Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 104; Flight Crew Total 1100; Flight Crew Type 622
Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Human Factors
I'm reporting a recurrent occurrence where an Air Traffic Controller serving the Tower (and occasionally ground) is utilizing unclear speech on the frequency. The issue is not so much the radio phraseology; it's rather the constant mumbling; fast talking and unclear speech that often force you to request repetition. I'm used to very high paced radio talk enroute; but with TRACON and ARTCC it's almost always distinct and easily recognizable. I often need to concentrate hard to try to make out what this Controller means with certain instructions. I've had occurrences where even the wind information or equivalent from the ATIS recording has been unreadable. The reason why I report it is because I can clearly hear that I'm not alone having trouble understanding; past all the fast paced mumbling. During high workload and dense traffic conditions at this airport (which is common); this becomes a safety hazard. ATC gets more stressed because they have to repeat half of the instructions and the airplane crews are not always completely sure what's expected of them. All because of indistinct radio mumbling. I couldn't find any better source of reporting this other than here. I haven't yet been in any severe traffic conflicts because you take extra precautions and scan your surroundings but I want to raise my concerns before something happens because of ATC; no less for the Controller's sake.
Cessna 172 instructor pilot reports that a local ATC Controller's mumbling; indistinct; and rapid speech on Tower; Ground Control; and ATIS communications causes confusion and requires many pilots to have to ask for a repeat of radio transmissions.