Hi guys i read following article recently about the ICAO level 4 test:

"Nations in Northeast Asia such as Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan and nations uninterested in English like Russia and France have gone on alert. There is talk that the ICAO's primary target was Northeast Asia, and Korea in particular. This is because of Korea's record of accidents resulting from the poor English skills of its pilots. For example, even the Korean government attributed the 1999 crash of a Korean Air cargo plane in Shanghai to insufficient understanding and miscommunication"

After reading it(its just a part of the whole article)i came up to the idea of teaching aviation english to korean pilots, since iam a korean working as a pilot in a big european airline for couple years...

If anyone has some advices or ideas who to contact, how to get involved in that or has already experience in teaching aviation english, please let me know!

Thanks

You are not needed. KAL pilots are ALL, at least level 4. That's what
happens in corrupt countries. Even though basic converation is
IMPOSSIBLE with some. What a FARCE !!!!!!!!

I heard that many of them are scared of taking this test since the failure rate is pretty high...
how can it be possbile to obtain the level 4 test, when this is an official requirement of ICAO and not from Korea?

I guess they are just waiting for a European Guy to tell them how the World turns around. As you are Korean?! You should know better that the last Koreans are proud of is a "Foreign" language. Everything what is not off the Peninsula is subject to be strange for the majority.

It is a commercial way to obtain the level 4.... A private Institute tests the Pilots and after the certificate is issued the level obtained is stated in your licence then. So you ask further question how they obtain it?

Fly safe and land happy

NG

A few samples:

YouTube - Korean English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsQfxiQ09b4)
YouTube - Sung Yuri Speaking English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU0bSatFDaY)

and the Japanese:
YouTube - Dont' laugh when this Japanese man tries to speak English (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE44Rt_Ch_k)

or German?
YouTube - do you speak english (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fijBUeqiW0g)

Ond I can only recommend this commercial as reason why you should learn English:
YouTube - The worlds funniest commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoRD1wmvwUc)

any koreans here who can give further informations???

Two companies are currently handling the test. G-TELP & IAES.

? ? English Proficiency Test of Aviation ? ? (http://air.gtelp.co.kr/eng/index.asp)

IAES - ??????? (http://www.iaes.co.kr/)

I've heard that 98% of airline pilots passed the test.

thanx for the links...very interesting...:D
whats the reason for the high passing rate though? is it really coz of corruption(as stated before) or coz of the good preparation of the institutes?
do they have a coop with icao or the korean aviation authorities or are these private once?

thx ahead:ok:

There is no such thing as an ICAO-approved test. The tests are the ones authorized by the CAA that grants your license. Hence the skepticism, especially with a Korean-developed test to test the English of Korean pilots. The Korean tests aren't recognized for licensing purposes in any other country.

These tests only appeared at the Mar 2008 deadline for implementation of the ICAO rules. Prior to that, there was an outfit providing aviation English training in Korea, based on the movie "Pushing Tin.":{

It's doubtful that these tests meet the new requirements published in the ICAO document on the harmonization of language proficiency testing (July 2008).

If you're interested in teaching aviation English, there are a few decent members only forums on yahoo groups for getting some ideas and materials.

And if the rest of you aviators want to help get this language proficiency mess straightened out, post your "Close Encounters of the Bizarre Language Type" at speakflysafe.tk (http://speakflysafe.tk)

tbavprof,

with respect, but you're talking BS.
The document issued is an official ICAO document and it is recognized for instance by JAA in Europe, like in my case.
But on the other hand....who knows if there ia a leak providing some individuals with the test material?
I met many pilots here not passing the test on the first attempt, so I guess it's not only a farce.

T744 I stand by my statement. ICAO has never approved a language proficiency test, Korean, Aussie, Euro, American, or otherwise. And I challenge you to find a single instance of it. It is up to each contracting state to define the test to be used for licensing its pilots and controllers as language proficient, per the measures of ICAO Doc 9835. Extracts here (http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/43/ICAO%20LPRs.pdf)

The Americans figured that their English language requirements for licensing already met at least level 4, so for $2USD you can swap your old US certificate for one with "English Proficient" imprinted. Korea hired a company set up by ex-board members of the ICAO panel to consult on test development. Brazil has its own test, Singapore uses RMIT from Oz, etc. The only certification of test is done by the CAA that issues the license. Which 'test' did you do in Germany for your JAR license? The Lithuanian Airspeak course and test? Any ICAO state is required to recognize the licenses granted under Annex 1 by another state, not approve their testing. Your license is recognized.
In July of this year, ICAO released a draft document to clarify the testing requirements. I have yet to see a single one of the tests either sold globally or developed locally meet the documentation requirements. If you know where the test documentation for the Korean test, please post a link.

As far as being a farce, plenty of students are accustomed to failing multiple-choice exams given with 10's or 100's of others in a large testing hall. I'd be willing to bet that more than a few Korean students are disappointed with the results of their Korean language scores on their uni entrance exams.

But, testing aside, the real measure is how do pilots and controllers language skills measure up in the real world? Especially when the situation is going downhill quickly. I think that's where you'll find folks calling the test results 'misleading.' "If I listen real hard, and repeat myself a lot, slowly, I can make a pretty good guess at the message" isn't the level of proficiency demanded.

Agreed, ICAO are like the UN making rules which dont seem to have any effect, THe test is left up to the local authority to regulate. Its worth knowing that at least one SE Asian country has managed to get an extension on implementation again. I hear KAL all get lvl6.

Until the FAA starts doing ramp checks which include english and a possible grounding of an airplane. Then there lvl6 means nothing