How to do this dictation
Listen to the recording as many times as you need. The passage below contains seven errors — words or phrases that do not match what you hear. Find each error and write the correct word or phrase above it. When you are finished, check your corrections against the transcript and the answer key below.
Before you listen — key vocabulary
These words and phrases appear in the recording. Knowing them before you listen will help you catch every word:
| oceanic airspace (noun phrase) | The vast area of controlled sky over the open ocean, outside radar coverage; crews use HF radio to communicate with control centres. |
| Shanwick Oceanic Control (proper noun) | The combined UK-Irish air traffic control centre responsible for coordinating flights across the North Atlantic. |
| Pan Pan (phrase) | The international urgency signal, used when a crew needs immediate assistance but the situation is not immediately life-threatening. |
| burn off (verb phrase) | To use up fuel deliberately by flying holding patterns before landing, in order to reduce the aircraft’s weight to within the permitted landing weight. |
Your dictation task
Read the passage carefully. Seven words or phrases are wrong — they are not what you hear in the recording. Find each error and write the correct word or phrase above it.
Operating Aer Lingus Flight 132 from Dublin to London, the crew were five hours into the crossing when a passenger reported water flooding from the rear lavatory. The water had spread across the cabin floor, reaching the first-class area. The captain contacted Shanwick Oceanic Control to report a non-routine situation and declared Mayday. The crew decided to divert to Dublin Airport rather than continue. They burned off fuel over the Atlantic to reduce their take-off weight before commencing the approach. The aircraft landed safely one hour and forty minutes after the incident began.
Speaking follow-up
You are the captain of Flight 132, speaking to the airline’s operations centre after landing at Shannon. Describe what happened, explain the decisions you made, and say why you chose to divert rather than continue to New York.
Record yourself on a phone voice memo so you can play it back and self-review. There’s no single right answer — the goal is to produce a clear, structured response under time pressure.
Level: CEFR B1 / ICAO Level 4
The crew’s decision to burn off fuel and divert rather than continue with an active cabin contamination threat is a good example of a precautionary but decisive non-routine response — hear how a similar diversion decision unfolds in Roleplay: Medical Emergency Diversion to Lyon.