kolkata a pilot misreading an air traffic controllers atc instruction can spell disaster in the air the inability to comprehend the person at the other end of the radio transmitter can also be frustrating for either some pilots consider controllers to be sadists refusing to provide the desired flight altitude and dictating terms from cushy seats in airconditioned offices while they have to ensure a safe flight controllers on the other hand consider pilots to be overpaid and pampered to do a job that is not too difficult in modern day aircraft equipped with flybywire avionics more often than not pilots and controllers the two most crucial and critically interdependant components in flight safety have poor opinion about each other and nurse several misgivings though critically interdependant the pilot can steer the aircraft but can fly safely only under the guidance of a controller a prejudiced mind and lack of appreciation for each others capabilities and difficulties at work leads to ineffective communication that can compromise safety whenever there is an incident like two aircraft veering too close to each other or a plane heading into a wrong runway the pilot and controller concerned jump at each others throat the pilot blames the atc for issuing wrong instruction and the latter accuses the pilot for ignoring the command all such major incidents are recorded and postflight data analyzed but there are hundreds of incidents that should be avoided but are not because they do not get recorded in the data while they may not have caused a disaster they certainly compromise safety theres no substitute to effective communication between the cockpit and atc said sarvesh gupta chairman of the airlines operators committee in kolkata and captain of boeing aircraft recognizing the need for more effective facetoface dialogue director general of civil aviation arun singh has instructed all regions to formally put in place a platform where pilots and controllers can regularly meet to clarify issues and clear differences kolkata has taken the lead in the matter and is set to organize the first such formal controllers and pilots interactive forum capif later this month a steering committee has been set up to discuss complete functionality of capif kolkata did organize a capif in 2007 and again in 2010 a capif was also held in guwahati in 2010in which controllers from 12 stations in the northeast as well as air force participated but all of them happened due to the personal initiative of some there was a need to institutionalize the process and make capif a regular feature of civil aviation in india and that is what we are set to initiate from kolkata singh told toi to understand and appreciate each others concerns constraints and work environment airline pilots will have to visit the area and tower control and spend some time there controllers too will be encouraged to get into the cockpit whenever a plane is making a long stopover at the airport a proposal to get