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. These are easy to memorize, and you will use these terms frequently as a pilot. Pilots often speak in shorthand, or with abbreviations.

Pilots and air traffic controllers use the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, commonly known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet. This system was developed to ensure that critical communications are clearly understood despite radio static, engine noise, or different accents. Each letter of the English alphabet is assigned a distinct code word that is difficult to confuse with others: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtel, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, and Zulu. For example, a flight with the tail number N123AB would be spoken as "November One Two Three Alpha Bravo." Numbers also have specific pronunciations to avoid confusion; "nine" is often spoken as "niner" to distinguish it from the German word "nein" (no), and "three" may be pronounced as "tree." This standardized language is the backbone of global aviation safety, ensuring that a pilot from Japan and a controller in France can exchange vital navigation data without linguistic errors.