An ‘ICAO Level 4’ pilot or controller may know about 2,000 English words. A native English speaker is likely to know 20 times that number of words. It’s therefore not surprising that many ESL speakers find it easier to understand other ESL speakers than native English speakers. Sometimes having fewer options is a good thing But how can native speakers know which words ESL speakers are likely to know? In other fields it’s more difficult, but fortunately in aviation we have Standard Phraseology. The more we all stick to Standard Phraseology for our RTF communications, the lower the risk of communication breakdown.

WHY STANDARD PHRASEOLOGY?