HOW THEY TALK

The Language of Aero Communications

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Last revised December 4, 2023

If you are a resident of my part of Canada you would likely assume that pilots and air traffic controllers all speak English, no matter where they are.   You would be more or less correct in that assumption.    English is in fact the international language of air operations.   What this means is that anywhere in which English is the predominant language on the ground, and anywhere internationally, English is the language used on the air.   But this does not mean that pilots operating within Quebec might not use French in more remote areas, or same thing within countries where English is not the main language.  In such circumstances, using the local language is perfectly legal. It really comes down to international travel:  any pilot flying internationally must use English, and similarly, any air traffic controller working with international flights must also be able to use English.   Thus it would be exceedingly rare to hear anything but English when you listen in on flights in our part of the world.    Aircraft from many different countries and with pilots of many different nationalities fly over Nova Scotia every day, and all of them, and the controllers on the ground who speak to them, will all be talking in English.     A flight from Europe, over the the Atlantic, the Maritimes, along the US coast, over Cuba and on to South America will be conducted completely in English, at least as far as radio communications is concerned.

It you think that means it is all going to be straightforward in understanding what is being said, think again.  

First of all, if you listen in on the flow of airliners passing over Atlantic Canada and whose pilots are talking to controllers on the ground, you will realize right away that “speaking English” can mean anything from pronunciation and accents that are much like yours right through to barely intelligible.   English comes in many forms!  I have myself been listening to such conversations for decades but still marvel at how the Canadian controllers on the ground can understand what is being said.

Part of the answer to this, making it all less of a problem than it might otherwise be, is that there are certain things to be said, and certain ways to say them.  

All pilots, in theory, are trained in aeronautical communications.   Not only should they know how to use their radios, they should also be trained in voice procedure.

In formal training for aeronautical radio certification, students are taught such things as calling another station.  This is pretty much what they are officially taught:

Scenario:   A small Cessna aircraft with international registration F-RDFG wants to call the tower at Moncton.   

·         Moncton Tower, this is Cessna Foxtrot Romeo Delta Foxtrot Golf. Over

·         Cessna Foxtrot Romeo Delta Foxtrot Golf, This is Moncton Tower, Over

·         Moncton Tower, this is Cessna Foxtrot Romeo Delta Foxtrot Golf.  Inbound from the west for landing. Over

·         Cessna Foxtrot Romeo Delta Foxtrot Golf cleared for visual approach right base Runway 34  Over.

·         Moncton Tower.  Cessna Foxtrot Romeo Delta Foxtrot Golf cleared for visual approach right base Runway 34  Over.

·         Etc etc.

In reality, this is NOT what is said, as it is very cumbersome. You are not very likely to say the aircraft type in conversations with controllers, as that is already in the flight plan that the controller already has. American pilots of private and corporate aircraft tend to state the type more than Canadians do.

The international civil registration, if being used at all, is indeed said out phonetically at first contact, but then afterwards is generally contracted down to the last three characters.  Thus the aircraft above would be identified as Delta Foxtrot Golf in subsequent back and forths.

The procedural words such as Out and Over are in reality hardly ever used.  Even the phrase “this is” is usually omitted.   

In fact, the whole calling part of the conversation is usually omitted.  I am not saying this is good or proper but it is the reality.   Facilities such as towers are usually expecting an aircraft to arrive and call them and it all works well with maximum brevity. 

The above conversation becomes

·         Moncton Tower, Foxtrot Romeo Delta Foxtrot Golf inbound for landing, requesting a visual approach to Runway 34. [Note they have not called and waited to be acknowledged, as it is understood that the tower controller is listening]

·         Delta Foxtrot Golf cleared for a visual approach downwind Runway 34

·         Cleared for visual approach downwind Runway 34. Delta Foxtrot Golf. [They might not even read back the instruction and just acknowledge with “Delta Foxtrot Golf”.]

Identifying Aircraft 

In the preceding section's example the aircraft was identified by its international registration letters. I have a whole article on identification of aircraft and will give you just a few words here.  

All civil aircraft have internationally recognized letters or numbers painted on the sides and elsewhere.  Canadian aircraft will have C-Fxxx , C-Gxxx or C-Ixxx on the side, with the last one reserved for ultralight aircraft..  American aircraft will have N followed by numbers or more likely a number or two followed by letters.   Americans tend to call these “tail numbers”.   Canadians more likely refer to them as “the civil registration".    In most countries it is a set of five letters, with the first one or two indicating the country.  For example if it starts with F it is French, if G it is British, if CC it is Chilean, if CF it is Canadian, etc etc.  A few countries use different formats, such as the US example mentioned above.  All of this is detailed in my more complete article.

Usually an airline or a corporation operating aircraft will register a call sign to use instead of the registration letters.  This is similar to the aliases used instead of radio is's in trunk radio systems. These aero call signs consist of a word or two followed by numbers.  The word part can be the name of the airline or it can be an alias they have picked.  Thus you get Air Canada 603 for the daily morning flight from Halifax to Toronto.  Note that this is used for the flight and is not specific to a particular aircraft.   The aircraft itself has a civil registration mark but it is not used on the radio.   Any aircraft assigned to that flight will use Air Canada 603 as its call sign.  Behind the scenes it is known in the system what particular aircraft is being used that day.       Corporate aircraft may use a call sign that is specific to the aircraft as they do not fly regular routes.  These are used because it is much easier to say them than the cumbersome registration letters.  Thus we have Patrol 1 always used for a particular helicopter operated by the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.  Much easier to say than Charlie Foxtrot Yankee November Romeo.    Not all corporations do this.  For example the helicopters operated for Nova Scotia Emergency Health Services identify with civil registrations, such as Charlie Foxtrot Lima Foxtrot Tango, which seems odd to me, since brevity has a value.

You will have noted that the NS DNR helicopters used the word “Patrol” instead of something like “Natural Resources".  Any airline or other corporation may apply for and use a chosen call sign word instead of the company name.  It has to be approved as no two can use the same one.    Thus we have ASL Airlines that operates 747 cargo aircraft into Halifax using “Quality”,  and Lynx Air operating low cost passenger service using “Daunt less”.  In fact the use of alias-type call signs is very common, and you may find my list of some used in this area quite interesting.     Note that the military pretty much always uses the alias type.   US Air Force cargo aircraft use the “Reach” call sign, while their navy counterparts use “Convoy”.   Royal Canadian Air Force non-combat aircraft use “Canforce” and the Royal Air Force uses “Ascot”.   Combat and associated aircraft such as refuelers use call signs that either are specific to the unit or squadron, or are formulated for each mission, and often changed for security reasons.     You have all heard of “Air Force One”, which is a call sign only used if the President is actually on board,   In Canada the call sign “Canforce One” is used if the Prime Minister is aboard, though there are issues with this.  Ask me if you are interested! 

Note that the military use personal call signs for tactical communications in combat aircraft.  By this I mean that the aircraft might well be identified by use of a personal call sign of the pilot that happens to be flying it.  We have all seen Top Gun and similar movies, and know about Maverick and Goose and all the rest.   I am not discussing this type of call sign here, as it is highly unlikely that you will actually hear this type.

Other Special Words in the Aero Language

The next thing to realize is that there are words or designations used in aviation that are not familiar to an outsider.  There are so many that I cannot go into it all here, but will cover a few of them.   Much of what I am briefly outlining here is discussed in much more depth in other articles here on the website.

If an aircraft is approaching an airport or at the airport asking for clearance to depart they might say something like “I have Mike” or the controller might say in reply “ATIS Mike”.     Many airports have a continuous broadcast of field conditions including weather and visibility, and as well which runway or runways are available.   Each edition of the ATIS broadcast is identified by a phonetic letter.   As a revision comes out it takes the next letter in line.  These do NOT start with Alpha at midnight but rather just continue along regardless of time of day.   Note that ATIS stands for Automated Terminal Information System and the broadcasts are recorded, possibly with artificial voices, and sent out on an assigned frequency.   In Halifax this is 121.0 MHz.  Note that the ATIS information is also sent out on data links so that the pilots on some aircraft will receive a printout.   Note also that there are similar services called AWOS and ASOS (more common in the USA) that transmit information “on demand”.

Now that you know that the ATIS reports are identified by a phonetic letter, I have to tell you that phonetic letters are also used to designate taxiways.   At Halifax airport there are taxiways Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima and Mike.  Presumably if another is built it will be November.  At large airports where the alphabet becomes exhausted they will add a numeral after the letter.

Aircraft approaching an airport and using instrument procedures (rather than visual) will be directed to various navigational fix points (waypoints).   These are designated by 5-letter words that are pronounceable but are usually nonsense words.   For example an aircraft approaching Halifax from the west and heading to land on Runway 23 might be directed to DUTIR and then to LEEROS, and once on the final approach to 23 will pass over MITIG.   There are many of these points around any major airport.     There are also waypoints similar to these along the airways that aircraft follow en route.    For example, an aircraft leaving Halifax and heading towards Ontario might be cleared to head to MOWND or if heading farther south, to SENVI and then ALLEX.    The positions of the waypoints are all held within the aircraft databases and can be dialed-up by name.  All I can say is that you will hear many funny names like these on the air. Some of them originate with local geographic or cultural features, but most do not relate to anything and are random.  These cannot be duplicated, at least not within North America.

You may also hear aircraft being directed to geographic names such as Millinocket or Kennebunk or Grindstone.  In this case these are actual navigational beacons located somewhere in the vicinity of the communities they are named after.   Each of these also has an official identification consisting of three letters.    Millinocket is MLT, Kennebunk is ENE, and Grindstone is YGR.  They can be referred to in either way.  For example a controller might direct an aircraft like this:  "Cleared Direct Millinocket"  or could just as commonly say "Cleared Direct Mike Lima Tango".   In either case, the pilot knows what they are being told to do.

For aircraft approaching an airport to land, you will hear mention of various instrument methods or procedures to help that happen.    Some things you may hear are “ILS” for Instrument Landing System, “Localizer” for a beacon that indicates if an aircraft is left or right of the desired path, and “glide slope” for a similar system to indicate whether above or below the recommended slope to descend to the runway.    You will also hear of RNAV Yankee and RNAV Zulu, which are sets of procedures, basically using GPS.   In poor visibility you may hear of CAT 1 and CAT 2 approaches, which relate to visibility as the aircraft is in the last stage of approach.

The runways themselves, not the taxiways, are designated by numbers.   I have a whole other article on runway designations, so will not delve into that here.

You will encounter many other terms that everyone on the air seems to be understanding perfectly well, and after a while and with some research, such as here, you will be very familiar with them too.