Pilots and air traffic controllers communicate by using the radiotelephony phraseology which is a set of standardised words and phrases approved by ICAO for the radiotelephony communications in all routine aircraft situations. ICAO phraseology should always be used when it is applicable, that is, in most routine situations. In situations where standard phraseology is not available, sufficient ‘plain’ language proficiency is necessary to communicate.

The phraseology contained in this course is not intended to be comprehensive and often refers to the need for ‘additional phraseologies’ (i.e. locally adopted phraseologies) or even ‘plain language’.

The course is drawn directly from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 10 Volume 2 and ICAO Doc 9432-AN/92 – Manual of Radiotelephony.