Language was a factor in the Polish air …

Language was a factor in the Polish air crash… the civilian plane was landing at a military airport. The pilot was Polish, the military air controller is Russian. Military air controllers usually are talking to pilots of their own air force where language isn’t a problem. The lingua franca of air traffic control is English, but when the conversation gets complex, limited English skills can become a limitation. The air controller says that he has no authority to tell a civilisan aircraft what to do (ie divert to another airport)….