Narrative:

Issued a control instruction to a PA28 to cross runway 11R; he was slow to cross the runway so I asked him to expedite. I received no response I then instructed him again to expedite to the ramp due to traffic now becoming a factor on taxiway charlie. The pilot stated he did not understand. I asked him if he knew what the word expedite meant and he did not know what the word meant. Have student pilots be proficient in english before they are issued their medical certificate. These foreign students are not able to speak or understand basic (air traffic) english and this creates a safety hazard that will kill people someday.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller voiced concern regarding some foreign student pilots that do not understand certain control instructions such as 'expedite'; the reporter noting this lack of language understanding creates a safety hazard.

Narrative: Issued a control instruction to a PA28 to cross Runway 11R; he was slow to cross the runway so I asked him to expedite. I received no response I then instructed him again to expedite to the ramp due to traffic now becoming a factor on Taxiway Charlie. The pilot stated he did not understand. I asked him if he knew what the word expedite meant and he did not know what the word meant. Have student pilots be proficient in English before they are issued their medical certificate. These foreign students are not able to speak or understand basic (air traffic) English and this creates a safety hazard that will kill people someday.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.