The phonetic alphabetĬheck how each letter is pronounced when using the phonetic alphabet in aviation: Símbolo In Brazil, it is also called by the “Zulu” alphabet or aeronautical alphabet. The official name is International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, but it is also known globally by the phonetic or spelling alphabet of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It’s the same principle as when you, making a registration by telephone, spell out to the attendant: “M for Maria, A for Amor, C for Casa, D for Dado…”.Īlthough known as the phonetic alphabet, the system is actually a spelling alphabet. Just think of the proximity of some letters such as “p” and “b”, “n” and “m” or “f” and “s” to imagine the difficulty of transmitting the message in case of interference or excessive noise. The aim is simple: to make communication via radio or telephone, often unstable in these media, more assertive. Very common practice in civil and private aviation, as well as in the military environment. This type of communication is nothing more than an exchange of messages through the international phonetic alphabet. It is even likely that whoever said such a phrase would be an airplane or a helicopter pilot. You can learn more about the development and implementation of this alphabet in the ICAO Museum, which is situated inside ICAO’s Montréal Headquarters.Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, pay attention… Alpha, Bravo, Charlie! You may not know exactly what this means, but you’ve certainly come across someone uttering those words in a war movie or series. The words that represented the letters C, M, N, U and X were replaced, and the Organization completed its final version on 1 March 1956, which is still in use today worldwide. The minimum requirements for the words were to have similar spelling in English, French, and Spanish and to be live words in each of these languages.Īfter those studies and following consultations with communications experts and comments from all ICAO Member States, a new ICAO alphabet was adopted and incorporated in the Aeronautical Telecommunications Annex 10 for implementation in civil aviation. Through 19, Jean-Paul Vinay, professor of linguistics at the Université de Montréal in Canada, collaborated with ICAO’s language sector to develop a new spelling alphabet. Dissatisfaction with the existing internationally recognized phonetic alphabet submitted to ICAO for consideration led to the first draft of a proposed single universal alphabet. ICAO adopted its phonetic alphabet 70 years ago, on 1 November 1951, as a universal standard for communicating English letters over a phone or radio. Over the radio, this would be said as “Mike, tree, four, fife, November.” Consider an aircraft tail number such as M345N. Those include the number three, pronounced as tree (tri), five as fife and nine as niner. Therefore, a few of them are pronounced differently from their standard English pronunciation. Similar to the letters, the aim is to avoid confusion with other similar numbers. Not only are the letters in the ICAO phonetic alphabet assigned, but so are the numbers. The phonetic alphabet helps limit confusion between the cockpit and the tower. Because some letters sound similar (M and N or G and J), it can generate confusion between two people communicating with different accents or when the communication lines are poor. With short and simple words, ICAO’s phonetic alphabet lowers the chance of misunderstandings and increases operational safety for passengers and crew. The ICAO phonetic alphabet has assigned the 26 code words to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. Members of the military, police, airline pilots and others working in the aviation and travel industry commonly use it. Also referred to as the ICAO Phonetic Alphabet and the NATO Alphabet (with some modifications), this universal spelling alphabet is a set of words used to clarify messages, no matter the spoken language. ICAO developed the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet to ease communication via telephone or radio and avoid misunderstandings when parts of a message containing letters and numbers are spelled out. When a pilot communicates with air traffic control, static and other interferences often lead to confusion with English language letters.
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