Fluency in English: a crucial aviation skill

Language hard for Chinese controllers

December 19, 1997

From Correspondent Dan Ronan

Daytona BEACH, Florida (CNN) – While English is the official language of international aviation, not all air traffic controllers – nor all pilots – are fluent enough to handle emergencies. Language barriers are believed to have contributed to at least two major airline accidents in the last 20 years.

Now, at least one school has opened its doors to flight professionals, hoping to prevent future disasters by getting everyone in the cockpit and the control tower to speak the same language.

Just two years ago, a Boeing 757 slammed into a mountain in Colombia, killing 150 people. And 20 years ago, 584 people died when two 747s collided on the runway in heavy fog on the Canary Islands. It was the worst airline accident in history. Investigators say language differences between pilots and controllers were a factor in both accidents.

Chinese air traffic controllers were not involved in either crash. But the potential for an accident is there. China’s aviation industry is among the fastest-growing in the world and its officials openly admit that learning English is difficult for some of their controllers. “It’s very difficult for us to learn English...and many controllers are maybe 30 or 40 years old, and it’s more difficult for them,” said Chinese air traffic controller Yan Jianzhong.

As a result, 15 Chinese air traffic controllers have been sent to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach, Florida, campus to learn English. They have eight weeks to increase their language proficiency by 20 percent, which in most cases is enough for them to communicate safely with other pilots and fellow controllers. The goal, Yan says, is for every controller in China to speak English on the job by 1998.

During the course, the controllers will spend hours talking on the radio and sitting in front of radar screens. They must learn about 500 key phrases, like “descend to 20,000 feet” and “confirm visual sighting of the runway”. Their practice scenarios range from helping in-flight heart attack victims to dealing with hydraulic failures. “And the controller has to listen,” said Embry-Riddle trainer Keith Parkman. “They have to understand. They have to react.”

Embry-Riddle also offers pilot training. As the Chinese controllers are brushing up on their English, pilots from more than a dozen nations are gathered in another classroom to learn “aviation English.” Using toy planes to simulate takeoffs and landings, they follow commands given in English.

Both groups are encouraged to immerse themselves in English, said Embry-Riddle’s Elizabeth Matthew, who said students go through not only five hours of classes a day, but have an English-speaking social calendar as well. “They’re in an English-speaking environment all the time.”

Why could the course in Embry-Riddle be considered an immersion language programme?