The necessity of the English Language in the aviation industry.
In today’s era of modernity, every industry has reached the hype worldwide business. And to have a smooth running of every sector to fulfil its goal, it becomes a basic necessity to be aware of the diversity worldwide. To have a good acquaintance in any field, the first thing required is to be mindful of different languages as, without it, there will always be a communication gap. The aviation industry also works in that way as it has to meet the demand of people from within a nation and internationally. This article will be a thorough discussion about the proficiency of the English Language in the aviation or airline industry. SFTS Edu is a renowned aviation institute that conducts spoken english course in kolkata. Knowing different languages to join the aviation industry is very much needed.
PROFICIENCY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN AVIATION:
The aviation industry has different job profiles to maintain the smooth running of the industry. So it is very important to communicate properly among all the crew members to improve work efficiency. Especially for pilots and air traffic controllers, it is very important to communicate properly and efficiently as they serve worldwide as per their posting. So having this concern, the ICAO established English Language proficiency as a basic requirement. It means that to join these posts in aviation, good command of the English Language is mandatory.
The pilot and the air traffic controller exchange crucial information about the flight, aircraft, crew members and passengers as they need to look after other situational awareness and external factors to ensure that all protocols and safety measures are taken properly. No wrong steps can be taken as the coordination of words, or clear communication is essential to have flight safety and evading every possible flight situation to be at risk. The major human errors are miscommunication and language barriers that can seriously impact the flight’s safety. Therefore, ICAO took the initiative to establish the English Language proficiency requirements for air traffic controllers and pilots, mainly responsible for serving and operating national and international flights.
In 1944 English was chosen as the language of the skies at the Chicago Convention. During this time, the ICAO first began addressing the importance of the English Language for pilots and air traffic controllers in the year 1998 in September. Finally, in 2008, an English Language proficiency test was established as the basic requirement for pilots and air traffic controllers. It became a part of their qualification.
Aviation English is very complex as it includes specific terminology, phraseology, phonetic alphabet and the universal jargon that is heard on a flight. It became very easy to have a common language as it also serves as an advantage. Pilots and air traffic controllers in the same airspace can work to increase situational awareness and monitor air traffic transmissions. Communication in English is fast; while much of the language is technical, operational command of English is needed to pass along important messages as fast, clear, precise interaction is necessary, particularly in an emergency.
To check an individual’s English command, the ICAO has set its language rating scale from 1–6. Level 4 is the minimum requirement for operations, whereas level 5 is the extended level and the final level 6 is the expert level. SFTS Edu is an aviation training institute in kolkata that serves in a very effective manner to their aviation aspirants in all the domains of aviation. They ensure that nobody confronts any hurdle while flourishing their dream in aviation.
The proficiency in the English Language of the trainees is tested over the period. The validity of the test depends on the proficiency level acquired. For those who speak English as natives and dominate the language flawlessly, their proficiency does not require reevaluation as they have already attained the expert level. But those at level 4 (the minimum level) must go through tests every three years, and those at level 5 give the test every five years.
CONCLUSION:
To make it easy, several language institutes are established to help out the trainees and even assist them in preparing for different aviation-related exams like the ICAO’s Aviation English Language Test Service(AELTS), ICAO Rated Speech Samples Training Aid(RSSTA) and English Language Proficiency for Aeronautical Communication(ELPAC). The coordination of words between the pilot and the air traffic controller plays a vital role as even a small piece of miscommunication or exchange of inaccurate information might lead to difficult misfortune situations ahead in the flight period.
