Shirl wrote in
Thank you. We thought it was only here in AZ, where a lot of aspiring
airline pilots come to put in time since there are so many
good-weather flying days here. Nothing worse than being in the pattern
at an uncontrolled airport and hearing, "FDVHUdscr Trafffick, Cessna
^%#s9, &&VSs, Gobbledegoop 1 mile, VFSDGXCxss, FDVHUdscr Traffick."

Huh? 1 mile WHERE? How do these people pass the oral exam? Do they
understand US? Do they care?

Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
You ought to hear some US pilots abroad.....

I'm sure that's true, and US pilots abroad should be able to communicate
clearly in languages spoken there, too. But I don't think many US pilots
travel abroad specifically to learn to fly or to build hours. I just
figure if they're here specifically for that, speaking FLUENT, clear and
*understandable* ENGLISH would be a pre-requisite ... but apparently not!