Aviation numbers and the phonetic alphabet

How to say numbers and letters on the radio — niner, fife, tree — and the NATO phonetic alphabet.

Say each digit

Read numbers digit by digit: 122.8 is "one two two point eight". Altitudes use thousands/hundreds: 4,500 is "four thousand five hundred".

Niner, fife, tree

To avoid confusion on a noisy frequency: 9 = "niner", 5 = "fife", 3 = "tree". These are standard ICAO pronunciations.

Phonetic alphabet

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

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