Narrative:

Both aircraft on training flights; aircraft Y established on the transition from guano inbound for the dab RNAV runway 7R approach. Aircraft X was assigned heading 250 which was a radar assigned vector that would take the aircraft to guano intersection to begin approach. The pilot of aircraft X was advised to expect to start the approach from guano at xa:28Z; which the pilot acknowledged whom I believe was the instructor. At xa:30Z aircraft X was instructed to cross guano at 2;000 cleared RNAV runway 7R approach straight in. I used straight in due to the on going communications issue with foreign pilots and the high volume of unpredictability in the training environment. The student pilot; I believe; responded with the botched phraseology 'cleared for approach on runway 7 straight in'. At the time; I believed that I had heard and understood enough of the transmission that the pilot would fly the track I expected. At xa:21Z I observed that the radar track was not what I expected; appeared to be turning south; and asked the pilot if he was direct guano. The pilot replied that they were direct tacur. The aircraft were observed on a converging course and separation was lost. Aircraft X was issued an immediate right turn to heading 290 to re-establish separation. I immediately called the flm to my sector and advised him of the loss of separation. The flm and I listened to the voice recording and discussed ways to mitigate this type of scenario from re-occurring. However; the pilot's poor communications skills were definitely a contributory element to the event. Unfortunately; due to the high volume of training with various degrees of experience within the instructor and student ranks; controllers at dab are very adept at working with the students and their poor communications and aviation english. Often times a controller can only make out partial/incomplete transmissions; and through experience and observation of the flight tracks; the controller is able to determine if the pilot is complying with the instructions issued. It is not helpful when the student and the instructor have language issues and these types of incidents will continue to occur. Miscommunication is the root cause of this incident. Both the instructor and the student were answering calls and the language barrier was evident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DAB Controller experienced a loss of separation event between two IFR training aircraft listing language problems as a causal factor.

Narrative: Both aircraft on training flights; Aircraft Y established on the transition from GUANO inbound for the DAB RNAV RWY 7R Approach. Aircraft X was assigned heading 250 which was a RADAR assigned vector that would take the aircraft to GUANO Intersection to begin approach. The pilot of Aircraft X was advised to expect to start the approach from GUANO at XA:28Z; which the pilot acknowledged whom I believe was the instructor. At XA:30Z Aircraft X was instructed to cross GUANO at 2;000 cleared RNAV Runway 7R approach straight in. I used straight in due to the on going communications issue with foreign pilots and the high volume of unpredictability in the training environment. The student pilot; I believe; responded with the botched phraseology 'CLEARED FOR APPROACH ON RWY 7 STRAIGHT IN'. At the time; I believed that I had heard and understood enough of the transmission that the pilot would fly the track I expected. At XA:21Z I observed that the RADAR track was not what I expected; appeared to be turning south; and asked the pilot if he was direct GUANO. The pilot replied that they were direct TACUR. The aircraft were observed on a converging course and separation was lost. Aircraft X was issued an immediate right turn to heading 290 to re-establish separation. I immediately called the FLM to my sector and advised him of the loss of separation. The FLM and I listened to the voice recording and discussed ways to mitigate this type of scenario from re-occurring. However; the pilot's poor communications skills were definitely a contributory element to the event. Unfortunately; due to the high volume of training with various degrees of experience within the instructor and student ranks; controllers at DAB are very adept at working with the students and their poor communications and aviation English. Often times a controller can only make out partial/incomplete transmissions; and through experience and observation of the flight tracks; the controller is able to determine if the pilot is complying with the instructions issued. It is not helpful when the student and the instructor have language issues and these types of incidents will continue to occur. Miscommunication is the root cause of this incident. Both the instructor and the student were answering calls and the language barrier was evident.

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.