The Forthcoming International Language Proficiency Requirements

International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations (IAOPA) Secretary General John Sheehan has predicted that: "Inadequate preparation to test pilots and air traffic controllers within many States will thwart the intent of the ICAO standard designed to bring safe, intelligible communications to international civil aviation," He says that the IAOPA has checked around and found that few states are giving much more than "lip-service" to the requirement. It doesn't seem to have dawned upon those responsible that hundreds of thousands of individuals will require testing and certifying. The ICAO deadline is 05 March 2008. At that point in time, to be able to operate, individuals must be highly competent in either the language of the state of operation or English. "Few or remote testing facilities, excessive testing fees, and lack of adequately qualified testing personnel are all matters for concern," said Sheehan. He was speaking at the Language Proficiency Symposium in Montreal. Sheehan was suggesting delays for general aviation (GA), a prioritization for airline and corporate crews and grandfather rights for private pilots operating under visual flight rules (VFR) for a three year period. IAOPA was born in 1992 of a need to provide a voice for GA in global aviation forums. It claims that GA constitutes two-thirds of all pilots world-wide and four-fifths of all civil aircraft.  Related Article
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