Standard phrases
A brief overwiev how a call is structured and a collection of commonly used words and phrases.
Structure of a radio call
A standard radio call usually consists of the following:
- Who do you want to talk to? (Recipient's callsign)
- Who is calling? (Your callsign)
- Brief message in standardized phrasiology (What you want)
Example: Magic, Phobetor 2-1, request picture.
Keep the message as short and clear as possible. As long as you talk on the radio, noone else can (does not really apply to MIDS, but in order to not overlap with someone else's call you should still keep it short).
And remember: If you don't understand all phrase or a call in general, always ask. If necessary, plain language is also totally acceptable in order to ensure a safe flight environment.
Procedures and certain phrasiology may vary depending on where you are. Navy, Air Force, Civilian Airports and even different regions may use different wording or structure in their radio calls. Just make sure to inform yourself about local variations.
Commonly used phrases
This is a collection of standard phrases that are used by all NATO member states to ensure efficient communication.
Procedure Words (Prowords):
- Affirmative: Yes/Permission granted/Correct
- Negative: No/Permission not granted/Incorrect
- Roger: Message recieved and understood
- Wilco: Will comply, will execute the given task
- Stand by: Wait for further information or instructions
- Disregard: Ignore the (last) transmission because of wrong information
- Copy: Message was recieved; When used with "Say when ready to copy"/"Stand by to copy" this means be prepared to note the following message down
NATO Phonetic alphabet
Some letters may sound over a radio transmission very similar. To reduce the risk of a misunderstanding, all letters aren't spelled individually, but with a easy to differentiate, pre-determined word.
This also applies to numbers in a similar fashion:
0: "ZEE-RO" 1: "WUN" 2: "TOO" 3: "TREE" 4: "FOW-ER" 5: "FIFE" 6: "SIX" 7: "SEV-EN" 8: "AIT" 9: "NIN-ER"
Link to the offical NATO Page