Pilot Takes-off Without Permission at Major Airport

"This is Atlanta, get it together" from the man who just told them the wrong way to get to where they need to go twice

I love that line: "It's ok. N5173S, possible pilot deviation". That's like when the mafia boss says, "I understand, Luigi, it was just a little mistake. Now step into the wet concrete please"

I have encountered a few snarky controllers over the years as a GA pilot and, yeah, you WANT to tell them to get bent, but escalating the situation is never going to help anything. One thing I absolutely hate is when the controller starts barking out local jargon and landmarks to pilots who aren't from the area. Coming into Westchester, NY a few years ago, they were all horrible about that. I had one controller tell me, as I was setting up for a different approach than I had been planning, to "Put the Verazzano Bridge under your left wing." WTF? From 4000 feet you can see ALL of the bridges leading into Manhattan and I had no idea which ones I was looking at. So I replied, "I can't read the road signs from here. Can you give me a heading and an altitude?"

I remember my first trips up to the northeast. I actually told a couple of controllers: “I’m new to this area up here. If you will talk a little slower I can put this airplane where you need it a lot faster”. I was fortunate enough to have had controllers smart enough to understand what I had told them.

"Atlanta Tower, please call yourself. Possible controller deviation"

In 20 years of flying, I only had 3 snotty controllers. 2 of them were in Atlanta airspace.

The cure for an ATC with this attitude is not going and flying with a crew for a week, but flying a mop for a week. That has an amazing way of sweetening up a person’s attitude.

My father was an air traffic controller in the Royal Air Force. I've been to work with him on several occasions and there have been times when he's made me aware of a pilot doing something they shouldn't do, or not doing something they should. Bearing in mind these are highly trained professional pilots familiar with the environment (sometimes a mix of military and civilian). On no occasion did I hear my father correct someone in that manner.

I knew that the first pilot took responsibility when he asked THEM for the phone number! I'm hoping the 2nd controller got a talking to at the end of the shift. Have a great week everyone!

the pilot in the second would have been well justified to say "we were waiting for clearance to cross the runway back to bravo where you told us to go."

Roughly one year after getting my license, I was doing some mountain flying with an instructor, during which we went to Innsbruck Airport (LOWI). As we were about to depart, we lined up with the runway, when my FI told me "alright, go on, full power". I quickly refused and reminded him that we were only cleared to line up and wait, what must have slipped past his attention. A few seconds later, we got takeoff clearance and everything was fine. This reminds me everday that even experienced pilots make mistakes and that you shouldn't hesitate to speak up if you think something is wrong. In hindsight I think it was a lucky coincidence that I already had my license because I think if this would have been a flight student, he/she may have taken off without clearance since FIs still represent a certain figure of authority.

Kudos to ATC for giving him a heading and making sure he was safe before talking about the deviation.

I was jumpseating (I'm a dispatcher) on a flight to a small airport that gets almost no flights, the only other traffic was general aviation, the controller wasn't speaking super fast, and the FO copying the clearance still copied the wrong taxiway. Both I and the captain spoke up, and he got back on the radio and clarified. Then the captain gave some advice on how he copies clearances to help out the FO in the future. It happens and I feel like controllers sometimes get this idea that it's because pilots aren't taking them seriously - that it's not just an innocent mistake. But nothing could be further from the truth. That's why it's super important for us as dispatchers and for controllers as well to spend some time in that cockpit. I like that dispatchers are required to spend 5 hours a year jumpseating, and I wish controllers had that same requirement we do. I think it would help a lot.

Kelsey: "hopefully you're watching this on something bigger than a small phone." Me on a small phone: 👀

In Australia, the words take off are reserved for the specific permission to do so or cancelling such permission. The words are never spoken in any other context. Hence one is trained to listen for that specific phrase before taking off. This saves confusion as well as training minds to respond to the words specifically.

As a former Infantry/Armor NCO, I firmly believe in cross-training. That level of experience is sorely under-represented in the private world!

Seems like the controller didn't quite have it together.

It takes a big man to admit he is wrong. It would be very nice if the controller contacted the pilot in the second incident and admitted there was an error in his instructions, acknowledged the pilot was only trying to follow the controller's directions as given, and that he regrets his unwarranted comment.

Retired controller... I used to ride the jump seat all the time prior to 9/11. After that they made FAM Flights (Familiarization Training) so difficult it wasn't worth it, but I had an advantage being former USAF aircrew and a private pilot anyway. I worked with a lot of controllers that had no prior aviation experience, some of them were actually good... some not so much.

I sure hope there was some sort of reprimand for the controller on that last one. I drive commercial busses and we also deal with dispatch. They need to realize the amount of safety that goes into the operation of a vehicle or aircraft with passengers. Always keep a level of respect.