Effective Language Study Cuts Aviation Training Costs A Case Study

Cadet pilots typically require a total of 250 hours of flight training to receive an FAA Commercial Pilot License (CPL). TransPac Aviation Academy in Arizona, USA trains many international students. The Academy found that cadets with poor English skills often had to repeat training exercises as a result of poor communication with their flight instructors and air traffic controllers. As a result, students with a lack of English skills were exceeding their programmed training hours by up to 20%. These extra hours of training translated into substantial Overage Costs for the Academy.

In a study of groups of cadets sponsored by three different airlines with consistently high Overage Costs, TransPac used DynEd’s Aviation English program for 3 months before the cadets’ arrival at the Academy and during their initial stages of flight training.


As the figure shows, before the introduction of DynEd training, students from these airlines had an average of 46 overage hours beyond the normal 250 hour program. With the program of DynEd training, cadets were able to complete their professional training with few or no additional training hours. This translated into a savings of over $9,500 per cadet in flight training hours alone. When other factors such as living costs were added in, the savings were even greater.