Air traffic control in English from now on

An attempt to improve safety has been given as the number one reason to implement new international minimum standards and rules that proclaim air traffic controllers and pilots will be required to communicate in English from now on.

English is undoubtedly the world’s first language for international communication, and has been widely used in the aviation industry, albeit without any official minimum standards being set.

The International Civil Aviation Organization announced the changes last week, with the decision affecting several hundred thousand industry employees around the world. The decision was agreed upon by the ICAO and the International Air Transport Association. Aviation consultant Henry Emery says, “In these circumstances it was felt that there should be at the very least a minimum standard of English throughout the industry. There is core English, which relies on basic technical terminology. It is very formulaic and too limited, but is used by everyone.

It doesn’t cover a wide variety of situations, such as even explaining that a plane is running out of fuel. The new standards are not expecting perfect English, but the ability to handle all emergency situations and ensure that pilots and control towers throughout the world understand each other. So if an Uzbek pilot ran into trouble over Peru he would be able to make himself understood as well as being able to follow instructions from controllers.”