As a controller of 22 years two things: this situations was used as recurrent training for controllers. Also, I love it when pilots question my instructions. No controller is perfect, it’s a team effort. It makes me rethink what I am doing. Any controller that is annoyed by being questioned has no business being a controller.

Pilot should've given her a number to call.

My mom sometimes tells a flight story about when she was returning to Ottawa from a conference in Nova Scotia. She and a friend from university just chilling while the plane was coming in for a landing. Suddenly everyone felt the plane pull up HARD and almost at the same time the pilot came on the radio and screamed "IT'S THOSE GODDAMN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS!!!" Everyone was confused but the friend said that there another plane waiting to take off on the runway they were gonna land on. The friend was sitting by the window. This was in the eighties.

I think Kelsey gave us the key to this kerfuffle early on, when he said that 90% of departures are to the west. The controller was probably operating from habit when she told EVA to turn LEFT heading 180. That's what she would normally tell people who took off to the west. Not saying she didn't know left from right, or east from west. But sometimes the part of our brain that controls our mouth just says what it's used to saying.

I’m ATC and this is beyond PAINFUL… she’s messing up her turns left/right and yelling at the pilot asking what they’re doing when it’s her f’ing it all up. An embarrassment to controllers

This channel really hammers home how unremarkable 99% of the world's hotel rooms are

Wow! This was probably the most incompetent controller I have ever heard. As a pilot, I love ATC and am always grateful and thankful for their help. I’ve never heard such incompetence. 26 years as a military pilot. Now 15 years later working on an instrument rating. Her directions were verging on breaching safety in her sector. Flown in and out of LA. Always had great ATC controllers.

"Let me talk to your supervisor, NOW!!" I have never heard a pilot request this in my flying career, and I had never thought about it before, but while listening to this video it is what I eventually would have wanted to request! It had to be even much more frustrating for a crew where English is their second language.

This is one of those time's when you tell the atc to please call a number after you have landed safely 🤣

“What are you doing?” “I’m talking to an idiot, apparently.”

I once knew a UPS pilot that had full engine failure on approach to the Louisville hub after extending the gear. “Unflappable Jim“ (as I remember him) just calmly glided down a heavy without much fanfare or chagrin to the runway like butter, afterwards the maintenance crew found that the fuel delivery system was not working properly to the engines. Textbook stuff. Guy is a total legend in my book.

I am a non-pilot who loves everything about aviation (kinda like a penguin…lol), and I really appreciate the explanations of the terms.

There was probably more than one person in the plane talking to the ATC…the poor guys who don’t speak English as a first language were probably like “here, you talk to her, see if she makes sense to you!”. Jeez, I feel bad for them!

"What are you doing?" ... "I'm following YOUR inconsistent directions, that's what I'm doing!"

Thanks for explaining the meaning of "heavy"! Have taken many business and personal flights all over the world in the past, and sometimes listened in to pilot communication with the ATC before landing. Always wondered what "heavy" meant. Now I understand and many other things you explain so well in all your videos. Thanks much for sharing!

I loved that: “Pilots are moving in the direction they are going.” You are right on target about situational awareness.

ATC: "please make a left-right turn towards a north-south bound heading"

Mountains to the left, ocean to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

When you talk about people tones, it felt so relatable. My mom speaks in a bad tone all the time and that makes me really uncomfotable.

"They would be in trouble, but I would be dead." Words to live by. I notice that all the best pilots seem to have an avoidance philosophy, as opposed to a blame philosophy. Even when looking at NTSB Final Reports, aviation doesn't look to assign blame, but to repair any procedural faults. At the end of the day, people will make mistakes, and you can't fix that. Love your channel. Only recently found it, but I've seen you on other channels doing the "Real Pilot vs. Hollywood" or whatever. Thanks for educating and entertaining!

“They’d be in trouble but id be dead” Solid oof

As a retired controller, that Socal controller is an embarrassment. Sounds like a rookie. If she was a trainee, the trainer should have stepped in and corrected the situation.

As a flight attendant, can’t imagine what these non-American EVA pilots were thinking with these scary instructions, and, I assume, the F/A’s and passengers were getting whiplash.

Oh Kelsey, thanx soo much for all your great aviation education! Being a retired semi truck driver, and having no words for how terrified I have always been of flying, I feel many similarities in our jobs, such as one moments decision being life or death, & seeing you alone in a hotel room, many miles from home & family. Please stay safe, & continue to have fun!!

"What are you doing?" "I'm doing what you told me to do!"

Am a ATC and listening to the LAX EVA departure made me cringe... several times. The controller phraseology and professionalism was poor. Agree with Kelsey 100%.

Can we appreciate how calm the eva pilot was? With that shitty instructions I would’ve been yelling at her to decide whether its left or right🤦🏼‍♀️ she is like ielts listening describing a map , trying to be as confusing as possible 😤

You very much have a gift providing explanations that are so clear and easy for the average person to understand. As a pilot I think the terms are so common to you that it would be easy to not see that others may not know what "that" is. I love your mindset of keeping things simple (in your flying and your explanations). I believe this makes you a much safer pilot (and better teacher)....and keeps things interesting for average viewers. I have no aviation background but have always wanted to know what they are talking about and how it works.

That has to be very scary as a pilot, knowing you are relying on someone else to keep you alive, and that someone is obviously having an issue keeping things clear.

As a controller, I am embarrassed by this controller. She clearly said the wrong thing and then tried to blame the pilot for complying. I hope the pilot filed a report.

As a former RAPCON Air Traffic Controller these two examples are perfect ! Whenever someone asks me what I did for a living and I said ATC … they’re like ooooo stressful , my answer is : if you can tie your shoe you can do ATC , it’s a common sense job . I loved it and I was pretty good at it . ( I’m gonna brag now , I did receive a save award 😉) I miss it . Thank you for sharing this . I’m new to your channel and occasionally I need a healthy distraction. God bless 🇺🇸😎

Clearly, absolutely, totally the very best of three or four KZfaq aviation channels! Your shows are lively, often captivating, and always educational. I enjoy your down-to-earth, non-presumptious attitude and tell-it-like-it-is narratives. You win my vote as the most humble and honest pilot on KZfaq. I'd like to see and learn more about ATC procedures, and rules that apply to the controllers. I know pilots must follow the rules on-air and in-air with the mic and what's said. What rules apply to the controllers when they key the mic? More more more! Thank you.

AS a retired controller, this was a very embarrassing thing to see. This controller was very scary. Controllers typically know very well left from right!

She’s probably never worked departure when the winds were from the east prior to this. So day after day she has planes taking off to the west, needing to turn, and to go south they turn left. But today she had a plane going the opposite direction, needing to turn south, and told them to turn left out of habit. She didn’t even realize her mistake and then became flustered as cluck when she saw the plane turning left when she probably thought she told them to turn right. Instead of rationally thinking about the issue, she stayed in “autopilot” with the habit of planes going west for take off and just reacted and reacted and reacted without ever actually controlling the situation in her mind.

As an ATCO, i agree with this pilot. Most of times the pilots help us. If they ask something that i've already cleared him to do I immediately check what i've done to see if something is wrong. We also help them if they say/request something wrong :)

I feel like an alarm clock which said “terrain terrain pull up” would he the most effective alarm clock ever

Back in the early 90's, I had started to take college courses to prepare me to apply for ATC work. I did a co-op placement at my airport, and when I realized (saw in real life) how they juggle planes in the air and didn't kill them all, made me realize that I cannot think in the 3D way they need to be able to, do the work. So hats off to the controllers, it is a very difficult job.

That last acknowledge from the pilot "15 heavy". I felt that in my soul. This poor guy just wanted some peace and quiet after all that nonsense 😂

I am not a pilot but enjoy this channel for it's great stories. This episode brings to mind a flight we took in a Piper Warrior from a little private field South of Savanna, Illinois into Midway in Chicago. Coming into Midway, our pilot friend noticed some DC-10's off in the distance doing touch and go landings (practice?). The ATC told us to make sure to do something once we got all stopped (or something like that). Our pilot friend quickly responded, "I'm still on my final approach." To this the atc responded, "turn right immediately to yadda yadda yadda". Boy, we cranked around and I could see the windows of that big airliner as he passed by on our left. It's a miracle we didn't get blasted by turbulence but we obviously made a safe landing eventually and don't remember us doing anything special other than get in the car and drive to get a real thick Chicago style pizza. Our friend told us it was probably one of those DC-10's we saw earlier. It was nighttime. Seems we got pretty lucky.

Kudos to the pilots who dealt with this the best they could, and continued to fly their airplane. Less confusing instructions from ATC than these have caused crashes in the past.

EVA015 Heavy: "ATC I have a number for you to call EVA015 heavy"

10:08 what you didn't mention is that this rule (probably like many other rules) was written in blood - a mid-air collision actually happened because a pilot listened to the ATC instead of the TCAS, and everybody died.

Ugggh. This controller needs to be pushed up the management ladder immediately!

Love your vids Kelsey. I am so glad that you made this channel. Your humor is awesome and your explanations are very clear, understandable and educational! Keep up the great work! You Thug life pilot you! 😎

“They’d be in trouble, but I would be dead.” Big facts

In Aussie ATC, the phraseology we use for a long way around turn is “Turn left, I say again, left, 180...”, so that aircrew know we understand we’re sending you the long way and that is indeed the way we need you to go.

"I don't have the balls to do that, personally". It actually takes quite a bit of balls to admit that and give credit to those who do. But really, none of us knows what we are capable of until we are put in that situation.

Love your explanation about "Heavy" and its impact on turbulence. 20 years ago flying out of LAX to San Diego in a very small Saab14 -20 seats jet behind a 747 very close behind we were thrown around so badly after take off, it should never have happened. However it was followed by a beautiful low level flight along the coast on a wonderful sunny summer afternoon, it was lovely. San Diego wonderful place to attend a medical conference and view the USN/USMC Fleet in harbour. Stayed at the Marriott in the Harbour, the year was when the America Cup was held, during the Race Time.

You can see that he’s a real pilot because he’s always in a different hotel room

The legend goes that Kelsey isn’t wearing trousers while recording.

As a pilot I bet you are very good at what you do. I was in the Military for over 27 years but had to cut my career short. But, I watch you all the time and I would love to fly with you knowing you have things under control cargo was one of the things I have to do at times based on our mission. So them coming you are great

🤣🤣🤣 Good one, Kelsey! 3:07

I speak fluent English and even for me this is confusing, can’t imagine being the pilots on Eva Air

"surely you can't be serious" ... "I AM SERIOUS, and don't call me Shirley".

Kelsey, thank you for explaining the "heavy" thing... I've been wondering about that!

28 years, 6 days as an ATC/Retired.... This controller sucked!. I'm surprised the pilot wasn't asking for confirmations after each clearance.

Ricko From an ex ATC all you said was spot on. I was taught to say "right I say again right" whenever you needed an aircraft to turn the long way around, as it was something the pilot was not expecting. Great video.

That was a great explanation of the wake turbulence created by a “heavy” aircraft.

This is the most positive, most funny, and most _conscious_ aviation channel I've come across. You are just as aware of your audience as you are of your cockpit and aircraft, and for that, you are deeply respected by me and countless others. It's like a combination of Mentour Pilot and Pilot Debrief, but much more self-aware.

As a viewer, I was getting confused with what the controller was saying. Damn hats of to the pilots who understood and followed her. Even though as you said she was giving confusing orders.

She not only misguided them but she also would say south and north in the same breath as she corrected herself. She got it backwards constantly. I would’ve asked for another controller after the second fuck up. Trust was gone by then

"Ok you're clear for take off" "Err we're in the sky" "Oh ok land to your left" "That's the Ocean" "Please brake, turn right 750 degrees no wait backwards to my right"

This is fascinating, as someone who is tempted to learn to fly, but doesn't really like to be flown this really gives some great insight into a world that most people have no real idea exists.

Hi Kelsey. I'm not a pilot and have almost no hours flying in the last 4 decades. l really like what your doing. lt's informative and although l will never be a pilot, it's fun to learn. Your also a bit funnier than l bet you intend to be - all awesome in my opinion. Thanks.

It sounds like the real heroes here are the engineers and system developers who have worked out these aircraft and systems of redundancy over the past few decades!

Hi Kelsey. After watching 4-5 of your videos and listening to your commentary, I come to the conclusion that you did not become a 747 pilot by accident. You process problems with a high degree of consideration and common sense and you are a bad ass communicator. It does not surprise me that people want to fly with you.

The first situation with the stressed out controller Decades ago I had both MS Flight Sim and an ATC Sim. The ATC Sim would start out slow the longer it went the more aircraft coming into airspace to land others on the ground ready for taxi and takeoff instructions. It was only a game but trying to handle alot of aircraft from small to heavies did get stressful. So hearing the stress in the controller's voice reminded me of this game which convinced me that ATC was a tough job and could really be stressful. The game was fun but could never leave the game unless I got fired.

Thank you, Kelsey, for explaining everything really well.

"It may not be my fault, but it's my responsibility" love to see it.

These pilot vs atc are very interesting, keep them coming

Agreed, sharing responsibilities and cooperating is way better than pointing fingers.

True test of patience and composure. Just listening to her gave me a headache. Imagine what the Pilots had to go through under such duress. Madness.

I add “long way around” on those turns over 180 degrees. A lot faster then the pilot coming back and asking to confirm.

3:12 "I mean we're asking for permission, but we're doin it"...Still D.R.E. starts playing... I'm dead 😩😂💀

I really like that explanation of what "heavy" means and why it can be an issue for flying behind it. It was a very good, easy to understand analogy.

Your factual, unpretentious style is engaging and entertaining. Well done !

"What are you doing?!" It sounds like she's scolding a child.

my sides hurt from laughing so hard listening to these poor pilots frantically trying to comply with the controller's aggressive and irreconcilable instructions. The fact that these commands are being barked so haphazardly at 200 tons of fuel and machinery barreling through the sky at 200mph is sobering.

You are amazing, love how you translate the communication so the common person can comprehend 👍🙏

The last one is Kennedy Steve! He had such a great rapport with the pilots. Delta Tug 1 was his nemesis. Best ATC ever!

You know she actually wanted to give directions like: "Turn right at the big cloud, then left around that flock of birds. If you see mountains you've gone too far"

It's nice to listen to a calm, experienced person instead of an entitled idiot. I'm glad I found your channel. Thank you!

You talk about not being that smart….but I look at you and the information you process and I feel immediately overwhelmed. Let’s just say, I think you’re smarter than you think,but I appreciate how humble you are.

OMG! Irecognize that voice, style and competence level!!!

The crack about billygoats is from an old "Far Side" cartoon. The caption is actually, "Say...what's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?". If you do an image search with that line, you'll see it. The funniest part (to me) is that he has time to ask.

At 10:00 I just remembered the DHL 757 and Tu-154 collision in Germany, where the pilots of the Tu154 listened to the ATC over the TCAS

I am terrified of flying and pray the whole way, LOL. Your videos are making me a bit calmer. It's nice to know what's happening up there because the unknown is much scarier than the known. :)

"HEAVY WHAT ARE YOU DOING" "EXACTLY WHAT YOU TELL ME TO DO DRILL SARRR- GENT!"

At what point do you as a pilot get to say "let me talk to somebody else"?

16:40 "That's not the way I like to look at things, this kind of victim mentality" Kelsey, you just gained a *lot* of brownie points from me. I love that you look at it as "what can I do to make it better" rather than "whose fault is it".

Very informative - really enjoyable, so many thanks!

Lol love that snoop lil segment. Love this channel

Pilot to ATC: "When you have finished your shift, I have a number you need to ring!"😂

I love how you keep your job and your KZfaq connected YET disconnected at the same time. You talk about your job and give awesome details, but you never actually bring a camera into a plane or an airport, rather you look up reference photos or videos. It shows your focused on your job when you’re needed to, especially when lives are on the line

Great explanation on the term, ''Heavy''. Ironically, I was watching a different video just before yours on a MIA approach and landing by a Swedish passenger jet. I wondered what the term meant as I'd never heard it before. Boom....here was my answer. Great vids. Not so sure about the silly graphics. Smile brother...appreciate your hard work and effort putting these 'shorts' together. They are very informative and fun to watch...and to get learn a lot more about skilled piloting. Fly safe.

You are so right, that intensity in the voice, we called it the "pucker factor", when you have screwed up and the sphincter muscle, has crawled up, through your body and is constricting your neck!

I'm a former ATC (IFR at busy airports) and now commercial pilot - On the first occurrence, this should have been picked up by her sector supervisor at its early stage and maybe taken out of the seat. Its a tough job with very little margin for error. Thanks for your vids!!

Hey Kelsey, I just flew a plane for the first time and you inspired me to start flight school thanks for inspiring me and making me want to have the best job in the world and ignore people who way I cant

Excellent information ♥️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I love this ATC vs Pilot series. I never had a problem with ATC thank god.