A glf-5 flight crew experienced a track deviation when they misunderstood their ATC clearance due to...

Narrative:

On copying a departure clearance from cabo san lucas airport mmsd; I had to ask the controller three times for clarification for routing to mmlt. There was a language barrier on understanding the controller. I understood our initial departure procedure as cleared back to the sjd VOR and then cleared to the outbound boundary via V1W. After multiple clarifications; the final read back was V1W lap J1 lto direct. After departing runway 16; as we made our turn back to the sjd VOR on the clearance that we understood. The controller told us our clearance was the KATRO1 departure. We told the controller at this point we were not given a departure procedure and we understood back to the sjd VOR V1W. The controller informed us we were cleared for the KATRO1 departure. We replied that we were not given a departure procedure and the controller told us that there was no traffic in the area at the time but it could have caused a conflict. The other pilot and I feel that the confusion arose when the controller told us we were cleared back to the sjd VOR and then cleared to the outbound boundary. This led us to believe that after departure a turn was to be back to the sjd VOR then outbound on V1W. When thinking about this; my final read back should have been the entire clearance; not just the part he read back. If there was anything that needed clarification; it could have been done at this point. The final readback was just the routing only. The breakdown comes down to a language barrier; and once understanding the clearance; not reading the full clearance back starting with cleared to and ending with the squawk.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A GLF-5 flight crew experienced a track deviation when they misunderstood their ATC clearance due to a language barrier with Clearance Delivery in MMSD.

Narrative: On copying a departure clearance from Cabo San Lucas airport MMSD; I had to ask the Controller three times for clarification for routing to MMLT. There was a language barrier on understanding the Controller. I understood our initial departure procedure as cleared back to the SJD VOR and then cleared to the Outbound Boundary via V1W. After multiple clarifications; the final read back was V1W LAP J1 LTO Direct. After departing Runway 16; as we made our turn back to the SJD VOR on the clearance that we understood. The Controller told us our clearance was the KATRO1 departure. We told the Controller at this point we were not given a departure procedure and we understood back to the SJD VOR V1W. The Controller informed us we were cleared for the KATRO1 departure. We replied that we were not given a departure procedure and the controller told us that there was no traffic in the area at the time but it could have caused a conflict. The other pilot and I feel that the confusion arose when the controller told us we were cleared back to the SJD VOR and then cleared to the Outbound Boundary. This led us to believe that after departure a turn was to be back to the SJD VOR then outbound on V1W. When thinking about this; my final read back should have been the entire clearance; not just the part he read back. If there was anything that needed clarification; it could have been done at this point. The final readback was just the routing only. The breakdown comes down to a language barrier; and once understanding the clearance; not reading the full clearance back starting with cleared to and ending with the squawk.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	884026
Time
Date	201004
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	MMSD.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Gulfstream V / G500 / G550
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 4500 Flight Crew Type 250
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Rotorcraft Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 65 Flight Crew Total 16400 Flight Crew Type 450
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

A glf-5 flight crew experienced a track deviation when they misunderstood their ATC clearance due to a language barrier with clearance delivery in mmsd.