TOP travel writer Simon Calder has faced a backlash on Twitter following a tweet that questioned the necessity of Welsh being used in passenger announcements on flights in and out of Cardiff Airport.
Mr Calder’s tweet, in relation to one of his recent stories for the Independent, asks whether adding Welsh language Covid announcements to a pilot’s to-do list could be a dangerous distraction.
The article, published yesterday, recounted an incident on an Air Canada flight that narrowly avoided disaster in San Francisco in 2019 - an incident that was attributed to pilots having too long a list of pre, mid and post-flight announcements.
In the article, he said: “The existence of this weighty Notam (Notice to Air Men) means yet more guff for airmen and women to wade through as they carry out their duty to fly us safely and professionally. And adding to their pre-flight burden is not a zero-risk issue.”
In a follow up tweet, Mr Calder asked:
Is it really necessary to instruct pilots flying to Cardiff to ensure that a Covid announcement is made in Welsh as well as English and one other language?
— Simon Calder (@SimonCalder) April 14, 2021
The Tweet received a hasty reaction, with many respondents pointing to the fact that Welsh has the same legal status as English in Wales. Some replies questioned whether Mr Calder would make the same argument about the use of native languages in other countries.
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Explaining his comments, Mr Calder told the Argus' sister publication The National the article was only intended to illustrate safety concerns in the industry.
The Indepedent's top travel scribe said: "This is a story about the risks posed by requiring pilots of passenger planes to read a great deal of information before they operate the aircraft.
"As the report into a near-catastrophic incident at San Francisco revealed, the captain and first officer of an Air Canada flight missed the very important notification that one of the runways at their destination was closed.
"My article considers whether pilots are being given too much information. As an example, I have cited the 150-word instruction about Covid precautions that flight crew heading for Wales are given.
“I wonder if that is essential information for pilots, rather than something that their airline should be told about?"
The are no commercial international flights using Cardiff Airport. When they resume, it is understood that a 150 word onboard message about Covid precautions will be delivered in English, Welsh and the officially recognised language of the flight’s country of departure.
This article originally appeared on the Argus' sister site The National.
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