Result of survey on pilots’ opinion about the SDEA

Published in May 30, 2018 06:39 PM Updated in Jun 30, 2021 03:13 PM

As the safety of radiotelephony communication between pilots and air traffic controllers is a matter of public interest, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommends that information about the validity and reliability of the tests should be accessible to all stakeholders.

At the beginning of 2017, ANAC’s department of language proficiency started to conduct surveys with pilots who had taken the Santos Dumont English Assessment. The first questionnaire, sent to a group of more than 5,000 pilots, has already had its response period completed. This survey was an important tool for verifying the quality of the exam and the whole process of certification in language proficiency. It was useful for implementing improvements in the certification process of pilots in language proficiency and for strengthening communication with the pilots’ community.

At the end of 2017, following the implementation of the new set of SDEA’s test versions, a second and shorter questionnaire started to be sent to pilots who had recently taken the test. The questionnaire is sent weekly to a group of pilots who have recently taken the test. This new questionnaire aims to:

Validate SDEA through the analysis of the results, which reflect whether the impact of the test on aviation English training of Brazilian civilian pilots and on safety was positive or negative;
Provide feedback from candidates on the assessment method (does SDEA cover all the real needs of pilots in the cockpit?);
Get the pilots’ opinion about the effectiveness of the test to assess pilots’ proficiency in accordance with the descriptors of the ICAO rating scale;
Provide information about candidates' satisfaction with accredited entities.

After 30 (thirty) days of having taken SDEA, if you have not received an invitation to take part in the survey, you may send an e-mail to the address processos.pel@anac.gov.br, asking us to resend you the invitation. Please inform your full name, ANAC code, date and place where you took the test.