Dubai: While both pilots and the air traffic controllers (ATC) on the ground follow (International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules, language barriers and wide-ranging accents can still pose problems.
“You must speak English. That’s the rule,” says Andrew Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy based in Switzerland. “The ICAO rule commands both pilots and controllers on the ground be able to speak English. Of course, they can also talk in local languages approved by ICAO.”
This is how it works. The official ICAO language may be used as a secondary language provided both the ATC and pilot speak the language. The ATC, however, must still be able to control in English.
The ill-fated flydubai flight FZ981 from Dubai to Russian city of Rostov-on-Don was flown by Captain Aristos Sokratous from Cyprus and Alejandro Cruz Alava, the plane’s co-pilot, of Spanish origin.
“Globally, it is an issue. The ICAO standards limit you to technical English. The problem occurs when it’s not quite by the book,” a pilot told Gulf News on the basis on anonymity.
“Diverse accents and languages can become a problem sometimes, especially if it’s beyond the minimum [ICAO] requirement … when it’s something conversational. That’s when [communicating with] ATC becomes an issue,” the pilot added.
Incorrect use of phraseologies has contributed, in some instances, to an accident or incident, ICAO states in its manual on the implementation of ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements. “For phraseologies to have the most significant safety impact, all parties need to use the same, ICAO phraseologies,” ICAO states.
However, the standard of English within flydubai is pretty high, according to an unnamed source.
And then there are other factors such as radio disruptions and so on. “There are times when on radio, for sure, it’s very hard to understand what’s being said,” said Charlton, who has flown flydubai and found it to have the “right approach”.
He further calls for the airlines industry to move away from the traditional communications methods. “We should move away from voice-controlled communications to digital communication,” he said, adding that it’s taking enormous amount of time for the industry to make the transition.
