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A spoken English test for pilots?(Times of India, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 10--NEW DELHI -- The government is going to basics with its drive to secure the skies. In addition to seeking a home ministry security clearance and flight safety records, India has now made it mandatory for all expatriate pilots to also clear a linguistic examination to test their spoken English skills. The test has been put in place in view of the growing population of expatriate pilots in Indian carriers. "We do not want to face a situation where these foreign pilots are not able to converse with the ATCs. This can cause serious problems," a civil aviation ministry source said. This comes nearly a decade after India faced probably the worst crash in its history when a Saudi Arabian Airlines passenger jet crashed with a Kazhakhstan aircraft, and investigations had blamed it on a pilot's poor understanding of English. Each foreign pilot being inducted by the Indian carriers, sources said, are now being tested for their language skills. "It's a basic language test to verify that a pilot can speak and understand basic english, and can also converse with the ATCs. If any pilot fails this test, we will not allow him to operate in the Indian skies," the source added. With the boom in air travel in India, over a dozen start-up carriers are mushrooming across the country, leading to a shortage of trained pilots in the country. In order to fill the gap, airlines are now hiring expatriate pilots for operating planes. India's two state-owned carriers -- Air-India and Indian Airlines -- alone are facing a shortage of around 150 pilots. "While we are liberalising our policies and allowing airlines to induct foreigners to operate planes, we have also made the screening process tighter to ensure that safety of air passengers is not compromised," the source said. |