Unit 7 Benefits of Standardized Communication

Standard phraseology is essential for several reasons. Flying is increasingly an international venture, for even those pilots who never venture far from their home airports encounter fliers from other lands. At the end of World War II, industry leaders of various nations recognized aviation’s international tendency and formed the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The ICAO established English as the standard aviation language; international aviation communication was and is to be conducted in English. Pilots from non-English speaking countries must be able to read, write, and speak English sufficiently to use the aviation system, but at the beginning of the twenty-first century, reliably judging that ability in every corner of the industry was still uncertain. The twentieth century’s worst aircraft accident, the Tenerife, Canary Islands, collision of two loaded Boeing 747’s, hinged solely on unclear communications.

Responding to these deficiencies, the ICAO’s Proficiency Requirements In Common English Study Group (PRICESG/2) completed its second meeting and final report in May, 2001. The ICAO’s goal is to implement an English language proficiency standard for aviation in the twenty-first century. That standard is to address pronunciation, stress and intonation, grammar and syntax, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and interaction. The group suggested a list of items to be included in ICAO guidance material. These included the full ICAO scale with a glossary of terminology, elaboration of each level, and examples; an English language competencies chart specifying language performance objectives appropriate to the air traffic controller and pilot work domain; an introduction to English language acquisition and learning theories and methodologies; a manual describing the characteristics and attributes of sound English language training programs; a discussion of the importance of “extended” English, relevant to a controller and pilot’s ability to handle unusual aviation circumstances and emergencies; and approaches to testing English language speaking and listening proficiency.

Aviator’s Alphabet

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, aviation was largely dependent on radio communications for both safety and efficiency. Air traffic control has developed from what was basically a trial-and-error experiment in the 1930’s to an essential segment of the aviation industry. It works best when all participants understand the system and use it properly. Understanding is the most important commodity in pilot-controller communications. To establish a solid basis for understanding, in the early 1970’s the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States established a pilot/controller glossary. In that glossary, words and phrases to be used in flight have specific meanings.

Aviation communication relies on these standardized meanings. The FAA calls this “phraseology,” and sets forth these words, phrases, and their meanings in the Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM). The AIM divides its treatment of communications into a user-friendly general discussion, placing the pilot/controller glossary handily at the end of the book. The FAA also had to deal with the issue of letters and numbers spoken over aviation radios. Each nation registers its airplanes using letters and numbers or letters alone; these tail numbers establish an airplane’s identity in radio communication. To facilitate this, one segment of the AIM displays a phonetic alphabet wherein individual letters are pronounced as specific and familiar words. The AIM treats numbers just as thoughtfully, rendering easily confused numbers with distinct sounds. For example, in conversational use, the numbers “five” and “nine” can be impossible to distinguish in noisy environments or when accents blur them. Aviation pronounces “five” as “fife” and “nine” as “niner.” Number sets such as “fifteen” and “fifty” are easily misheard even in the quiet of casual office conversation. Aviation addresses this by instructing pilots to, in most cases, speak each number separately. “Fifteen,” therefore, becomes “wun fife” and a correctly speaking pilot or controller says “fifty” as “fife zero.” On the other hand, the AIM instructs pilots and controllers to speak airliner call signs and airways in the more conversational format.

Exercises

1. Answer the following questions.

1) What is the goal of ICAO’s English language proficiency standard for aviation?

2) What is this standard addressed to?

3) What is the most important commodity in pilot-controller communications?

4) What was a pilot/controller glossary established for?

5) What does aviation communication rely on?

6) Why is standard phraseology essential?

7) How is the issue of letters and numbers spoken over aviation radios dealt?

2. You should check the pronunciation of key words. Transcribe the words:

Implement; relevant; appropriate; circumstance(s); suggest; proficiency requirement; deficiency, sufficiently, deficiency, syntax, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, ICAO scale, glossary, terminology, objectives, work domain; aviation circumstances, emergencies, distinguish, misheard

3. Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions:

(1) метод проб и ошибок, (2) самое важное в общении пилота и авиадиспетчера, (3) зависеть от, (4) устанавливать, (5) иметь особое значение, (6) соответствовать, (7) выполнять, (8) справляться с нестандартными и аварийными ситуациями, (9) имеющий отношение к, (10) международный проект, (11) квалификационные требования, (12) Международная организация гражданской авиации, ИКАО

4. Find in the texts the English equivalents for the following expressions:

(1) enterprise, (2) airfield, (3) mischance, (4) message, (5) aim, (6) proficiency standard, (7) ability to understand, (8) mutual action, (9) the act of speaking, (10) a person, who directs the movement of airplanes, (11) handbook, (12) pilot’s ABC, (13) a collection of specialized terms with their meanings, (14) difficult to understand figures, (15) to hear wrongly.