Narrative:

A P28 called ready to depart runway xxl. He wanted to go northbound VFR and I had people in the pattern on the north runway. I told him runway xxl cleared for takeoff; fly straight out. He read back runway xxl cleared for takeoff. I went back and told him to fly straight out. He said he didn't know what that meant. The student had a foreign accent. Recommendation; the only thing I can think to solve this problem is for something to be done about the english competency tests students take. The majority of students only know common phrases. I think fly straight out is pretty straight forward and should be something any pilot should know.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller described a confused clearance event when the student pilot was unable to decipher the term 'fly straight out'; indicating more language proficiency should be required of foreign students.

Narrative: A P28 called ready to depart Runway XXL. He wanted to go northbound VFR and I had people in the pattern on the north runway. I told him Runway XXL cleared for takeoff; fly straight out. He read back Runway XXL cleared for takeoff. I went back and told him to fly straight out. He said he didn't know what that meant. The student had a foreign accent. Recommendation; the only thing I can think to solve this problem is for something to be done about the English competency tests students take. The majority of students only know common phrases. I think fly straight out is pretty straight forward and should be something any pilot should know.

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.