The FAA recently signed
a cooperative research and development agreement with Ordinate
Corporation, of Menlo Park, CA, to support improved English
proficiency in aviation worldwide.
All International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) member
states must adopt and controllers and aircrews must conform to and
achieve new English language proficiency standards, by March 2008.
Imposition and enforcement of the new ICAO provisions will improve
aviation radio and telephone communications in English and
therefore enhance aviation safety worldwide.
The goal of the five-year agreement is to create a standard
Aviation English Test. Ordinate Corporation has developed a
completely automated method for testing spoken language. The FAA
Academy provides leadership in training and developing the FAA
workforce and the aviation community.
“This is another step in FAA support to ICAO member
states, air carrier operators and air traffic service providers to
help them meet the ICAO March 2008 English language proficiency
requirement,” said Graham Elliott, manager of the FAA
Academy’s Aviation Language Training Program.
“The research is to develop an automated test that both
supports the ICAO in establishing a global standard, and also
applies U.S. technology to the otherwise long, arduous and costly
process of testing many tens of thousands of pilots and
controllers.”
“This agreement
is a unique, creative arrangement,” said Deborah Germak,
manager of the FAA’s Technology Transfer Program.
“Ordinate has agreed to reimburse the FAA Academy for the
FAA’s direct expenses for this effort, and it will pay the
FAA a percentage of the gross sales of every Aviation English Test
sold.”
These funds will be used for further research, test improvement
and training program development.
A cooperative research and development agreement between a
federal laboratory and a collaborating partner is one in which the
partners leverage their resources by providing people, services,
facilities, equipment, intellectual property and other resources to
conduct specific research or development efforts to further the
mission of the agency. The government provides no funds in these
agreements, but the collaborating party may reimburse the
government for related expenses it incurs.
The FAA’s Cooperative Research and Development Agreement
Program is based at the William J. Hughes Technical Center, near
Atlantic City, N.J. The FAA Academy is located at the FAA’s
Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City.