According to an article I found today, from next March pilots who fly overseas will be required to pass an English language competency test, The Test of English for Aviation. The article suggests that this test will present quite a challange for the many Chinese pilots who speak little or no English.
Some Chinese airlines, China Southern Airlines, are requiring their pilots to take English classes for six days each month.
Apparently there is also a shortage of examiners who speak both English and Mandarin, and who are familiar with civil aviation.
maybe it’s time for you to learn some civil aviation? 🙂
Late, I know, but all airplane radio communication is supposed to be in English, even between two non-(native) English speakers. The only difference hear is that instead of only needing to know a few phrases and how to change the numbers within them around, these pilots are being required to have some real competency in English, which doesn’t seem like a bad idea. O yea, civil aviation is actually quite a complex “language”. I would consider myself pretty fluent.