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Aviation English
The International Civil Aviation Organization established English as the international aviation language in 1951 to improve consistency, accuracy, and effectiveness of pilot - air traffic control communication. It requires that all pilot on international flights and air traffic controllers serving international airports and routes must be able to communicate in English effectively, as well as in their native language. The goal was to achieve standards that would eliminate communication error, language, and comprehension difficulties, all of which have been a major cause of operational airspace incidents. Miscommunications between pilots and air traffic control is a prominent factor in fatal airplane crashes, airspace incidents, runway incursion, and mid-air collisions.

Aviation English is the highly specialized language and sequences used by pilots, air traffic control, and other aviation personnel and it focuses on a particular pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical structure, and discourse styles that are used in specific aviation-related contexts. The language used by pilots and air traffic controllers during radiotelephony communication can be categorized into two types, standard phraseology and plain language repertoire. Standard phraseology are the specialized phrases commonly used by the aviation community to effectively communicate and plain language is a more normal language used in everyday life.

Many non native English speaking pilots and air traffic controllers have to learn English during their flight training and use it in a highly practical level while safely operating an aircraft and maintaining the safety of airspace, which can be highly stressful.

ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements
ICAO also established the Language Proficiency Requirements to try to rectify multiple issues regarding accents, terminology, and interpretation in communication. The intention of the LPRs is to "ensure that the language proficiency of pilots and air traffic controllers is sufficient to reduce miscommunication as much as possible and to allow pilots and controllers to recognize and solve potential miscommunication when it does occur" and "that all speakers have sufficient language proficiency to handle non-routine situations." The structure of the LPR has six levels, pronunciation, structure, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and interactions. The implemented universal aviation English proficiency scale ranged from Level 1 to Level 6.

Beginning in March of 2008, ICAO set out the requirement that all pilots flying international routes and air traffic control serving international airports and routes must be a Level 4 or above and will be continually reassessed every three years. The criteria to achieve Level 4 are as follows:
 * Pronunciation: A dialect and/or accent intelligible to aeronautical community.
 * Structure: Relevant grammatical structures and sentence patterns are determined by language functions appropriate to the task.
 * Vocabulary: Vocabulary range and accuracy are used sufficiently to communicate effectively.
 * Fluency: Produces stretches of language at an appropriate tempo.
 * Comprehension: Comprehension accurate in common, concrete, and work-related topics and the accent used is sufficiently intelligible for international community.
 * Interactions: Responses are immediate, appropriate, and informative.

Miscommunication
Sources of communication error come from: phonology (speech rate, stress, intonation, pauses), syntax (language word patterns, sentence structure), semantics, and pragmatics (language in context). Even though English is the international aviation language, native English speakers still play a role in misunderstanding and situational awareness. Both the ICAO and the Federal Aviation Administration use alternative phrases which is confusing to both native and non-native English speakers.

The biggest problem regarding non native English speakers' transmissions is speech rate. In order to understand alternative and unfamiliar accents, people's rate of comprehension and response slows down. Accents also affect transmissions because of the different pronunciations across languages. Some of the earlier miscommunication issues included the limitation of language-based warning systems in aircrafts and insufficient English proficiency.