ICAO Language Proficiency Tests
 

I discovered this recently.

Some of you should start to worry if you want keep your job...!!!
still they say if you fail, you MAY no longer...
so what is all about?

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Pilots, Air Traffic Controllers and all others who use English in R/T communication on international routes must reach ICAO English Language Level 4 (Operational) by March 2008 - confirmed by successful completion of an ICAO-approved proficiency test.

Those who pass the test at Level 4 must be re-tested every three years. Those who fail may no longer be licensed to operate on international routes.
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What the standards mean for the industry

• Non-native speakers and native speakers of English must demonstrate a minimum language proficiency at ICAO Level 4 (Operational) as a licensing requirement.

For air traffic service personnel and pilots whose first language is not English, testing to determine language proficiency according to the ICAO Proficiency scale will be required. Personnel must demonstrate the ability to use the language specific to all aspects of Radiotelephony communication.

Personnel who demonstrate proficiency at:

• ICAO Level 6 (Expert) will not be required to demonstrate subsequent language proficiency.
• ICAO Level 5 (Extended) will need to be retested every six years.
• ICAO Level 4 (Pre-operational) will need to be retested every three years.
• ICAO Level 3 or below will need specific Aviation English language training to reach the minimum ICAO Operational level.

Member States who do not comply with the new licensing requirements will be required to notify ICAO, which may limit international recognition of licenses.

When changes take effect
Although these standards became applicable in November 2003, all ICAO Member States have been given until March 2008 to fulfill the necessary training requirements to allow personnel to meet mandatory testing and licensing requirements.

Member states are obliged to ensure all personnel meet the minimum

ICAO Operational (Level 4) proficiency level in English by March 2008

(My emphasis).
This is going to be interesting.

Oh my god, China without ATC, that's going to be interessting.

Or is it..........Interesting this is going to get!!! ;)

The UK Campaign Against Aviation Have already started to put a remark in section X111 on page 3 of UK Certificate when you apply for a change to your certificate, eg additional type. This is to prepare the IT section for the proposed changes.
I now have it confirmed that I am Profficient in English.:cool:

No need to be alarmed folks, March 5 2008 has been extended for another 3 years for countries demonstrating willingness to comply to ICAO Level 4 standards, but not quite there yet.

Too bad. This is long overdue, and instead of having some backbone and sticking to it, they chose to delay it once again. I hope whom ever made that decision will accept full responsibility when a major accident occurs due to lack of english communication skills. :ugh:

I use apostrophes correctly in written English, and can be understood by most Poms south of about Lincoln. Do I qualify? :\

Will this mean an end to "WHA' 'S YOUR DME SITIA?" bellowed from the back of a bathroom into a cheap microphone?

Seriously though, if I undrstand the UK CAA's double-speak, they are intending to 'grant' Level 4 ICAO to all UK FRTOL holders. I consider this an insult and I do not support the CAA's proposals as they currently stand.

I consider that native English speakers who hold FRTOLs should be entitled to make a self-declaration of Level 6 proficiency, with the usual penalties for false declaration.

Anyone who wants to comment should e-mail [email protected] before 30 Nov 2007.

What I like most is the face of newbies, flying in UK airspace the first time. They get along with german controllers, austrian, danish, swedish, norwegian,swiss, dutch, even sometimes french or spanish ones, but when the first "scottish" london controller comes over the airwaves, I get those views...like Manuel´s "Que?"
I consider this being not very effective, since there a loads of people who would not pass level 4 in ATC and Cockpits alike. The German has still not said how one can get level 5 or 6, unless you are British native or from the US. Having had lessons from Rashid and Charlie at Wichita FSI I´m not to sure about the Level they have...in mybook it wasn´t quite 4...
The German way was not to bad in my book, a quite extensive written test on RTF phraseology, read a long and difficult NOTAM, translate it and simulate a flight from a to b, IFR and b to a VFR, all under the supervision of an actual ATC controller and another gentleman from the radio regulating authority.

My personal opinion is, that we need a phraseology that is the same all over the world and an entry test like the old german one.

I have been requested to pass this exam for an airline interview recently.

the first 30 minutes, is a computerized test about english grammar.Most (non US or UK) pilots I know, haven't scored enough.

the second part is a face to face conversation , ...read and explain a text, and talk about a social problem by example. Nothing on radio communication...but again, most pilots didnt pass it!

Nothing really hard if you are fluent, but still, all pilots in my group have failed except me.
I am the only one who have studied in the USA/UK.

No need to learn flying if your english is not at Level 4 or above (it means fluent in english), ...cuz if they are serious about this new law, airlines will struggle to find "ICAO Level 4" pilots.

Dartagnan, please tell us in which country you took this exam?

National authorities may decide of what this exam may consist of.
In Switzerland for example, it will be even allowed during an OPC or a class-rating renewal, as long as the examiner will be qualified to assess ICAO English exam candidates.

One language - one standard ?
 

IMHO - that should also help to cure the "disease" of ATC transmission in the national languages periodically encountered in places like Spain, France and Italy.
Especially going to BCN and MAD sometimes is a night mare and calls for trouble sooner or later...:uhoh:

Flare-Idle,
You'll find that that subject crops up regularly on PPRuNe. Somebody can probably point you to the most recent thread.

I don't think the Level 4 proficiency requirement is there to address the use of national languages, but only to improve the standard of English used by pilots and ATC.

The use and misuse of national languages is an issue that will need separate rule making.

is the main problem (as in CDG or MAD or FCO or XXX) and as such would have to be treated first... but once again dear EASA and NAAs totally miss the point :ugh:


live 2 fly 2 live

F4F,
If you really want a rehash of those discussions, please start another thread.
This is NOT the same subject.

BEagle, as far as I understand it, these aren't 'proposals', it's coming.

In fact for ATCOs, it's been 'in' for a while, nearly six months in fact. I'm not sure if that was just NATS, or all UK ATCOs.

For those of you who read Italian, have a look here :

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=279020

For those who don't, check out post #22.

It implicitly raises the same issues that FLEXJET mentions: what about the qualifications of the examiners?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

ICAO level4 English
 

Why should I not, I'm a white Welsh sheep sh*gger.

Yes it is a tremendous problem, not just airborne, but on the ground as well.

Trying to make an approach into N'Djamena (Chad) not too long ago... Major CB arrives just ahead of me causing me to break off the app and hold to the north... Wx rdr shows another huge storm cell close behind the first but maybe we can get in between... Ask ATC what conditions look like from the twr... "say again "
... what is your weather now ? ... He reads out at very long length the METAR and TAF from 1 hr before...

Yes but what are the airfield conditions now.. ?

"Say again"...

What is the Wx now..at the airport ? he reads the full 1 hr old METAR and TAF again...

Yes but NOW what is the weather NOW ?.. he starts to read the full METAR and TAF all over again but I don't wait to hear it...switch freqs and b*gger off to my alternate...

Who says we don't need this test now ?