The Importance of English in Air Traffic Control - Essay Example

The paper studies the importance of English in air traffic control and creates a brief narrative of major accidents and ‘near misses’ in the history of civil aviation, the roots of which, lay in misunderstanding or miscommunication. With a brief overview of the historical background of development of English as the lingua franca of civil aviation, the paper studies the various issue related to use of ‘poor English’ in air traffic control. Finally, a case is made for greater cooperation between educational institutes and the aviation industry for making the pilots proficient in the English. Introduction A large number of incidents are being reported from the air traffic control, which can be attributed to lack of proper communication. Though virtually accepted as a common language for communication, a lot remains undone to make the pilots, especially the non-native speakers, proficient in English. Herein we will study the important aspects of the issue. Near Misses Two recent occurrences have, once again, brought to fore, the importance of good English communication skills in the air traffic control. It was near rendezvous with death, for those on board a Polish LOT Airlines Boeing 737, carrying 89 passengers to Warsaw, when the navigation system of the airplane shut down and the crew had to rely on verbal instructions from the air traffic control. The plane circled over London, for about half an hour, as the pilots struggled to understand the instructions. The pilots didn’t even know functional English to converse with the ATC. In the confusion, the plane nearly collided with another plane. The incident brought to light, the fact that only 15 of the 800 Polish pilots, flying internationally, were proficient in English language skills (Webster, 2008). Similarly, in 2006, air traffic controllers at Heathrow failed to comprehend Mayday calls from an Alitalia flight that originated from Milan, because the pilot’s English was ‘poor’ The plane just escaped a crash (Clark, 2006). Both the incidents highlight the importance of sound English communication skills for the air traffic control staff, pilots, and the crew. Then there have been hundreds of minor incidents of miscommunication, the world over, which have gone unreported. Near misses or small accidents are alarmingly becoming a routine in the air traffic. English—the Lingua Franca As a work sphere, aviation requires standardized regulations and practices. Language and communication skills are nowhere more critical than in the airlines industry. Historical and political reasons have made English to be accepted as the lingua franca of the airlines industry. Since, English is a foreign language to a large number of pilots, the crew, and the employees involved in air traffic control, it creates the problem of communication. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had mandated that by March 2008, English be declared the official language for civil aviation, but a large number of countries failed to comply with the regulation. For lack of compliance, the ICAO has postponed till 2011, the requirement of Grade 4 proficiency for pilots. The Grade 4 proficiency requires of a non-native English speaking air traffic controllers to have clear delivery and understanding of the English language along with knowledge of phrases used in civil aviation the world over. In order to know how English became the primary language of communication in the airlines industry, we will have to study the international developments in the post-World War II era. ICAO, the apex body for civil aviation that works under the auspices of the United Nations, was created at the Chicago conference of the Allied leaders in 1944. It was decided by the ICAO that English be used as the language of communication by pilots and air traffic controllers. Things swayed in favor of English, as most pilots in post-War era were English speaking and major aircraft carriers belonged to English speaking countries. As per experts, the controller of air traffic should be able to speak unambiguously, clearly, and reasonably fluently over telephone channels so that listeners, on the other end, can comprehend it (Hopkin, 1995). Thus the use of a single language solves most of the safety and operational requirements of the airlines. However, despite its importance, the proficiency in English language varies the world over. The problem is made more complex by regulations, in practice, in a few countries, which stipulate that the national language be accorded the same priority as English. Then there are degradations between phonetic properties and structure of pilot’s native language from those of the standard English speaking countries, which lead to a situation wherein misunderstandings and misinterpretations arise. These, in turn, could jeopardize the safety of the passengers and the crew (Hopkin, 1995). Major Accidents The concerns for proficiency in English are not new to aviation industry. ICAO investigators found that at least in three separate air collisions, insufficient English language skills played a critical role in the events leading up to the accidents.In 1996, Kazakhstan Airline airplane collided mid-air with a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747 over New Delhi in India, killing 351 people. The air traffic controller was Indian and the pilots were Saudi and Russian. An Avianca Flight en route to JFK New York from Bogota Colombia crashed as the crew couldn’t communicate to the ATC that their plane was running out of fuel. The accident occurred in 1991.Almost 600 people died at the Tenerife airport when a KLM Boeing 747 collided with a plane that was taking off in 1977. There was confusion over the word take-off among the Dutch pilot of KLM and English speaking pilot of the other plane and the Spanish air traffic controller. The Bi-Lingual Formula Low cost airlines, who hire pilots and crew from afar, are more prone to creation of communication gaps and suffer from accidents, efficiency and safety issues. Stressed multi-cultural crew is more prone to make a mistake in communication. Effective communication is further hampered by high noise levels and stress on the voice in the air traffic control. At various points of time, the issue of bilingual air traffic control has also been raised, as there 83 member states of ICAO, where bilingual formula is prevalent. Supporters of the bilingual air traffic control stress that not all pilots have a good command of English, so it is important that they be allowed to use another language, besides English. However, according to IATA, the adoption of English language in international air services is the best solution from safety and efficiency point of view. The practice of using two languages, though widespread, goes against the safety environment and traffic efficiency. It is not always that non-native speakers are at a disadvantage. It has also been found that non-native speakers are more proficient as they use plain English and native speakers are prone to use colloquialisms and idioms that are not readily understood by air traffic controllers. Industry-institution collaboration It has been found that the current standards of English usage by the pilots and ground controllers are grossly inadequate. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and ICAO are seriously deliberating on how to correct these deficiencies and have tied up with the Ohio State University to equip non-native English speaking air traffic controllers with English language skills (Bradley, 2004). More such industry-educational institute participations, all over the world, can help solve the problem to a great extent. Conclusion It is a foregone conclusion that the use of English will increase in the air traffic control in times to come. The only way out to prevent accidents and tragedies will be to make the pilots proficient in English speaking. Grade 4 qualification is the right step in the direction. But in order that pilots make it through the Grade 4, more initiatives like the FAA-OSU collaboration be undertaken. Such initiatives, while, equipping the pilots with basic language skills will also ensure that there is no dearth of qualified pilots for the rapidly increasing aviation industry. References Borins, S.F., Institute of Public Administration of Canada (1982). Implementing Bilingual Air Traffic Control in Quebec‎. Institute of Public Administration. Montreal (Canada) Bradley, A., (2004). Air traffic controllers learn plane English at OSU. Accessed September 29, 2009 http://www2.okstate.edu/pio/aviationenglish.html Clark, A., (2006) Planes mayday call missed due to pilots poor English. Accessed September 29, 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/jun/08/theairlineindustry.travelnews Hopkin, D.V., (1995) Human factors in air traffic control. Taylor and Francis Publishers (US). Webster, B., (2008). Polish pilots poor English almost led to crash. September 29, 2009 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article4116523.ece Read More