When making a custom mission in "create fast mission", the ground crew does not respond if you open up the "mission planner" before launching it. If you make a mission without going into the mission planner, they respond. Ground crew responds just fine in instant action, missions and training. Ive noticed sometimes there is no audio dialogue from the pilot, but the subtitles do appear.
SOLVED- Airport bullseye was set to Blue, but I had to click on the letters of the airport name to pull up the "warehouse" menu, it was set to neutral. Set it to blue and good to go. Ive never seen that menu in all my years of DCS!