Bravo...whiskey

[jrpilot]

I was listening to Live atc and was wondering why they were saying words like Barvo..Whiskey and such...is that for landing taxiways or is ther another meaning for them....

[Felix/FFDS]

If you just say "B" or "V" or "P", with the radio distorition and people's accents, it could sound the same, just enough for someone who's not familiar with your voice to mistake one for the other.

Therefore, Baker-Victor-Papa are distinct words that identify the letters.

I remember my old ham letters "Kilo-Papa-Four-Echo-Papa-Hotel"

I'm quite sure that Hagar, or someone else, will come up with a couple of the lists.

[Hagar]

It's called the phonetic alphabet. This has varied over the years & also between different countries. Here's the official NATO version now used internationally. http://www.dynamoo.com/technical/phonetic.htm

[jrpilot]

Ok....but what is the point of using it...?

[Hagar]

To avoid mistakes over the radio. Bravo Whiskey would be the last 2 letters of the aircraft registration or BW. This is how the aircraft is identified. There could easily be another aircraft with the registration PW which sounds the same if you say the letters. Papa Whiskey makes it clear.

The phonetic alphabet is commonly used on the telephone these days for the same reasons. Very useful to learn it.

[Craig.]

because various letters sound like each other when the sound quality is poor. You may have seen this trying to spell your address over the phone with the other person not being able to understand it right off. The phonetic alphabet makes sure this doesnt happen.

ooops Doug got in there before me:)