Aviation Radiotelephony Discourse: An Issue of Safety 219That is, radiotelephony communication takes place as air-to-ground
interaction between pilot and air traffic controller and their exchanges are
contextualized in such communicative events as asking for start-up, asking
for permission to take off, requesting information before approach,
following instructions to land, etc. Again, interaction text and context
mutually define each other, in the sense that each stage of a flight is
precisely so only in standard flight situations. We can presume then, that
radiotelephony interaction text and context will mutually define each other
in non-standard, emergency situations.
This integration of radiotelephony interaction texts and contexts in
flight encounters may finally be characterized in more abstract terms as
accomplishing specific flight operational tasks and goals, such as making
or influencing flight operation solutions, that is solutions that pertain to
joint action, the distribution of mental resources, the following or change
of prescribed norms and regulations, and so on.
It is essential to add that the context is rooted in verbal and non-verbal
domains of radiotelephony communication. Hence, the verbal aspect of
radiotelephony discourse has inevitable cultural, social and personal
emphasis. Research on communication difficulties for non-native English
pilots has reported on such factors (Monteiro 2012).
However, in order to avoid the extension of radiotelephony
communication as part of flight operation and radiotelephony discourse to
a domain that is so large that it would coincide with the study of any
expert community discourse in general, we will treat radiotelephony
discourse as a domain of special language use/interaction integrated into
fight operation procedures both in standard situations and in emergencies
and not ignoring non-verbal factors possibly affecting the discourse in the
sense of flight safety.
Since experts and their practices in aviation may be categorized in
many ways, we may propose that radiotelephony acting ‘verbally and non-
verbally’ safely for a flight is essentially defined contextually in terms of
special radiotelephony practices of which the tasks, goals or functions are
exclusively an issue of safety. This includes air-to-ground exchanges
between pilots and air traffic controllers, the talk of flight crew members
and air traffic control work mates outside of radiotelephony exchanges,
and includes the discourse of all other groups as soon as they participate in
flight operation or air traffic control procedures.
From our discourse analytical point of view, such a contextual
definition at the same time suggests that the study of radiotelephony
discourse should not be limited to the structural properties of