Aviation English: analysis of corpus data and tentative proposal for a learner corpus

With air routes getting busier and busier, air traffic control operators are faced with growing responsibilities in performing their multi-task job efficiently and in a very short time. To illustrate, a pilot must contemporarily receive and send messages to the controller, communicate with the crew, and fly the airplane, checking the correct functioning of the technical equipment.

In case of emergency, he/she must also be able to manage the situation in an effective way, by making a correct diagnosis of the event or by providing the controller with all necessary information in order to enable him/her to intervene with appropriate instructions.

Controllers, on the other hand, must be able to help the pilot to resolve the event only by hearing the emergency message. For instance, in case of unexpected equipment failure, they must be able to mentally visualize the on-board equipment so as to guide the pilot in resolving the failure, again, only by means of vocal instructions.

Especially in emergency situations, hence, the impossibility for pilots and controllers to avail themselves of non-verbal communication (i.e. gestures, visual clues) makes their work much more difficult and demanding, thus negatively affecting their cognitive workload and raising risks.

A wide range of internal and external factors, in addition to non-compliance with ICAO standard radiotelephony lanaguage and phraseology, has been identified that can compromise communications effectiveness, e.g. expectation, distraction, fatigue, language accent, workload, noise, stuck microphone, radio interference and mulfunction, weather (EUROCONTROL, 2006; Civil Aviation Authority, 2002; Flight Safety Foundation, 2003 and 2001; NASA-ASRS, 1994).

However, some of these factors seem to be paramount in message misunderstandings: expectation and code switching. To remedy, it is vital to develop a shared mental model and to build situation awareness.