepared to bring the plane back. However, I do agree that since English is the agreed upon language for aviation, flight crews and controllers should speak English well.In an emergency you never know what you are going to run up against and knowing English well can help out quite a bit.

[@DenisDrozdov]

+1. Swiss guy, being in an emergency situation was still able to keep cool and do his job, which i definitely respect. And thanks to the Russian pilot who helped ATC with translation. Which is an emergency situation by itself as well. :-(

[@DenisDrozdov]

Is it true that according to ICAO standards contacting the headoffice should be done *prior* to arranging the safe landing of the aircraft? I do doubt about that. As i've said above - i'm not from this business, but common logic tells me this algorythm should be done the other way round, no?

[@PavelAAlexeev123]

Welcome to Sochi!!11 AHAHAHA

[@A_A_J.]

That was my point, Pilotman... if you recall the last comm was "what do you need to say to him" which should have been fairly obvious, that the darn engines were out due to bird strike. I mean, what else would you tell the company, in that situation.

[@kittyb4812]

I felt so bad for the Pilot..if the controllers did not know how to speak English very good then, THEIR IN THE WRONG JOB!!!! this could get many people killed...

[@johnp3390]

lol .. it's "very well" and "they're" .. classic

[@LjL-Videos]

+KITTY B "They're", not "their". I don't usually nitpick by correcting this kind of stuff, but come on, you are criticizing their English, and this is basic grammar. Is English your native language? It isn't mine, but I still know this.

[@vitalyrepin]

@Werroid Он в международном аэропорту работает. Там не должны допускать до работы людей без знания языка на приличном уровне.

[@icemachine79]

You speak better English than most Americans on KZbin.

[@sn1054a]

can I download this file anyway? I could teach to my students very lot from this event. Thanks Richard

[@wwnixon]

Any landing you walk away from is a good one ( I think )

[@meehalych]

Why does everyone repeat "28 problems", when the controller said: "two eighty problems" (not twenty eight). The most funniest part for me was when the controller was trying to specify the problem :) I hope the situation with ATC at Pulkovo has been improved since that time. Frankly speaking there are some foreign pilots flying to Russia, whose language can hardly be called English. I'm talking about chinese crews (Hainan airways), I used to listen to Approach and Taxi frequence, while

[@jstowell02]

Pulkovo ATC should at least have knowledge of certain phrases like "Bird Strike" and "Two Engines", well that and probably many more. That plane could have crashed, caught on fire, already been on fire and late response, or needed a visual affirmation of a fire to evacuate passengers. So unsafe. Unacceptable. Also, it's not a joking matter when a Mayday is called.

[@GPSjammer]

5:50 "HALLOOOOOO"

[@rmachayes]

This poor flight deck crew, bird strike, need immediate return, trying their damnest to explain what is wrong, what they need, need radar vectors, and having to put up with inferior controllers due to language difficulties. The swiss....always professional.

[@StasLS]

Daaa rebjata!!! I eto International Airport!!! Koshmar!!

[@DasHauss]

thank god for the PLK254! :)

[@MrChariki]

Вообще то это нормально, английское произношение цифры "3" неудобно на многих языках, поэтому говорят "три"

[@Halakasi]

I've got 28 problems. ATC ain't one :-D

[@kolotuszki]

28 problems?.......OH MYY

[@TheLuxentertainment]

Swiss 1311 Roger, Tractor sent for you^^ lol

[@rikiroma2]

Unbeliveable....

[@evgenytukh5492]

Позорище...

[@Jan07191]

@zorak950 exactly, that's what's really important.

[@vanaus6801]

Meters was never a problem, where the Hell did that come from.

[@bondwr]

@VonStierlitz I totally agree, FAA has made it mandatory for all pilots and control tower operators to speak English and ONLY English. This was accepted by ALL countries perhaps with the exception of Russia. This FAA ruling was made for this exact reason to avoid confusion, this ruling was done after the incident at KJFK airport when between China Airlines and the tower at KJFK. The Chinese pilots did not understand the instructions that were given to them by the controller.

[@cpy]

7:30 - No any sign of flame on your engine

[@afgrocks123]

"Becaaaussseeee Catttcchhhhh bird!" why does he say bird so fast?

[@qnh1030]

@MrIvan0ff У меня есть наибольший связи для 52 детей, погибших в ДТП! Но русский летчик также не обнаружили признаков швейцарских контроллеров. Авиация должна быть уникальное сообщество, и не обратились друг против друга ... Cheers

[@zolderok]

@YeahPL Just the directions for the other boards

[@FlorianWZ]

This could have gone terribly wrong so many times...

[@HotDog12ist]

he did, but he got confused, and scared and forgot all at once... you dont get emergencies every day... and not all ATCO's in Russia are like that, most of them speak english good, especially in big airports such as St Petersburg, Moscow etc...

[@rrynek]

@nomareth I have just checked Heathrow- only two runways;)

[@LiveATCClips]

@YeahPL they dont have to

[@SirZloy]

Лец ми спик фром май харт ин инглиш (C)

[@rrynek]

@volodislav Very skilled bears I should say

[@Musearm]

The only sober russian in this video is PLK254 telling the controller that he is exhausting the pilot. Good job by the swiss pilot under pressure/chaotic conditions.

[@maespip]

"Swiss 1311...erh...you catch a bud"?? LMAO !!!!! Hahahahahaha!!!!

[@CaptainAndreas45]

The aviation world speaks English.. it is very critical, esp. considering it is such an international airport. One would think that the Russians would be able to catch up with the world, but I guess not.

[@kosmogenez]

я в тихом ужасе .... 0_0

[@sewehli]

ATC:'What do you need to say to him?' !!!!!!. Er a) I'm a professional pilot, GET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE! Or b) I'm not gonna be able to make it for the company dinner party tonight. Or c) A319 has had a bird strike and landed safely again at this weird airport, please come and sort the passengers out . Take your pick.

[@lexke7]

Say again!

[@Gaztwice]

Fortunately this ended well

[@stepanstas]

6:17 sounds like "how can we wait" not "okay, we wait". She told him to wait on a taxiway, and they are on a runway. So I think they're saying we can't move.

[@Crallux]

Nah, that's the swiss german accent for ya 😂 We swiss are terrible in english, but appearently not as bad as russians 😂

[@semaex]

Perfect example of why ICAO English should be made standard everywhere. English and no other language. Period.

[@5niff3r]

@meesls333 no-no, statement is still actual: this person haven't came to aviation occasionally - most possible he has relatives working there... :(

[@TheROB1N0]

NO, I NEED A TRACTOR!!!!

[@Imrooot]

nightmare

[@TheSergy1983]

@yannpilot what i meant is that its better to deal with people who have a bad level of english, but not so ignorant to their work and land safely then with people who dont care at all about others but with great communication skills!

[@markdmartin77]

this is awesome!; still laughing on the ".......you-catch-bird...??".... What problem do you have?...."...high vibration on 2 engines. Ok..28..problems!... You want to disambark passengers?.. Yes.....we want tractor!... Trusting st Petersburg airport, i'd love to see all passengers ride the tug to the terminal. Actually the english of that Swiss Air pilots was the funniest!........ i've flown in CIS airspace so i'll pardon those lads.... i've heard some funnier stuff for sure.

[@xrayzulu1987]

Why did that Russian controller keep asking the pilot whether he had a bird strike? The controller should have established that once, not repeatedly adding radio pressure to the Swiss pilots.

[@RICHTAYL]

Hope I don't need to fly to Russia anytime soon. ATC are SHOCKING!!!

[@Bluzyzoom]

28 problems WTF !!

[@alienkiller007]

Should have known it, in Sovjet Russia, bird catches you! :/