English Language Requirements for Air Traffic Controllers
The radio has to be understood the first time. Where that frequency uses English, the controller has to speak and understand it to the standard the state sets. A school grade in English is not that standard.
· by Michal Zembol
Phraseology first, then plain language
Most of a sitting is speech. The controller transmits, the pilot reads the clearance back, and a wrong readback has to be caught before the aircraft turns. The words for routine clearances are standard phraseology, so that the same instruction sounds the same from one unit to the next.
Phraseology does not cover every call. Weather, a sick passenger, or a runway that has just closed needs ordinary sentences. ICAO's language proficiency standard applies to both: the set phrases, and the plain language used when the set phrases are not enough. The work of talking on the frequency is described in What Does an Air Traffic Controller Do?
The scale has a minimum
ICAO Annex 1 requires an air traffic controller to speak and understand the language used for radiotelephony, at least at Operational Level 4 of its six-level scale. Level 4 is the level at which routine work, and an unexpected turn, can still be handled so that the meaning gets across. Levels 5 and 6 are higher. Level 6 is Expert.
Below Expert, the same annex requires the proficiency to be formally evaluated again. It recommends an interval of at least every three years at Level 4, and at least every six years at Level 5. Expert Level is not given a routine re-evaluation in that text. A state puts those provisions into its own law, and it can set a shorter interval or a higher minimum.
English is not the only language on the frequency
Annex 1 points to the rule that the language on the radiotelephone may be English, or the language normally used by the station on the ground. A domestic tower can work local flights in the state's language. International flights, and the units that handle them, are where English is the language the standard is aimed at.
Holding a licence in a country does not by itself tell you which language that unit uses. The vacancy notice, and the licence the state issues, are the places that name it.
The United Kingdom asks for English at Level 4
The UK Civil Aviation Authority's student air traffic controller licence page requires English at least at level 4 on the ICAO scale before a student licence is issued. That is a condition of the UK student licence, along with a current Class 3 medical. It is not a description of every state's student document. The medical is covered in Air Traffic Controller Medical Requirements.
An employer can ask for more than the licensing minimum, or for a named test, as a condition of its own course. That requirement sits on the vacancy notice. A pass for one campaign does not transfer to the next employer.
A general English qualification is a different test
A school exam, or a general certificate of English, measures classroom English. The licensing assessment measures whether you can keep a radiotelephone exchange going, including when the situation leaves the script. Some campaigns accept a stated general qualification as well. When they do, the notice names it. The job title does not imply it.
Clear speech is also part of what selection is sampling, separately from the licence endorsement. How that sits among the other skills is in What Skills Are Tested in ATC Assessments?
What this article does not say
It does not name one test provider, and it does not give a score on a general English exam. It does not say that Level 4 is enough for every employer. The language, the level, and the date the assessment stays valid are on the licence rules of that state, and on the current vacancy notice.