Listen to the audio recording and fill in the missing words and phrases. You can play the audio as many times as you like. Type your answers into the boxes for instant feedback, then read the transcript below.
Continue reading Listening: Runway Incursion at Frankfurt
A reporting verb is any verb that introduces what someone said, found, acknowledged, or recommended. In aviation English — especially in investigation reports and regulatory correspondence — these verbs carry considerable weight. They tell the reader not just that something was said, but how it was said and what it implies. Choosing between stated, acknowledged, and revealed is not a stylistic preference; each describes a different communicative act.
During the NTSB hearings on the Boeing MD-11 engine pylon failure in Louisville, every reporting verb shaped the reader’s interpretation: Boeing acknowledging that replacement had been framed as advisory is a very different thing from Boeing stating a technical fact.
Continue reading Structure: ‘Reporting verbs’
Two days of public hearings in Washington last week revealed that Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration had been aware of a critical cracking risk in the aft pylon of the Boeing MD-11 freighter for more than two decades before the component failed during the takeoff of UPS Flight 2976 in Louisville last November, killing all 15 people aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board’s investigators presented evidence of at least ten prior incidents involving the same spherical bearing — the part believed to have fractured and initiated the catastrophic separation of the left engine and pylon — dating back to 2002. For the aviation industry, the hearings revived questions about whether the mechanisms that translate known risk into mandatory corrective action are fit for purpose.
Continue reading NTSB: Boeing Knew of Engine Pylon Risk for Two Decades
Listen to the audio and read the transcript in the task section below. The transcript contains 6 deliberate errors — words or phrases that do not match what you hear. Identify each error and write the correct version. Replay the audio as many times as you need, then check your answers against the answer key.
Continue reading Listening: Cargo Door Warning over Austria
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Callsign: Easy 274
Route: London Luton (EGGW) to Ibiza (LEIB)
Current state: You are cruising at flight level 340 over south-eastern France when the senior cabin crew member reports smoke from the rear galley. The source is unknown. The Captain is the Pilot Flying; you are working the radio. You are on Marseille Control frequency.
Souls on board: 182
Endurance: 1 hour 40 minutes
Your role: First Officer, working the radio (Pilot Monitoring)
Welcome to This Month in Aviation, our regular round-up of the biggest aviation stories from the last four weeks. Below are six short reports — a minute or two of reading each — with a link to the full story if you want to know more.
Continue reading News Roundup: This Month in Aviation