Narrative:

I was working ground control. The jet departure popped two tires on takeoff roll. There was lots of smoke; but the aircraft was able to exit at the end of runway. The pilot was foreign with a heavy accent. When he asked for taxi he said something along the lines of 'ready for taxi.' when I heard him; I thought he said with foxtrot. I confused him saying aircraft type with him having the ATIS foxtrot. After listening to tapes; I recognized my mistake. I had many communication problems with this pilot throughout my session. I asked him on two occasions to hold short of runway 16R at intersection Q. He never read back what intersection to hold at. Once I was able to get him to read back holding short of runway 16R; I coordinated with the local controller for a runway crossing. I told the pilot to cross runway 16R at 'Q' then to taxi to runway 16R via taxiway alpha. The pilot ended up turning northbound on the runway and tried to taxi up the runway. As soon as I saw him make the wrong turn; I told him to exit at papa. I think there definitely was a language barrier between the two of us. Recommendation; I should of read the ATIS to him just to make sure he had it since he was so hard to understand.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: VNY Controller described a very confused taxi event after an aborted takeoff; identifying a significant language barrier problem as a contributing factor.

Narrative: I was working Ground Control. The jet departure popped two tires on takeoff roll. There was lots of smoke; but the aircraft was able to exit at the end of runway. The pilot was foreign with a heavy accent. When he asked for taxi he said something along the lines of 'ready for taxi.' When I heard him; I thought he said with Foxtrot. I confused him saying aircraft type with him having the ATIS Foxtrot. After listening to tapes; I recognized my mistake. I had many communication problems with this pilot throughout my session. I asked him on two occasions to hold short of Runway 16R at Intersection Q. He never read back what intersection to hold at. Once I was able to get him to read back holding short of Runway 16R; I coordinated with the Local Controller for a runway crossing. I told the pilot to cross Runway 16R at 'Q' then to taxi to Runway 16R via Taxiway Alpha. The pilot ended up turning northbound on the runway and tried to taxi up the runway. As soon as I saw him make the wrong turn; I told him to exit at Papa. I think there definitely was a language barrier between the two of us. Recommendation; I should of read the ATIS to him just to make sure he had it since he was so hard to understand.

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.