Abstract
航空英語について調べた。航空英語の中でもパイロットと管制官とのコミュ
ニケーションの際に使われる英語に注目してみた。飛行機のオペレーションで
は正確に情報を伝え合うことが要求される。しかし、生まれ育った環境や考え
方の違いから言葉に対して間違った解釈をしてしまったり、聞こえにくかった
りして正確に意思疎通を行うことは困難である。そこで、作られたのが官制英
語である。
Outline
1. Introduction
2. AECMA Simplified English
1)
What’s AECMA SE?
2)
3)
4)
3.
4.
What are the benefits of AECMA SE?
Example
Air Band
ATC Operation
Air Accident
1. Introduction
It is indispensable to tell flight information accurately in order to carry
passengers safely. A wrong understanding causes an accident. Actually a lot
of disasters was happened by miscommunication. As pilots and air traffic
controllers must talk to each other by a transceiver, the voice is hard to catch.
And how to interpret English words is influenced by their surroundings. If
they use Standard English, the rate of miscommunication is high. Therefore
more simple English came to be needed.
To fill this need, in 1987 “AECMA Simplified English” was created.
This paper reviews the ATC English with some examples.
2. AECMA Simplified English
2-1. What is AECMA SE?
AECMA Simplified English is a controlled language. AECMA is the abbreviation for:
Association Europeenne des Constructeurs de Materiel Aerospatial 〔 European
Association of Aerospace Industries〕
（Quintal, online）
Simplified English (SE) is the international common language in the aerospace
industry. It has many special expressions or unusual words. It uses concise, precise and
limited English, and it has a defined set of grammar and syntax rules (about 60 rules),
and a restricted base vocabulary that engineers must use when they write in AECMA
SE (about 1,000 words). SE gets rid of ambiguous words, complex grammar, slang,
jargon and incomplete sentences.
2-2. What are the benefits of using AECMA SE?
SE was originally aimed at simplifying English for non English
speakers, but there are also the benefits for native English speakers. Those
are to complete a task quickly and to understand what they read accurately.
It means increasing safety and efficiency, and decreasing legal liability and
customer complaints. Also SE is easier to translate because the variety of
words is limited, personal style is reduced and verbiage is eliminated.
(Quintal, online)
2-3. Examples of AECMA
This paragraph contrasts the AECMA English with the Standard English.
You can see that the latter sentence is shorter than the former one obviously.
Non-AECMA (Quintal, online)
It’s equally important that there should be no seasonal changes in the
procedures, as, although aircraft fuel system icing due to water
contamination is more often met with in water, it can be equally dangerous
during the summer months.
In AECMA
Use the same procedures all the time because water in the fuel system
can freeze during summer or winter.
2-4. Air Band English and phonetic alphabet terms
In order to get rid of mishearing, the use of special words called Air
Band English and phonetic alphabet terms was devised. Especially the
alphabet called Phonetic Alphabet is interesting and useful. The following
charts show these terms:
ENGLISH
AIR BAND
affirmative, affirm
Yes
negative
No
altitude
height
broadcast
to transmit
clear
to permit
mayday
SOS
read back
repeat
Phonetic Alphabet
A
Alpha
J
Juliet
S
Sierra
B
Bravo
K
Kilo
T
Tango
C
Charlie
L
Lima
U
Uniform
D
Delta
M
Mike
V
Victor
E
Echo
N
November
W
Whisky
F
Foxtrot
O
Oscar
X
X-ray
G
Golf
P
Papa
Y
Yankee
H
Hotel
Q
Quebec
Z
Zulu
I
India
R
Romeo
1.
22-R → 『 two-two right 』 (Runway)
2.
180 → 『 one-eight-zero 』(Heading)
3.
180 degrees turn →
Unit
『Make one-eighty』
1 m = 3.3 feet／1 mile = 1.6 km／1 knot/h = 1.8 km/h
1 pound = 0.45kg ／1 gallon = 4 liter (Okubo, online)
Air traffic controllers must tell precisely “who”, “where” and “what to do”. In case
reading back is needed (ex. “Hold short of Runway”), an ATC controller needs to confirm
the instructions by reading back without saying “Roger”.
3. Example of ATC Operation ( Departure ～ Arrival )
The following is an example of practical communication between a Pilot and a
Controller. As can be seen, this is not English that can be understood easily
simply by a native speaker of English. This English needs to be studied to be
understood.
Spot in↓ ANA Pilot (P)：Tokyo Delivery, All Nippon 249. →『two four
nine』
Controller (C)：All Nippon 249, clearance for you.
P: Go ahead.
Pushback taxiing
P: Tokyo Ground, request pushback spot 14.
C: All Nippon 249, pushback approved.
Takeoff
C: All Nippon 249, taxi into position and hold.
C: All Nippon 249, cleared for takeoff runway 34 Right.
C: All Nippon 249, contact departure.
In altitude
C: All Nippon 249, radar contact.
C: Climb and maintain 8000.
C: All Nippon 249, contact Tokyo control 120.5.
Cruise flight 1
P: Tokyo Control, All Nippon 249.
C: All Nippon 249. Tokyo Control, radar contact.
C: Climb and maintain flight level 350.
Cruise flight 2
P: Tokyo Control, request flight level 390.
C: All Nippon 249. stand by (39,000 feet )
C: All Nippon 249. climb and maintain flight level 390.
C: Contact Fukuoka Control 132.5.
[Please communicate with Fukuoka Control in 132.5MHz]（frequency）
Cruise flight 3
C: All Nippon 249. descend and maintain flight level 190.
C: Radar service terminated, contact Fukuoka Approach 119.65
Descend／Approach
C: All Nippon 249. radar vector to ILS runway 16 approach.
C: Fly heading 190, descend and maintain 7,000.
C: Reduce speed to 170 knots.
Landing
C: All Nippon 249. Fukuoka Tower, wind 140 at 5.
C: Continue approach.
C: All Nippon 249. cleared to land runway 16.
Taxing／ Spot in
P: Fukuoka Ground, All Nippon 249.
C: All Nippon 249. taxi via alpha.
(from: Tsubota 2003)
You can see clear differences with Standard English.
For example, standard
conversation is ”Can you give me ～” when we ask somebody, but ATC English is only
“Request ～”
ATC English makes it easy to communicate by combining words suitably. It’s more
convenient than Standard English for its purposes.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed the features and role of ATC and AECMA Simplified
English. In general, we can say that unification of ATC English reduces
miscommunication. It means that air accidents decrease.
Moreover, we can say that Simplified English is needed in other areas besides air
operation because it is easy for non-native speakers to understand.
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