Narrative:

I was working local control-3 (local control); combined with local control-4 and local control-5. It was late in the evening and I had just relieved another controller a few minutes earlier. I was standing up at the time. When I cleared aircraft X 'RNAV to futbl; runway 27R; cleared for takeoff'. Aircraft X read back the cleared for takeoff part and then asked what I had said at the beginning. I asked him to clarify his request and then reissued the previous instruction. Aircraft X did not read back the 'RNAV to futbl' part; but that was not abnormal for foreign carriers to omit parts of the clearance that do not require a read back. Most of the day; the south winds were pushing aircraft within the first mile or two off the end slightly north before they established on the heading to futbl or slaww; our two RNAV fixes. Since I was standing; I observed aircraft X start to drift north and then lost sight of him behind the ground control-C (ground control) asde-X display. When I expected him to reappear from behind the screen he did not and then I saw on the racd that he was significantly off course. I issued an immediate left turn; and shouted across the tower to local control-2 that I had aircraft X turning. They were just starting to shout at me about aircraft X. Once that was settled; I issued a 230 heading aircraft X right as dr-south called in. I did impromptu coordination with dr-south; assuming they heard the 230 heading; and then switched aircraft X.stop RNAV otg [off the ground]! How many deviations do we need to have before it is determined to be an unsafe operation? There are only a handful of ATC facilities that are easy to modify procedures; but there are millions of pilots worldwide that have to be proficient on the procedures; every time they are changed!if the above isn't possible; then anytime foreign language pilots give a controller an uneasy feeling due to the language barrier; then use headings instead of RNAV. I should have issued the heading when aircraft X asked me the question about what I first said in my takeoff clearance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ATL Local Controller has a clearance problem with a foreign carrier and when the aircraft departs it drifts off the RNAV course into another Local's airspace.

Narrative: I was working Local Control-3 (LC); combined with LC-4 and LC-5. It was late in the evening and I had just relieved another controller a few minutes earlier. I was standing up at the time. When I cleared Aircraft X 'RNAV TO FUTBL; RWY 27R; CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF'. Aircraft X read back the cleared for takeoff part and then asked what I had said at the beginning. I asked him to clarify his request and then reissued the previous instruction. Aircraft X did not read back the 'RNAV TO FUTBL' part; but that was not abnormal for foreign carriers to omit parts of the clearance that do not require a read back. Most of the day; the south winds were pushing aircraft within the first mile or two off the end slightly north before they established on the heading to FUTBL or SLAWW; our two RNAV fixes. Since I was standing; I observed Aircraft X start to drift north and then lost sight of him behind the Ground Control-C (GC) ASDE-X display. When I expected him to reappear from behind the screen he did not and then I saw on the RACD that he was significantly off course. I issued an immediate left turn; and shouted across the tower to LC-2 that I had Aircraft X turning. They were just starting to shout at me about Aircraft X. Once that was settled; I issued a 230 heading Aircraft X right as DR-S called in. I did impromptu coordination with DR-S; assuming they heard the 230 heading; and then switched Aircraft X.STOP RNAV OTG [Off The Ground]! How many deviations do we need to have before it is determined to be an unsafe operation? There are only a handful of ATC facilities that are easy to modify procedures; but there are millions of pilots worldwide that have to be proficient on the procedures; every time they are changed!If the above isn't possible; then anytime foreign language pilots give a controller an uneasy feeling due to the language barrier; then use headings instead of RNAV. I should have issued the heading when Aircraft X asked me the question about what I first said in my takeoff clearance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.