Hi all.
In case anybody is interested, the French DGAC now accepts my ELP certificate for all levels, including level 6.
Before, if you got your level 6 with a Belgian examiner (like me) the DGAC would only put level 5 on your licence.
Best
James
Hi James,
I learnt that from a friend just yesterday. Great news.
I heard when I got my level 5 (a few years ago) that level 6 would no longer be « for life » but for 9 years.
How long is valid a level 6 ?
Still valid for life, they talked about changing it, but nothing happened in the end.
I believe the level 6 for 9 years is for ATC, not pilots.
Because after 9 years of practicing English you get worse at it. /s
It’s a job-creating scam. That’s what it is…
It’s a job-creating scam. That’s what it is…
It’s easy to say that when you are a native / highly-proficient English speaker (and I’d tend to agree with you), but believe you me, there are an awful lot of pilots flying whose English is so poor as to pose a real danger to safety.
there are an awful lot of pilots flying whose English is so poor as to pose a real danger to safety
My point exactly. They are still at least level 4, otherwise they wouldn’t be flying in controlled airspace.
However, I think a genuine level 4 is actually a good command of the language. In my 20 years of flying I have seen loads of examples of people who are obviously not level 4 – more like level zero, where you have zero understanding of the language, but can speak and recognise a set of phrases – and then the Q is: how did they get into the system. This is true for both pilots and ATC.
So the problem (as I see it) is not that level 4 is inadequate; it is that there are suspect signoffs going on.
I have a poor aptitude for languages. My father spoke 7 or 8 of them and I didn’t inherit this ability 
But I could probably learn to speak and recognise some standard phrases in Mongolian, in 1 day.
Peter wrote:
, where you have zero understanding of the language, but can speak and recognise a set of phrases
This is more a question of test design than anything else. Some tests are radio-only, and cover only basic phraseology, while others (like mine, and most of those available in Europe) also cover general English.
The criteria in the EASA text on language proficiency (FCL.055) require, for example, that the pilot must be able to deal with emergency procedures and understand technical documentation, if they are taking an English test for IFR purposes.
