Phonetic Alphabet

The ICAO phonetic alphabet is a standard used by pilots to unambiguously spell out aircraft tail numbers and other identifiers. It is designed to ensure that misunderstandings when communicating these over radio are kept to a minimum.

For example, when reading out N349GK, a pilot would say "November Three Four Niner Golf Kilo".

The code words for each letter are:

• Alpha
• Bravo
• Charlie
• Delta
• Echo
• Foxtrot
• Golf
• Hotel
• India
• Juliet
• Kilo
• Lima
• Mike
• November
• Oscar
• Papa
• Quebec
• Romeo
• Sierra
• Tango
• Uniform
• Victor
• Whiskey
• X-ray
• Yankee
• Zulu

Numbers are pronounced as normal; however 9 is pronounced "niner" and 0 as "zero".