The Alphabet

The pilots can never be misunderstood! They speak the same language: English, all over the world.

And, like any other language, the aviation version of English has its own alphabet!

To make sure the message is loud and clear, the letters in the codes (like Plane name, route points) are ALWAYS said

as a word that starts with that letter. As everyone uses the same alphabet - everyone can use the same names for

those letters as well, as the words are distinctive enough for anyone, and they will not be confused with anything.

TANGO IS FOR T

Here is one example: Tango. There are other words that start with T - like Toy. But if you said "Toy" and the audio is not perfect, someone may hear Boy, Coy, Soy, Roy :-) So it's better to use the words that cannot be mistaken!