Emergency! Do We Still Have to Speak English?: English as a Lingua Franca for Aviation

Abstract

With an increasing international mobility, more people fly to other parts of world. In order to assure the safety of air traffic, smooth communication between air traffic controllers and pilots becomes more and more important. The role of English as a lingua franca of aviation is addressed in Intemann (Taipei ground, confirm your last transmission was in English...? -an analysis of aviation English as a world language. In: Gnutzmann C, Intemann F (eds), The globalization of English and the English language classroom, 2nd edn. Gunter Narr Verlag, Tubingen, pp 71–88, 2008) in which he discusses features of English as an aviation lingua franca. However, very little, if any, attention has been paid to the relationship between English and other languages in aviation, despite the fact that lack of proficiency in English by pilots and/or air traffic controllers is often cited as a cause of accidents. In this chapter, the author presents an analysis of transcripts included in aviation accident reports published by the Japan Transportation Safety Board that involve interactions in English between non-native English speakers, for example, a Japanese speaking pilot has to interact with Japanese speaking air traffic controllers in English. He will discuss how much the situation in which they have to interact with each other in a second language has contributed to the accidents as well as the outcome of the reports, which would often influence on the final verdict on the accidents. The author concludes that since English remains as an aviation lingua franca, prohibiting the use of languages other than English in aviation, especially in case of emergency this could subsequently contribute to negative consequences. Therefore, the domain of aviation should be regarded as an English as a Multilingual Franca (EMLF) contect, wherein English is available to pilots and air traffic controllers, but may not be the language of choice at a particular time.