A US company is co-operating with the US Federal Aviation Administration to create a device that will test pilots’ and air traffic controllers’ aviation English proficiency automatically. The spur is the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s requirement for specified standards in aviation English to be achieved by all professional pilots and controllers worldwide by March 2008.
The research, says the FAA, is “to develop an automated test that both supports ICAO in establishing a global standard, and also applies US technology to the otherwise long, arduous and costly process of testing many tens of thousands of pilots and controllers.” The company developing the equipment is California-based Ordinate, which has signed an agreement to work with the FAA Academy’s Aviation Language Training Programme. Manager of the FAA’s Technology Transfer Programme, Deborah Germak, says the agency is not funding the research, and Ordinate will cover any of the FAA Academy’s costs.
DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Source: Flight International
