Could be, they have better understanding of what is really happening than the pilot, still they may not/mis-communicate it tough !
For IFR flying anywhere where CAT is around (case of Deauville), you should get a decent amount of ELP and professionalism but agree you may end up with “atc union batch” for a weekend flight at lunch time ;)
I don’t think it was anything to do with ELP. She spoke excellent English as she gave me parking instructions. Maybe it was the confusion between being number one on the instrument approach with someone else doing a VFR join. It is just something that I haven’t experienced before in the years I have been flying IFR. It is usually made very clear which number you are (Timothy’s humourous intervention makes this point) by ATC since it is a safety issue. But it was a beautiful day so it didn’t really matter. It would have been helpful if I had asked for clarification as already mentioned.
Perhaps I have been too subtle with the question even for Timothy.
If you are told number one by ATC does this mean number one for the approach or number one to land? Does this vary if the approach is a self initiated RNAV type approach? I have always understood that being told number one meant number one to land but if it means number one on the RNAV approach then what she said makes perfect sense.
Number one = number one. There is no other aircraft between you and the threshold making an approach, or it should be sequenced behind you. Simple as that. The atco in your case reorganised the sequence and failed to tell you.
No actually she did tell me. She said you are number one and there is a Robin ahead on final. No sense at all unless she meant that you are number one on the instrument approach and please don’t land on top,of the puddle jumper in front of you.
In this case the atco needs a refresher training pronto.
