Aircraft Pilot Special Alphabets (NATO Phonetic Alphabets)

NATO Phonetic Alphabets

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What are NATO Phonetic Alphabets?

NATO phonetic alphabets are the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabets. These are simple English alphabets. As we say A for Apple, B for Ball, C for cat, etc. NATO Phonetics Alphabets are Globally standardise alphabets for pilots all over the world. These alphabets are used to avoid confusion between different languages all over the world.

Why NATO Phonetic Alphabets are used?

Over thousands of languages are spoken in the world. It is impossible to pilot to know all the languages. Previously there were many versions of languages used by pilots. E.g. Royal Navy used alphabets began with Apple, Butter, Charlie, etc. While British Infantrymen had their own version which started with Ack, Beer, Charlie, etc. Royal Air Force(RAF) developed alphabets based on both of these. When US air force entered into a war they used Able, Baker, versions of alphabets. So there was confusion between all the versions, Hence NATO Phonetic language was standardised.

NATO Phonetic Alphabets

NATO Phonetics alphabets are created by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation). NATO Phonetics Alphabets are chosen in such a way that there won't be any confusion between two letters. As in a case of English alphabets there is a possibility of getting confused between 's' & 'f', between 'm' & 'n' etc. Also, those are chosen in such a way that these worlds would be familiar with the almost all languages also in such a way that there won't be any other words with same pronunciation & can be easily spoken by pilots.

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