English proficiency

Good comment ! Hope you succeed to make it better in a near future.

Dear Renato,

It seems that the situation and the conditions for the exam are very different from one country to the other.

I agree that we certainly have a problem of standardisation to address here...

Dominique

Fully agree! Far away from standards.......
Having an AML and FAA A&P, being in aviation since mid 80`s, an US PPL based on FCL (SEP) and "just" Level 5, because I did the first one "unprepared".
Which would be fair enough for me - no native speaker, BUT:
Knowing "some" professionlas with level 6 understanding almost no english word, except radio phrases (at least most of the time...)!
European standards in theory and practise.....
Gerhard

An american pilot (mother language) unable to get level 6 in France but he have the level 6 in french. Joke ! Maybe 2 or 3 years to make it right... Make it simpler they say.

I am a dual citizen (U.S. and German) as well and silly rumor has it that my English proficiency is at a level 6. The "authorities" in Niedersachsen tell me that English proficiency can be issued upon presenting a birth-certificate, however a Level 6 will require being tested and subject to renewal.

The Germans have whats called the BZF II and I as well as AZF. It is beyond my level of understanding how we managed to get to the point of having people with rather mediocre English skills spend 2000 Euro's at the DFS to become English Proficiency Examiners.

It definitely escapes my level of comprehension how we can have no standardization. Its time to stop creating artificial industries, where language examiners compete for the business and pilots pay through the nose, and do so repeatedly.

While on topic, it would behoove us to start thinking about reinstating a bit of radio discipline in our new and old pilots. It should never be perceived a blessing to switch the radio off during flight, just to escape the first person shooter story telling style of today's radio communications.

I would like to suggest that any English course completion certificate should qualify for level 4. EASA stated at a recent workshop that level 4 is about B1. So, why not accept any language school courses? The LPC should be about the language skills per se. Many pilots in my club (Antique Airplane Association of Switzerland) stopped flying due to the LPC mess. I think the acceptance of any language school certificate level B1 or higher would have been much more convenient and prevented many pilots from quitting to fly.

Dear Mr Cortelletti,

thank you for your message.

The European rules for language proficiency basically implement respective ICAO standards and recommended practises. At the same time, we are aware that there are still some differences with regard to the practical application of this regulatory framework from State to State.
With regard to general aviation, EASA plans to review language proficiency requirements with the objective to provide alleviations for leisure pilots, when flying across Europe (see Chapter 3 point V of the Terms of Reference for rulemaking task RMT.0678, link see below).

Link: https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/terms-of-reference-and-grou…

We hope this helps.

Best regards
Christian Kucher

Dear EASA community,

while I understand ICAO recommended practices govern EASA rules, I also noted that apppeal procedures do exist for language assessment examinations.
Since such appeals rely on word-of-mouth at the moment, couldn't they be recorded, and records kept for a given period of time, to help make appeals more relevant ?

I think this is especially important where exam procedures create a distorted situation, away from field reality, and draw a false picture of actual language proficiency.

Thanks for your consideration.

Best regards,
Christian Chaix

Dear Easa community,
I give you another thigh to think about it.
Every six month I had to do my opc/lpc at Flight Safety in Farnborough of course with English instructors.
The question is, why I can't use this course just to confirm the english level I just hold ?
It's conducted by the english Instructor of course in english and passing this check for me It's a authomatic certification that you can speak and understand english !
Unfortunately the answer is very simple, For the test you have to pay...! So Business !!!
There are same airline that never do the Tea test, they just do a "test" during their simulator....!
And of course without pay nothing....!
In Italy The aviation Authority (sig) make a fee for everything you need, for example if your licence is full of revalidation and you have no more free line to write on it.
Renato