Do You Know The Aviation Alphabet
Author: Australis Gifts Date Posted:11 November 2019
Sometimes known at the NATO alphabet or the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) alphabet, the aviation alphabet was developed for use by pilots, air traffic controllers and others in the aviation industry regardless of their native language. The aviation alphabet helps avoid confusion with similar sounding letters and numbers, for example "M" and "N". The last thing we want is for a radio message between a pilot and air traffic controller to be misunderstood prior to a take-off or landing!
What is the NATO or ICAO Alphabet
Officially known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet, code words are assigned to each of the 26 letters of the English alphabet:
| Code Word | Code Word | Number | Pronunciation | |
| A - ALFA | N - NOVEMBER | 0 | ZE-RO | |
| B - BRAVO | O - OSCAR | 1 | WUN | |
| C - CHARLIE | P - PAPA | 2 | TOO | |
| D - DELTA | Q - QUEBEC | 3 | TREE | |
| E - ECHO | R - ROMEO | 4 | FOW er | |
| F - FOXTROT | S - SIERRA | 5 | FIFE | |
| G - GOLF | T - TANGO | 6 | SIX | |
| H - HOTEL | U - UNIFORM | 7 | SEV en | |
| I - INDIA | V - VICTOR | 8 | AIT | |
| J - JULIETT | W - WHISKEY | 9 | NIN er | |
| K - KILO | X - X-RAY | Decimal | DAY SEE MAL | |
| L - LIMA | Y - YANKEE | Hundred | HUN dred | |
| M - MIKE | Z - ZULU | Thousand | TOU SAND |
Learning the aviation alphabet takes practice, firstly recite the alphabet in order - alpha, bravo, charlie, ... etc and then after a while practice converting every day items such as car number plates. Or make some flash cards with the letter on the front and code word on the back.
Have a look at the aircraft registration numbers on our GeminiJets model aircraft and recite those registration numbers using the aviation alphabet, soon you will be communicating like a pilot or air traffic contoller!