Language Qualification At Level 6

[Pronto]

Apologies if this one has already done to death but ...

Has anyone successfully obtained the Level 6 language qualification?

I've been trying for a year and a bit, ever since the letter from the CAA arrived, all without success. Finally, I emailed the CAA who said that the test could be done by an examiner at a club event, or in a briefing of some type: there's no need for me to actually fly anything - it just has to be a formal event. Alternatively, they hope to be able to offer language testing at CAA House in the near future. (As an aside, this is OK for anyone who can get to Gatwick during the normal working day, not much use for anyone who has to take a day off not to actually do their hobby, just to get the paperwork straight!)

:ugh:

The other option is that the chap responsible for the CAA Safety Evenings is qualified to test but I suspect that there'll be a very long queue at any such evening.

:ugh:

I fly with a small group from an aerodrome where there's no other clubs. We no longer offer ab initio instruction. I've never ever seen the examiner, never mind spoken to him. The last time I saw an examiner (who was from another club giving me my 24 month certificate) he told me that he couldn't do a language test without having flown with me. (This was before I had the email exchange with the CAA). However, if he has to judge my English at a formal event (briefing or formal flying club event), then one supposes that I'd have to be a member of that club anyway. So that particular route is closed to me too.

Has anyone actually managed to get the qualification and how did you do it?

[S-Works]

I have been doing Level 6 for over a year when I do the 2 year instructional flight and revalidation of the licence. When I conduct an LST/LPC I do it automatically.

You will not get anything else from the CAA stating Level 6. Just English Proficient on your licence.

[Pronto]

Bose-X, that was exactly where I started! I got the letter from the CAA the day before I was due to fly a 2-year instructional flight. The instructor is a CRI who said - and it seems correctly - he wasn't qualified to do the check (though one of the documents I'd seen at that stage suggested that instructors who'd been assessed could). He went on to say that he didn't know anyone who was qualified - at that time - to do the check.

I'm assuming that you're an examiner as the list of classes of people who are qualified - as supplied by the CAA in their last email - were all examiners. As I mentioned at the outset, my club no longer offers ab initio training and I've never seen the examiner (I think we do still have one, just in case we start ab initio again).

Over two years later, I'm still trying to find somebody who can certify that at approaching 51-years-of-age and nearly 25 years flying, I can speak my native language without having to pay for the privilege, either by going to a language school or taking (an already scarce) day off work ...

:ugh:

So far as what you get on your licence (or not, as the case may be), this is immaterial. I like having things straight and legal. That way, if anything goes wrong, at least it removes a possibile source of criticism from the ensuing investigation!

[LH2]

You will not get anything else from the CAA stating Level 6. Just English Proficient on your licence.

I was going to ask: both my 2006 PPL and my 2008 CPL say "Language proficiency: English // No Further Entries" in section XIII (Remarks)

So what does that mean in relation to ICAO language proficiency levels? Do I have to pass a test or something or is that it? :confused:

[S-Works]

Yes I am an Examiner. An Instructor can't do the check because only an Examiner can sign the SRG1119. However if you do the flight with an Examiner, Revalidation or higher then they can sign the form and the Language Proficiency Certificate.

As long as your licence says English Proficient I would not bother about anything else, it will work itself out in the wash. Next time you do a 2 year flight and get an Examiner to sign your licence ask them to complete the level 6 if you are really that worried. It is not really needed and as I said you will get nothing back from the CAA to note the change.

It is all a bit of a dogs dinner really. Don't worry about it!!!

[jollyrog]

I asked the examiner who did my IMCr in February to sign the language form. He wasn't very sure about it but signed the form anyway.

Two days later, I did an "in person" application at Gatwick. When I collected the licence some hours later, I asked the lady if the language had been amended. She assured me it had and that I was now level 6.

There's no difference between the old language (level 4) entry and my reissued one.

[Cusco]

The actual level of your Language qual is only noted on your CAA records.

I am an English language/communication examiner for overseas/non British professional individuals at a postgraduate professional level and a confirmatory letter from my employers (a National Regulatory Body) to CAA allowed my level 6.

Cusco.

[Sultan Ismail]

There is another way, Jeppesen run an online examination that can be monitored by a flying organisation either on airport or in town.
I did mine a couple of years ago, straight level 6 pass. A colleague who attended with me managed a level 5, and more interestingly a mutual friend who is a Training Captain with the National airline also only managed a level 5.
The examination subject is "Aviation English", it is not not an examination on English grammer or Shakespeares Sonnets.
The idea is to test your capability to communicate, understand and respond to aviation situations met by all pilots at sometime in their flying career using standard English Aviation Phraseology.
I have a theory on how the online system is scored which relates to the repetitive use of the word 'Rhubarb".
Not proven, but I did get a 6 (which is better than a High Five) :)

I'll post details of the Jeppesen test after reference to my records.

[Jim59]

See
ICAO Language Proficiency | Personnel Licensing | Safety Regulation (http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1688&pagetype=90)
for full details.

Proficiency levels 1-3 are below minimum standard for a licence.
Level 4 is OK but retesting required every three years.
Level 5 is OK but retesting required every five years.
Level 6 is OK and is valid for life without retesting.

In 2008 CAA 'grandfathered' most UK licence holders to level 4, thus you will need retesting 2011 latest unless before then you undergo a test and are reassessed to level 6. How this can be done is outlined in the reference. Passing the level 6 test is easier than the lower levels because another native English speaker, such as an examiner, can do that for you. The lower levels have to be done by a language specialist which your typical examiner is not. Language specialists will usually be in language schools and make a charge to assess you, most examiners won't if combined with some other activity.

If not done within three years your licence is at risk.

[Jumbo Driver]

A little while ago, following the re-issue of a professional licence, I contacted the CAA by telephone to ask about the new entry which said "Language Proficiency: English". A somewhat lengthy discussion followed about what it meant, why it was there, what level I was assessed at and how it could be changed, and it emerged that I was the proud possessor of a Level 4 in CAA records. Further discussion revealed that this assessment would (initially, at least) have little or no practical effect upon me as a licence holder and that appropriate re-assessment to Level 6 would, as a previous poster has said, "work itself out in the wash", probably by having an LPC signed-up by an Examiner who carried the necessary Level 6 which was required to assess and upgrade me. Just as this rather protracted but nevertheless friendly and light-hearted conversation was nearing its end, I asked the person to whom I was speaking whether he himself held an English Language assessment, to which he replied that he did and was actually authorised to make informal assessments at Level 6.

Now, rather as Gerard Hoffnung implied on that famous occasion, I expect you are way ahead of me (the CAA man certainly was) ... however, for me, the penny fell slowly and I asked if he would, on the basis of our rather extended chat about EU Directives, ICAO requirements, UK legislation, the pitfalls therein and the general meaning of life, like to consider upgrading my English Language Level from 4 to 6 - his refreshingly helpful response was that he had already changed my CAA record to show Level 6 on precisely that basis. What a decent chap! :D

I think that was the one and only time in the 40-odd years I have held a licence that I have passed a test with the CAA by telephone ...


JD
:)

[homeguard]

All pilots are required to re-validate their class ratings either by flight or on experience every 12 or 24 months depending on the rating. An examiner signs the SRG1119 form at the time of revalidation/renewal. All that the examiner needs to do is complete section 6 on page 2 if satisfied the pilot is level 6 merely by conversation as the CAA officer made clear, job done. It is that simple. All UK examiners (Flight/RT) are able to make the assessment.

All this nonsense is to satisfy the ICAO requirement that for international flight the pilot is at a minimum level 4.

All those brits and others automatically leveled at 4 provisionally by the CAA are able to fly internationally and in due course will when revalidating their class ratings be levelled at 6. Those pilots who are able to be assessed at level 6 are therefore not affected in actual practice and will be language legal at all times until formally assessed.

[znww5]

I can't understand why the CAA doesn't accept GCSE or O-level English as proof of Level 6 language competence. Although it wouldn't be the solution for everybody, at least it would reduce the size of the problem somewhat.

I know the UK NPPL, being a National Licence, isn't affected, but I wonder if this fiasco will be repeated when/if the European LPL is introduced - what will the language requirements be for that?

[S-Works]

I can't understand why the CAA doesn't accept GCSE or O-level English as proof of Level 6 language competence.

Because I suspect looking at the average age of pilots, most could not remember the exams they sat let alone provide proof of them.

I really do not see what people are getting worked up about. Everyone got LVL 4 automatically, everyone will get LVL 6 automatically as part of revalidation. Between now and then there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

I do find the English habit of loving rules and regulations to death highly amusing.

[BackPacker]

everyone will get LVL 6 automatically as part of revalidation.

Well, not quite. As I understand, if you "revalidate by experience" you don't get level 6 automatically. Unless your examiner, who has to be a native speaker of English (level 6 himself), holds a UK-issued (JAR-FCL) license and is able to deduce from the short verbal exchange "can you sign my license? I've got 12 hours including one dual - here's my logbook" that you're indeed a level 6.

In my particular case, being the proud owner of a UK-issued JAR-FCL PPL but a Dutch native speaker and a resident of the Netherlands, this will mean a one or two-hour exam costing me 130 euros at least. Because the clubs examiner doesn't hold a UK-issued license but rather a Dutch JAR-FCL compliant one.

For me, it's all a bit overkill. Although I am a Dutch native speaker, my English is excellent and I can pass for a native except for the fact that my accent is a mixture of UK/US/Texan and Australian English. I have taught IT courses and presented at conferences in all sorts of foreign countries, including the UK, US, Texas and Australia and consider myself quite fluent. If I could phone somebody up (like Jumbo Driver) and have my records amended to a 6, I would be very happy.

[Whopity]

So long as you have English Language Proficiency on your licence I really do not see any reason to be concerned about the level. If you were granted Level 4 on grandfather rights, do you really think they are going to withdraw your licence and take it away if you don't upgrade it in 3 years. If you still have a valid FRTOL then surely you must still have grandfather rights!