On November 17, 1996, over 300 were killed in a mid-air collision between a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight and an Air Kazakh Flight in Charkhi-Dadri. An inquiry commission found that lack of English proficiency of the Kazakh crew played a key role in miscommunication with Air Traffic Control. Following this, India moved a proposal with the International Civil Aviation Organisation to ensure upgraded English language skills for pilots.

Finally, ICAO has agreed. And, accordingly, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) yesterday issued directions that all aircraft personnel including, pilots, flight engineers, flight navigators, air traffic controllers and aeronautical station operators, need to have their English language proficiency evaluated to Level 4 of ICAO standards within three years from March 5, 2008 — and will be retested every three years.

All those getting licences after March 5, 2008 will have to clear the test as part of the licencing conditions.

Level 4 skills, as per ICAO, means that language comprehension should be “mostly accurate on common, concrete and work-related topics” and “vocabulary range and accuracy should be sufficient to communicate effectively” and the person should be able to “often paraphrase successfully when lacking vocabulary in unusual or unexpected circumstances.”

The test will be framed and certified by ICAO and will be on the pattern of established international English-testing exams like TOEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign Language) keeping the language of radiotelephony in mind.

Accident investigators have established that in a number of the world’s worst aviation disasters, insufficient English language proficiency on the part of the flight crew or a controller played a significant role in the chain of events leading to the disaster.

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