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If you've ever noticed the unique cool, calm and confident manner of speech that airline pilots have on the intercom / ATC net, it was Yeager who developed that

If you've ever noticed the unique cool, calm and confident manner of speech that airline pilots have on the intercom / ATC net, it was Yeager who developed that attitude and style of speaking [1, 2] within pilot culture. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_Stuff_(book) [2] https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/silky-smooth-chuck-yeager-voice/ https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/silky-smooth-c...

dingaling 6y ago
I'm sure Mr Yeager had an excellent style, but ATC radiotelephony procedures were developed in the 1930s and standardised by the ICAO in the early 1950s.
- philshem 6y ago
  GP refers to attitude and style, not procedure. I've looked up the ATC audio of commercial pilots that I know, and despite being 100% from the Northeast US, they talk to ATC with a slow and mild drawl.
  - studius 6y ago
    The depth of the voice matters also: https://www.ricemedia.co/the-science-behind-hating-someone-for-their-voice/ https://www.ricemedia.co/the-science-behind-hating-someone-f...
- hliyan 6y ago
  I think you misread the parent comment. He's referring to the understated, almost nonchalant tone of voice all modern aviators and astronauts use, even during emergencies.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    How else would they talk during an emergency? Do you think they'd shout and panic? Why?
    - jagged-chisel 6y ago
      Yes, they’d panic without training and practice. Because people panic, get frantic, or otherwise become emotional to the point of misunderstanding. Calm communication in serious, dangerous, or emergency situations is learned.
      - chrisseaton 6y ago
        But other people who use radios, like the Army, don't speak in that drawl but also don't panic on the radio, and were doing it well before.
        kamarg 6y ago
        It's not the specific way of speaking that prevents panic. It's the training. It just happens that for a while pilots all wanted to sound like Chuck Yeager and then it just became the way new pilots talked because that's how all the other pilots they knew talked.
    - neop1x 6y ago
      As a private pilot I learned what to say in the radio in case of emergency but they haven't tought us to be Yeager-calm. They told us to fly the airplane as the top priority, keep calm, think about the options and if the situation allows that, contact ATC and describe the problem with proper ATC prodecures. Of course it wouldn't help to freak out and yell to the radio. I never heard about Yeager before. I am sure he was great Air Force officer and perfect test pilot but I am not sure about this unique communication specialty either. Pilots are expected to be calm, well-trained, know the ACFT limitations and emergency procedures.
  - protomyth 6y ago
    The line was every pilot wants to sound like Chuck Yeager and every ATC wants to sound like a NASA mission controller. I remember hearing that one in an SR-71 video (I think it was the air speed story).
    - tomkat0789 6y ago
      > the air speed story Found it! There's surely a better site out there, but this was the first I bumped into on Google. https://247sports.com/college/north-carolina/Board/102717/Contents/The-LA-speed-story-SR-71-Blackbird-101736658/ https://247sports.com/college/north-carolina/Board/102717/Co...
      - apricot 6y ago
        And there I go, reading it for the umpteenth time.
  - labcomputer 6y ago
    That was a test pilot thing, not a (specifically) Chuck Yeager thing.
  - spanktheuser 6y ago
    I have family and friends that were military pilots (of WW II vintage through to the 1990s) and would argue that the shared style is due to factors other than imitation. Among them: • 1930s - 1960s (perhaps beyond) military pilots were selected by a highly meritocratic process that corrected for disparities in wealth, class and education (but not race, gender, sexual orientation). As a result, there were large numbers of pilots raised in poverty, with no college degree, & strong regional accents. These individuals became officers and then seeded the commercial airline culture that exists today. • By the late 50’s at least, the military strongly selected for a particular personality type. All candidates for flight school were given psychological assessments. Among the factors selected for was how they reacted in emergency situations. Having lived among pilots all my life, I can absolutely confirm a tendency to remain absurdly unexcited by physical danger and fast-moving crises of any type. They also tend to under-react to situations that require resolution but that lack the same crisis atmosphere. Anecdotal, but in summary my guess is the military developed a template and Yeager was an exemplary fit.
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m463 6y ago
"Tower, I've lost three engines and a tail rotor." "Copy, cleared to land 28R"

dingaling 6y ago

I'm sure Mr Yeager had an excellent style, but ATC radiotelephony procedures were developed in the 1930s and standardised by the ICAO in the early 1950s.

philshem 6y ago
GP refers to attitude and style, not procedure. I've looked up the ATC audio of commercial pilots that I know, and despite being 100% from the Northeast US, they talk to ATC with a slow and mild drawl.
- studius 6y ago
  The depth of the voice matters also: https://www.ricemedia.co/the-science-behind-hating-someone-for-their-voice/ https://www.ricemedia.co/the-science-behind-hating-someone-f...
hliyan 6y ago
I think you misread the parent comment. He's referring to the understated, almost nonchalant tone of voice all modern aviators and astronauts use, even during emergencies.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  How else would they talk during an emergency? Do you think they'd shout and panic? Why?
  - jagged-chisel 6y ago
    Yes, they’d panic without training and practice. Because people panic, get frantic, or otherwise become emotional to the point of misunderstanding. Calm communication in serious, dangerous, or emergency situations is learned.
    - chrisseaton 6y ago
      But other people who use radios, like the Army, don't speak in that drawl but also don't panic on the radio, and were doing it well before.
      - kamarg 6y ago
        It's not the specific way of speaking that prevents panic. It's the training. It just happens that for a while pilots all wanted to sound like Chuck Yeager and then it just became the way new pilots talked because that's how all the other pilots they knew talked.
  - neop1x 6y ago
    As a private pilot I learned what to say in the radio in case of emergency but they haven't tought us to be Yeager-calm. They told us to fly the airplane as the top priority, keep calm, think about the options and if the situation allows that, contact ATC and describe the problem with proper ATC prodecures. Of course it wouldn't help to freak out and yell to the radio. I never heard about Yeager before. I am sure he was great Air Force officer and perfect test pilot but I am not sure about this unique communication specialty either. Pilots are expected to be calm, well-trained, know the ACFT limitations and emergency procedures.
- protomyth 6y ago
  The line was every pilot wants to sound like Chuck Yeager and every ATC wants to sound like a NASA mission controller. I remember hearing that one in an SR-71 video (I think it was the air speed story).
  - tomkat0789 6y ago
    > the air speed story Found it! There's surely a better site out there, but this was the first I bumped into on Google. https://247sports.com/college/north-carolina/Board/102717/Contents/The-LA-speed-story-SR-71-Blackbird-101736658/ https://247sports.com/college/north-carolina/Board/102717/Co...
    - apricot 6y ago
      And there I go, reading it for the umpteenth time.
- labcomputer 6y ago
  That was a test pilot thing, not a (specifically) Chuck Yeager thing.
- spanktheuser 6y ago
  I have family and friends that were military pilots (of WW II vintage through to the 1990s) and would argue that the shared style is due to factors other than imitation. Among them: • 1930s - 1960s (perhaps beyond) military pilots were selected by a highly meritocratic process that corrected for disparities in wealth, class and education (but not race, gender, sexual orientation). As a result, there were large numbers of pilots raised in poverty, with no college degree, & strong regional accents. These individuals became officers and then seeded the commercial airline culture that exists today. • By the late 50’s at least, the military strongly selected for a particular personality type. All candidates for flight school were given psychological assessments. Among the factors selected for was how they reacted in emergency situations. Having lived among pilots all my life, I can absolutely confirm a tendency to remain absurdly unexcited by physical danger and fast-moving crises of any type. They also tend to under-react to situations that require resolution but that lack the same crisis atmosphere. Anecdotal, but in summary my guess is the military developed a template and Yeager was an exemplary fit.

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m463 6y ago

"Tower, I've lost three engines and a tail rotor." "Copy, cleared to land 28R"