It is for anyone involved in the aviation industry who needs to use English. This includes qualified and trainee pilots and aircrew of fixed and rotary wing aircraft who will need to demonstrate competence in English to meet the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) level 4 English language competency requirements. European Licensing Authorities will implement these tests from 2008 onwards.

Working exclusively with aviation specialists Helimetrics Ltd, we provide expert host teachers with a background in the aviation industry. They are carefully selected for their skills and for their ability to deliver this type of training.

The programme normally combines systematic and rigorous training to develop the student’s competence and confidence in using English together with the specialist aviation component.

The specialist component of the course normally runs in parallel with the conventional training. This feature is obviously determined by individual student’s requirements but does ensure that fluency in the basic language underpins the student’s knowledge in the aviation field. This approach provides the necessary fluency in English to meet the needs of air traffic communication, the ICAO level 4 standard and the possibility that students may reach higher standards and thus reduce or eliminate the need for further ICAO language assessment.

Several years ago, EJO designed and taught a 6-week module of specialised English language for qualified helicopter pilots based at the French Army aviation bases at Dax and Le Luc. Since then, the programme has been adapted, and flight instructors who attended this course have gone on not only to operate using the English language but also to act as helicopter pilot instructors using English to teach basic and advanced flying courses.

We can provide independent professional testing for students who require certification. It should be noted that the Aviation Authorities in the student’s home country may wish to validate overseas qualifications since the responsibility for aircrew licensing rests with that organisation.

• Comfortable accommodation and all meals in the home of  your host teacher
• Living as part of the family during the stay
• Introduction to the local area
• Your chosen number of hours of English tuition each week  (20, 25 or 30)
• A course designed to meet your individual needs
• Use of up-to-date course resources
• The opportunity to learn in a real English environment
• The support of the EJO Director of Studies
• Course report, including suggestions from your host teacher for  further study after your course
• Certificate of attendance

The following are at additional cost:

• Travel from and to your own country
• Meeting on arrival and travel between point of arrival and  departure in the UK and host teacher’s home
• Expenditure associated with any local outings and visits not specified in the original offer (unless asked for and booked in advance)
• Your travel insurance (EJO can make arrangements for this if asked to do so)

The daily plan varies according to the design and content of the programme but a typical day on an aviation English course may look like this:

Case study of ELAAT Pilot training officer who attended a 6-week 1 to 1 EJO Aviation English course

Our student arrived with a very basic level of English and with comprehension skills below that which would meet with ICAO level 4 requirements. In the first two weeks of his course, our trainers concentrated on improving his familiarity with vocabulary specific to helicopters and in a wider context as part of radio transmissions and communication from the cockpit. Evenings and free time were spent in as wide a range of social situations as possible to improve his general communications skills. Visits to two helicopter bases, one military and one civil, were incorporated into the programme and by week four of the course, the instructor pilot was introduced to desktop scenarios and placed into the role of instructor giving commands in English. Living with his host teacher’s family allowed formal and informal aspects of English to be consolidated and practised outside normal class times.

After 6 weeks the helicopter instructor pilot returned to his air base and in his post-course report noted the following:

“On Thursday I did what two months ago I considered as just a dream, something impossible. I flew with a Belgian instructor and two of my French military English teachers as passengers. I performed a reconnaissance circle with a constant radius around it. During this flight I had to describe the different axes I had to use to perform safe approaches. The two teachers sitting behind me were definitively surprised. They told me my English was so fluent and that my explanations were really effective. I felt so proud of myself. Your work has been more than useful for me and I now realise it, without any doubt.”

The objective of any course will depend on the individual student’s requirements. For some, reaching a standard equating to just ICAO level 4 is crucial for maintaining their pilot’s licence in their home country. For others, the goal may be higher, potentially removing the need for any further language assessment following testing in their home country. Aviation training worldwide is often carried out in English and the course developed by EJO and Helimetrics Ltd has been shown to lift student language capability to the high standards needed not only to meet ICAO levels 4 and 5 but also to teach flying in English successfully.

The course objectives will vary for each student but can include all or some of the following, depending on the student’s initial level and the time available:

• Basic course goal: to meet ICAO Level 4 Standards
• Basic course goal: to raise the student's language skills to a level of fluency to meet the on-going day-to-day requirements of working in an English language aviation environment
• Basic course goal: to establish a basic technical language proficiency to permit the necessary technical issues associated with aircraft operation: refuelling, technical debrief, reporting faults
• Basic course goal: to broaden the student's understanding of the wider use of English in general life
• Higher objective: to meet ICAO Levels 5 and 6
• Higher objective: to raise the student's English skills to meet the requirements to train others to fly both fixed and rotary wing aircraft using only English as the instruction language
• Higher objective: to develop a fluent understanding of the aircraft systems in English to a level where faulty diagnosis is possible with English maintenance staff

The goals to be achieved from 2008 onwards will use the following building blocks:

• Pre-UK element assessment
• Telephone assessment
• Pre-course e-mail exchanges with student
• Pre-course study – materials identified  and provided
• Start to address essential vocabulary
• Start the student thinking in English
• Encourage the student to access  English media websites and to read magazines in English
• Intensive immersion in the English  language environment
• Living with an English-speaking family
• Living in an English-speaking community
• Developing the student's appreciation of  how misunderstandings can occur
• Use of scenarios and studying the traps  that occur in the English language
• Focused training to develop fluency in  aviation terminology
• Visits to aviation facilities
• Focus on the student's own aircraft type
• Use of aircraft reference material
• Focused training to develop the student's  RT communication skills
• Based on UK CAA/ICAO  international procedures
• Focused training aimed at developing the  student's problem-solving skills using the  English language
• Use of desktop scenarios and a desktop flight simulator
• Training to develop the student's  presentational or briefing skills in the  English language
• Student presentations on their own interests and then on specific chosen and then nominated subjects
• Developing the student's awareness of the English language and the underlying culture
• Exposure to British social culture including the public house, restaurants, the police and town council

The following tools and services are used together during this course to develop student language skills and proficiency in aviation English:

• Total immersion with a host family skilled in both the use and teaching of English but  also with a strong background in aviation
• Use of selected English language training media to develop core English skills
• Use of dedicated and specialist training media aimed at stretching the student's understanding of English to the standards needed for safe operations
• Use of desktop simulation and scenarios to immerse the student in situations where  language skills can be further developed and tested in a more ‘stressed’ environment
• Visits to aviation facilities to meet people and see equipment and aircraft
• A training needs requirement assessment based on each student’s own particular  status to ensure a properly balanced course and successful outcomes
• The provision of independent language testing if this is required

By the end of the course, the student will be able to confidently undertake the following in English:

• Live and work in an English language environment
• Make presentations or briefings of a  technical nature to others
• Operate an aircraft using English as the core language
• Communicate both on the ground and in  the air with the people and agencies crucial to aircraft operation
• Teach ab initio pilots to fly using the English language
• Extend the training of qualified pilots to  use advanced techniques in the  English language
• Reach or exceed national licensing  requirements to meet ICAO standards in  language proficiency

Individuals, company training or personnel officers contact us by email or phone (+44 1428 751933) to discuss their requirements.