ICAO English Proficiency Requirement

[amos747]

The original date for compliance was March 2008. Some countries received a wavier until March 2011.
I would be interested to learn how your country's Aviation Authorities approached this requirement, as ICAO provided guidelines only, without specifying universal requirements. Specifically, how do Spain, Italy, and France certify their international FDC and controllers?

[Daermon ATC]

In Spain the issue has become another battleground between Aena and ATC.

Spain managed to get untill 5th march 2011 to have all ATC certified with ICAO4 english. However Aena has refused to provide english courses for those needing them and also has refused to explain what will happen to those failing to achieve the required level. (Educated guess: if 5 fail, they will be fired; if 500 fail there will be a new law allowing it :E).

Aena had scheduleded voluntary examinations but so far only a fraction of ATC staff has obliged.
Solo el 0,8% de controladores se presenta al examen de inglés para seguir en su puesto · ELPAÍS.com (http://www.elpais.com/articulo/economia/Solo/controladores/presenta/examen/ingles/seguir/puesto/elpepieco/20101009elpepieco_9/Tes)

Those who didn't appear at the exam recieved a letter from the spanish safety agency threatening with fines up to 225.000 euros and loss of licence due to behaviour likely to disrupt air traffic fluency.
La AESA amenaza a los controladores con multas millonarias si no se presentan a un examen de inglés voluntario | Controladores aéreos españoles (http://www.controladoresaereos.org/?p=4418)

ATC union USCA is determined to go to the end with this, but as Aena is de facto a state company I expect there will be new laws or other means to make them obey. :yuk:

[lambert]

In France, the DGAC (CAA) is responsible for testing pilots (at centres all over France - the test is called the FCL1200 or 1028 depending on whether you are taking it for the first or subsequent times) and ATC (who are all public servants and are certified using an internal test on leaving the ENAC or, for older ATC, at their centres using the same, centrally moderated, test).

Spain has suddently woken up and uses a range of tests such as RELTA, TEA, etc, for pilots and are scrambling to achieve the deadline. It's been thrown open to the public sector with accredited testing centres. Not sure about ATC.

Don't know about Italy.

[aguadalte]

Most of the Portuguese Pilots as well as ATC have complied and are now certified. We have a couple of accredited testing centers that use RELTA and TEA.
Don't know about the others but, my company paid for the test and so did ANA to the Flight Controllers.

[fdr]

Well the Korean's have single handedly turned the testing process into a farce.
When the evaluator cannot speak english to the extent of the competency description of Level IV, it is hard to give credence to the outcome.

The usual Korean method of studying the answers is in force, so the only words the F-16 pilot knows is that in the learned expressions that answer the test. Has no relevance for operations at LAX, JFK, LHR etc.

Hardly blame them, the issue of language is problematic, but I would suggest adding some maneuver room around their aircraft just in case.

cheers

[jetopa]

Germany is more catholic than the Pope in this regard. No surprise here.

Every holder of a pilot license is required to comply until the end of 2010, effectively. Good thing: license is not rendered invalid if language proficiency hasn't been demonstrated. Level 4 is valid for 3 years, level 5 for 5 years and level 6 indefinitely. There are only 6 places in the entire country where you can go for your level 6 (which is almost unachievable, fama est). :{

Lots of language examiners have been trained and are being trained as we speak, opening an attractive business for some. Training for becoming a language examiner (level 4, that is) is being conducted by skilled linguists, setting the bars fairly high up. :rolleyes:

Good thing: if you have a valid license (no validation) issued by an ICAO member state, you may send in a certified copy of it and transfer the language proficiency to your German (JAA) license. :ok: Won't work with FAA licenses though, since the wording on the back side ('english proficient') isn't enough in the LBA's eyes... :{

[Trim Stab]

The interpretation that some authorities have put on the ICAO guidelines has undermined the objective of the tests.

The tests are supposed to be a test of English in "real world" situations where standard radio-telephony phrases are inadequate. But some authorities have found this too difficult to test and administer, so simply revert to testing standard radio-telephony. This is the case in France, where FCL1.028 (radio telephony) is hardly any different from FCL1.200 (ICAO English).

[Me Myself]

Trim Stab

Beg to differ.
I took the test in France and it was a very practical down to earth test.
Well, maybe their require that instead to come clean with a Roger or Wilco, your repeat each and every word of the clearance as spoken to you.
Frankly, I see nothing wrong with that. You can only repeat what you have understood.
It beats me that they cannot find a real english bloke to test you given the number of unoccupied limies we have in France.
Air France does its own testing......................yeah, I can already hear you laugh ! They are only allowed to test you to level 5 and refer you to a test center should wish to push it to level 6.
I'm not sure many do that. The majority seems to get level 4 ( I know ! ) which means testing will be around for a long time.
Some are already worried that level 6 might be required for new hire in the future which is totally impossible for lack of candidates.
There is also the fear that non native might find their way into Air France.
There is a chronic disease in France called : strong aversion to foreign languages. It is a cultural plague fed by french politicians and so called intellectuals.

[Nightrider]

A major issue arises for pilots holding an Irish issued JAA license. A UK CAA approved test taken in the UK is not accepted by the IAA, tests in other countries taken are not accepted as well. :ugh:
Message from the IAA is that a LCP performed with a TRE duly certified by the IAA is the only acceptable test for a proper endorsement on the papers.:mad:
JAA??? EASA??? ICAO??? every country is using a different procedure and when passing the Mediterranean southbound it is very surprising to find colleagues waving with a level 6 paper also they are unable to communicate a simple problem to ATC.... :suspect:

[mustafagander]

In certain parts of the Southern Hemisphere there is this mania about English proficiency and the certification thereof.

In good old Charlie Q the overwhelming majority of pilots are, not surprisingly, native English speakers, most of us born into English speaking homes, educated in English and yet we all need to prove competency in spoken English.

FFS!! What a WOFTAM. Why, oh why, are we native speakers put through this waste of time?

[lambert]

In France, the FCL1200 is the initial English language test for pilots. It consists of 4 sections, listening, fictive flight, urgency messages and interpretation of written documents. The FCL1028 (for subsequent tests) is identical but does not include the last section - documents. Mock tests are available on the DGAC website.

Up to 4 candidates are in communication with two examiners - all with headsets and microphones.

Listening : Live traffic is played over the headsets and the candidates have to fill in gaps on the script of the live traffic. The mark obtained reflects on their ICAO skill of comprehension.

Fictive Flight : A scenario is then acted out where the candidates read their instructions from a script in French but then conduct the communication with the two examiners (acting as controllers) in English. The scenario develops which could include any kind of emergency or unusual situation so that the language used includes standard phraseology but develops into spontaneaous plain language.

Urgency Messages : Each candidate picks an envelope which contains an unusual situation written in French. The candidate relays the contents in English to one of the other candidates and the two of them negotiate the meaning. During this and the previous section, the examiners are assessing their language levels according to the ICAO skills -fluency, interaction, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary.

For the FCL 1200 the document comprehension section consists of answering questions regarding technical and non-technical subjects . A written document (or Jeppeson plate, etc) is read in a limited amount of time and multiple choice questionsare posed about the document. This section does not reflect on the ICAO LPR skills which are only oral skills.

All testing centres can give level 4 and 5. Some centres with expert level examiners (normally, but not limited to, native English speakers) can also give level 6.

Air France is a testing centre and there is normally an Air France examiner working with a DGAC (ATC) examiner.

It is time to get away from the myth that the level of English proficiency in France is low. The French should be congratulated on the time and effort invested in achieving really operational levels of Aviation English.

[manincrz2937]

I have heard funny story.

One British guy fail to get level 6.

He was wonder.

So he asked the reason to testing authority.

The answer was His pronunciation was not genuine (or not like American )

What the :mad:! He said.

Is this a matter of safety or power?:ugh:

[PA-28-180]

" Hardly blame them, the issue of language is problematic, but I would suggest adding some maneuver room around their aircraft just in case."

Actually, I have taught probably hundreds (if not more) Korean students over a wide age range (including several pilots) in English over the past 7 years - 'face to face' and online. When the curriculum is focused on basic, every day English COMMUNICATION skills, most do quite well. I agree that the effectiveness of many of the English "hagwans" in Korea are a bit lacking, but I would not characterize English language learning/skills as being 'problematic'. The usual problem in my opinion is simply training to 'pass the exam' and, while this is common in SE Asia, this is NOT true communication skills training! :ugh: This is why we get to hear so many radio examples (JFK comes to mind - Air China??) of when something out of the ordinary is said, these pilots don't know how to respond.

As to why native English speakers must take the test, my understanding is simply to make it 'non-discriminatory'. I have NO idea why the British pilot was unable to attain level 6 - I would guess probably something to do with the test format/structure he took...but it DOES sound very strange! :uhoh:

[yellowplane]

... well... there are some regional accents that cannot be understood by others... Goes for any language! Therefore a full level 6 isn't achieved.