Proficiência inglesa na aviação: falhas de comunicação e medidas de prevenção de acidentes

Abstract

This article reports how the lack of English proficiency can result in communication failures during air operations, specifically on international flights. The purpose of this research is to observe whether the SDEA exam assessment method, as well as the quality of teaching-learning of the pilots to perform it, is being made efficiently, in order to ensure greater safety in the flight. The study aims, in a secondary way, to show the importance of English for the pilot and controller and to portray how the misuse of the language can become a contributing factor to accidents. The methodology adopted to clarify these objectives was qualitative research, using bibliographic procedures. The present work deals with three accidents in which there were communication failures between the pilots and controllers, being the lack of fluency in the English language, a factor that contributed to the aerial occurrence. Through the guidelines elaborated by the ICAO with the intention to reinforce the communication security, language proficiency exams were instituted to evaluate the pilots' English language proficiency for all the signatory countries, bringing a significant decrease in air incidents. However, it was found that the method of evaluation of the SDEA exam, as well as the quality of teaching-learning of the pilots to perform it, in some cases, is being inefficient, putting at risk the flight safety on international routes, which could cause, in the future, another air accident, such as those discussed in this study. In view of this, this study stated that there is in fact a failure in the assessment method used by accredited institutions and in the preparation of candidate pilots. On the other hand, it was found that, even with certain irregularities, the test is important for the standardization of the English language in commercial aviation.