Sir - In reply to Mark Aroney's letter (Flight International, 13-19 December, 1995, P43), I am an aviation professional holding flight-crew and engineering licences granted from the different countries in which I have worked.
For safety reasons, there is only one common language of communication in aviation, and that is English.
The underlying basic safety reason is very simple: so that misinterpretation is unlikely to occur when translating different languages. As many countries (especially third-world ones) expand into aviation, it is important that English remains the single-medium language of aviation communication.
Although learning a foreign language can be fun and enlightening, aviation professionals should treat it entirely as a hobby or outside interest, and not integrate it into the area of their work. Relatively speaking, learning a foreign language (other than English) could be said to be psychologically detrimental to aviation professionals.
There have been numerous aviation incidents and accidents in the past, resulting from misinterpretation, either from written text or from radio telephony.
The attitude that "being multi-lingual in aviation is advantageous" is a dangerous one to take.
ROGER PETERSEN
Terengganu, West Malaysia
Source: Flight International
