When should the phonetic alphabet be used?

[Sebastian Crane]

Hello all! This is my first post here, having been flying online with VATSIM for just under a week.

I'm not yet confident that I've worked out when (and when not) to use the phonetic alphabet in communication with ATC and other aircraft. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Use the phonetic alphabet to refer to:

• VOR, NDB or other radio beacons (e.g. "Bravo Charlie November" for the VOR north of Cardiff - a more modern kind of 'Brecon Beacon' 😉)
• Taxiways and holding points (e.g. "Taxi to runway Two Six Left via Golf")
• Non-airline callsigns (e.g. "Golf Charlie Sierra Alfa Lima" - you might have seen me around with this callsign recently)
• Types of airspace (e.g. "Bravo airspace")

Don't use the phonetic alphabet to refer to:

• Runway directions ("Two Six Left", rather than "Two Six Lima")
• ILS approach fixes ("Boggy" for the fix just east of Vancouver International (CYVR), rather than "Bravo Oscar Golf Golf Yankee")
• Airline callsigns ("Speedbird Three Four Two" for the flight BAW342, rather than "Bravo Alfa Whiskey Three Four Two")
• Types of flight ("eye-elle-ess approach", rather than "India Lima Sierra approach")
• Flight levels ("Flight level 20", rather than "Foxtrot Lima 20")

Is there anything I've missed or listed incorrectly? Would love to hear your thoughts!

[Brad Littlejohn]

15 minutes ago, Sebastian Crane said:

Hello all! This is my first post here, having been flying online with VATSIM for just under a week.

I'm not yet confident that I've worked out when (and when not) to use the phonetic alphabet in communication with ATC and other aircraft. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Use the phonetic alphabet to refer to:

• VOR, NDB or other radio beacons (e.g. "Bravo Charlie November" for the VOR north of Cardiff - a more modern kind of 'Brecon Beacon' 😉)

 

VORs and NDBs will be referred to by their names, not by alphabet, unless further explanation is needed. for example, in the UK, BNN would be Bovingdon, BIG would be Biggin Hill, etc. WCO NDB would be Westcott. If the pilot doesn't understand what those are, then use of the phonetic alphabet could work to further explain what ATC wants the pilot to do.

 

15 minutes ago, Sebastian Crane said:

• Taxiways and holding points (e.g. "Taxi to runway Two Six Left via Golf")
• Non-airline callsigns (e.g. "Golf Charlie Sierra Alfa Lima" - you might have seen me around with this callsign recently)

Some flights may have a letter after the flight number, so the alphabet would be used there. This would be because (at least real world) some airlines use the flight number for a specific route, and that flight number can not have two of the same flight number in the air at the same time. So right now, if VIR43K has a  flight in the air from KLAS-EGLL, if it is still in the air by the time the next departure takes off, that second departure would be VIR43W. The alphabet is part of the callsign.

 

15 minutes ago, Sebastian Crane said:

• Types of airspace (e.g. "Bravo airspace")

Don't use the phonetic alphabet to refer to:

• Runway directions ("Two Six Left", rather than "Two Six Lima")
• ILS approach fixes ("Boggy" for the fix just east of Vancouver International (CYVR), rather than "Bravo Oscar Golf Golf Yankee")
• Airline callsigns ("Speedbird Three Four Two" for the flight BAW342, rather than "Bravo Alfa Whiskey Three Four Two")

The callsign implies that the controller knows what the callsign is for the airline. If they don't, they'll use the alphabet.

 

15 minutes ago, Sebastian Crane said:

• Types of flight ("eye-elle-ess approach", rather than "India Lima Sierra approach")
• Flight levels ("Flight level 20", rather than "Foxtrot Lima 20")

Is there anything I've missed or listed incorrectly? Would love to hear your thoughts!

 

Sometimes during clearance delivery, if the controller does not know the name of the airport referenced by the ICAO identifier, they may use the alphabet to reference the airport.

When joining an airway, you may hear either a standard or nonstandard phonetic alphabet in reference to the airway. Here in the US, they could pronounce J64 as "Jay sixty-four", while a V route would be pronounced with Victor (Victor three-ninety-four).

There definitely are more here, but there are a decent amount of incidents where the alphabet may or may not be used.

BL.