Saudi Arabian students learn English and aviation

By Kayla A. Swenson

In 2012, 15 Saudi Arabian students flew to the United States hoping that the next time they boarded a plane they would be the pilots.

In the past three years the aviation program at Utah State University has accepted students from Saudi Arabia in an effort to train them in aviation and English. Originally the school accepted eight students with scholarships from Saudi Airlines; now the flight school has 24 Saudi students enrolled. 

“There were many applicants and we were lucky to be selected by Saudi Airlines,” said Qais Aljambi, a junior Aviation major. “I got to get sponsored by them and study for free.”

When Saudi Airlines first offered the scholarship over 7,000 students applied. Out of those 7,000 only 50 students were chosen for flight training in the United States.

Aaron Dyches, a chief flight instructor, supposes that Saudi Airlines are attempting to train pilots from their own country because many of the western English pilots don’t want to stay in the foreign air base.

“Saudi airlines has already hired these students so they are over here being trained,” Dyches said.

To enter the aviation program foreign students must first meet the university language requirements. These requirements include 18-24 English credits and a high score on the English Language Institute exam.

“Learning English with American people outside the flight school has improved our language in aviation,” Aljambi said. “We don’t just speak letters and numbers in aviation. We also communicate with the tower, with each other and with other pilots.”

Dyches said that typically a student who speaks English fluently could get their private pilot rating in 37-40 hours but that Saudi students require between 60-80 hours to complete their private pilot license.

 “I assume that it is learning both English and Aviation,” Dyches said. “Aviation is pretty much a language in and of itself; a lot of three letter acronyms, a lot of air space vocabulary.”

Matt Burnell, an assistant chief flight instructor said that pronunciation is a crucial part of flight communication and that it is important for flight students to “slow down and annunciate.”

“The sound of the engine and the work load sometimes make the English hard to understand,” Aljambi said.

Despite language development, Dyches said that he is impressed by how quickly the Saudi students are improving.

“They’re doing great,” Dyches said. “It’s amazing some of the drive these kids have.”

Next year the college of Aviation Technology will have eight Saudi Arabian graduates.