Pilots mostly pronounce numbers as in regular English but with a few exceptions. Zero (0) is always “zero,” not “oh.” Three (3) becomes “tree.” Five (5) becomes “fife.” Nine (9) becomes “niner.”
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Pilots mostly pronounce numbers as in regular English but with a few exceptions. Zero (0) is always “zero,” not “oh.” Three (3) becomes “tree.” Five (5) becomes “fife.” Nine (9) becomes “niner.”
Alpha, Bravo, Charli, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, PaPa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Pilots pronounce numbers similar to regular English, with a few exceptions: The number three (3) is pronounced “tree.”
The phrase five by five can be used informally to mean good signal strength or loud and clear. An early example of this phrase was in 1946, recounting a wartime conversation.
It can be said that V1 is the commit to fly speed. V2 is the speed at which the airplane will climb in the event of an engine failure. It is known as the takeoff safety speed.
Pilots use the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Phonetic Alphabet to communicate. Pilots never pronounce letters when they are transmitting to Air Traffic Control, and vice-versa. Instead, each letter of the alphabet is assigned a code word to represent the letter.
Fox is short for foxtrot, the NATO phonetic designation for the letter F, which is short for fire. The radio call announcing that a weapon has been fired is intended to help avoid friendly fire, alerting other pilots to avoid maneuvering into the path of the munition.
Affirm: Contrary to popular belief, pilots do not say “affirmative” when they mean “yes” – the correct term is affirm, pronounced “AY-firm”. Deadhead: This refers to a member of the airline crew who is travelling in a passenger seat.
The callout from the pilots like LOC blue serves to remind themselves of the current flight guidance modes, and to maintain awareness of mode changes. This is also to ensure that their mental idea of what the aircraft will do next is up to date and fits to the current flight situation.
The word heavy means a larger aircraft type, with a Maximum Takeoff Weight of 160 tonnes or more. These aircraft create wake turbulence from their wings and require extra separation between following aircraft, and the use of heavy reminds other pilots of that fact.
Why do they say eject 3 times? The common practice was for the pilot to say eject, eject, eject. The first time was to get my attention, the second was to confirm the order and get me ready to eject, and the third to pull the handle.
Modern airliners only require two pilots, the captain and the first officer. Where relief crew are required for long haul flights, additional captains and first officers will be carried. Junior first officers undergoing training are sometimes known as second officers.
Pan-Pan, short for “possible assistance needed,” is used to communicate an urgent, but not emergency, situation over VHF radio, in the case of aviation, to air traffic control. Examples could include a recreational pilot getting lost, or perhaps needing to climb to a higher altitude to sort a problem out.
Aviators often speak “pilot English” to avoid miscommunications over radio transmission. “Tree” for instance, means three, “fife” is the number five and “niner” means nine, says Tom Zecha, a manager at AOPA. The variations stemmed from a desire to avoid confusion between similar-sounding numbers, he says.