I had always thought that the standard international language for Air Traffic Control was English, but I’ve recently discovered that this isn’t entirely true. I understand that some countries that include France, Spain and Italy (plus far east countries) use their native language to native aircraft at their airports.
This might not be an obviously problem but I watched a programme last night that highlighted an accident at Charles de Gaule (sp?) airport a few years ago. A British cargo plane was in contact with the tower in English, but the other planes taxiing were speaking in French. The French speaking plane was cleared to take-off from the main runway at the same as the British plane was cleared to access the main runway. The British plane obviously didn’t know of any risk since not speaking French were unaware of any confusion regarding the runway (if everyone had been speaking English then they would have realised a problem). The plane taking off struck the cargo plane and killed the British pilot; the co-pilot was badly injured. There was no other lives lost. The co-pilot was then faced with manslaughter charges until they found out it was an ATC error. Charles de Gaule still use the French language to French aircraft.
So, my question is, are native languages used purely for Ground traffic, or also for Zone, Approach and Departures traffic?