Brushing up on airspeak

CAAN asks for extending deadline to meet ICAO's language proficiency requirement

SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, OCT 27 -
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has requested the International Civil Aviation Organization to postpone the deadline for introducing English language proficiency requirements for effective radiotelephony communication among air traffic controllers and pilots engaged in international operations. The closing date has been set for March 5, 2011.

CAAN asked that the time limit be put off at ICAO’s 37th general assembly citing scarcity of resources and manpower and inadequacy of national regulatory documents. The meeting was held in Montreal, Canada from Sept. 28 to Oct. 8. However, CAAN has not received any response from ICAO, a participant in the general assembly told the Post.

There are about 60 air traffic controllers in Nepal handling international operations. According to Nepal Airlines Corporation spokesperson Pradip Karki, there are 33 pilots operating international flights.

Nepal had pledged at the 36th general assembly that full compliance with the language proficiency requirements would be achieved before 2011. As per the call of the ICAO state letter, CAAN had posted its implementation plan to ICAO in early 2008 with a compliance target of 2009.

Pursuant to this scheme, CAAN had established a training facility under the name Civil Aviation Academy containing an audio lab and other training equipment. Nepal has two qualified trainers, Narendra Bahadur Thapa and Saurav Ranjan Baral, who have received advanced training. Two others, Bimal Subedi and Tek Nath Sitaula, have received basic training.

“Although, CAAN has established an audio lab and other language training facilities, nothing more has been done,” a CAAN source said.

The ICAO assembly meets at least once every three years with its 190 member states to establish its worldwide policy for the next three years. As part of the effort to prevent aviation accidents, ICAO has introduced language provisions to ensure that air traffic personnel and pilots are proficient in conducting and comprehending radiotelephony communications in the English language. ICAO also requires that the English language shall be available on request at all stations on the ground serving designated airports and routes used by international air services.

In 2003, ICAO introduced standards for Level 4 language proficiency requirements, 26 years after the Tenerife disaster in which a 747 crashed into another 747. The accident is acknowledged to be a powerful activator for ICAO to initiate language enhancement efforts for aviation personnel, particularly air traffic controllers, pilots and aeronautical station operators. The collision between the two Boeing 747s of Pan Am and KLM at Tenerife airport is the worst aircraft accident in aviation history that occurred due to poor direction by air traffic control. The language testing criteria for global harmonization produced by ICAO was provisioned to the member states to comply with a language proficiency rating scale of Level 4 or above by March 5, 2008. However, after a majority of the developing countries requested postponing the deadline due to inadequate resources and trainers, ICAO extended the time limit to March 5, 2011. Though Nepal’s pilots and air traffic controllers engaged in international operations have met ICAO’s minimum language proficiency requirements, difficulties are still seen in improving their language proficiency to meet ICAO standards within a short period.

“We have hired an ICAO expert, who arrived on Oct. 18, to look after the technical aspect and upgrading of training equipment,” a top CAAN official said.

Meanwhile, CAAN has been working to fulfil the obligations. A working paper presented at the ICAO general assembly says that Nepal is considering participating in the 10th Aviation English Forum of the International Civil Aviation English Association which will discuss the theme of sustaining ICAO language proficiency requirements implementation beyond March 2011 from the operational and language training and testing perspectives. The forum is scheduled to be held in Malaysia from Nov. 23-24.

However, a CAAN source said that everything was progressing at a slow pace although it was not difficult to meet ICAO’s language proficiency requirements until March 2011.