Voice comms Voice Communication, talk like a real fighter pilot! (and WIN)

[Pony51 6,572]

With voice communications directly built into War Thunder as well as using Team Speak (aka Team Speek) and Mumble, knowing how to use “Pilot Speak” (and its tanker related  “military comms” too) will give your team an winning edge.

Time is a luxury in combat, voice communications must be as short and clear as possible, often what you hear sounds like random letters and numbers, but to those who learn and use it can instantly understand what is happening and act accordingly.

The original reason for this simplified and coded language is to compensate for radio interference and need to quickly yet accurately transmit instructions (examples at end of posting).  While in today’s world interference is a minimal issue, the speed is more important than ever.  A well trained squad of pilots using these calls will dominate the battle-space and defeat superior opponents.

The need for communication clarity also created standards that are now international.  Yes, almost all of the words described below are used by all pilots regardless of their native language

 

International pilot voice communications is primarily in English.

The International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet (aka NATO phonetic alphabet, or ICAO spelling alphabet) is the standard voice method of communicating letters and numbers.

 

Spelling Alphabet.

A-Alpha

B-Bravo

C-Charlie

D-Delta

E-Echo

F-Foxtrot

G-Golf

H-Hotel

I-India

J-Juliet

K-Kilo

L-Lima (Lee-ma)

M-Mike

N-November

O-Oscar

P-Papa

Q-Quebec

R-Romeo

S-Sierra

T-Tango

U-Uniform

V-Victor

W-Whiskey

X-X-ray

Y-Yankee

Z-Zulu

 

The numbers are called out as in normal English, except that the number 9 is said "ninER", so not to confuse with German word for NO.

Five is sometimes said as FivER, but that is not a standard.

You do NOT use "Oh" for Zero.

 

Mufti digit number are called out one at a time, such as:

190 = One NineR Zero

 

There is also a long list of Procedure Words with exact use defined, more precise than how the word is used in everyday speaking.

Here is a list that is most appropriate for WT.

 

Operational words are:

Affirm(ative) — Yes (In aviation it is Affirm to eliminate chance of confusion with Negative)

Negative — No

Unable – cannot do the instruction sent.

Reading you Five / Loud and Clear / Lima Charlie  — I understand what you say; 5×5. (Lima Charlie itself is for letter L and C, read out)

Over — I have finished talking and I am listening for your reply. Short for "Over to you."

Come in — You may begin speaking now

Out — I have finished talking to you and do not expect a reply (sometimes said Over and Out).

Wait — I do not have the answer or information to hand, I will attempt to source the answer or information requested shortly but until then I have finished talking and do not expect a reply.

Roger— (also roger that) I understand what you said; ok; all right [In aviation it is different: Roger = I have received all of your last transmission. It should not be used to answer a question requiring a yes or a no answer. Wilco = I have received your message, understand it, and will comply with it.] "Roger" was the U.S. military designation for the letter R (as in received) from 1927 to 1957

Copy — I heard what you just said; ok; all right.

Wilco — Will comply (after receiving new directions), “Roger Wilco” is popular combination.

Go ahead or Send your traffic — Send your transmission.

Say again repeat; Please repeat your last message (Repeat is only used in Canadian/US military radio terminology to request additional artillery fire)

Break — Signals a pause during a long transmission to open the channel for other transmissions, especially for allowing any potential emergency traffic to get through. (Not used in British Army)

Roger So Far — Confirm you have received and understood the contents of my transmission so far. This is used during Long Message Procedure (Messages lasting over 20 seconds prefixed by the Pro-Word 'Long Message' and the initiating C/S must give a gap of five seconds after the receiving station has replied with 'Roger'. This five seconds is to allow other Stations onto the net if they have important messages.

Break-Break — Signals to all listeners on the frequency, the message to follow is priority. Almost always reserved for emergency traffic or in NATO forces, an urgent 9 line or Frag-O.  Note: during combat it indicates imminent danger and to break of formation or pursuit.

Standby or Wait out — Pause for the next transmission. This does not usually entail staying off the air until the operator returns as they have used the word 'Out' which indicates the transmission has ended. The net is now free for other traffic to flow but users should be aware that the previous C/S may re-initiate a Call as per their 'Wait out'

callsign-Actual — Sometimes an individual (generally a superior) may have a person monitor the network for them. Saying "actual" after their callsign asserts you wish to speak to the specific person the callsign is attached to.

Pan-pan— Maritime/aviation urgency call. Repeated three times. Has priority over safety calls.

Mayday — Maritime/aviation distress call. Repeated three times and at beginning of every following transmission relating to the current distress situation. Has priority over urgency and safety calls.

 

 

Combat specific calls (not necessarily international calls):

 

“Bogey(s) (call direction)”.  Unknown aircraft spotted this direction.  “Ufo” (not U.F.O)also used in same

“Con (call direction)”. – short for Contact, same as Bogey.

“Bandits” – Code name for hostile aircraft; Bogeys can become Bandits after positive ID.

“CHECK 6” – Look behind you for enemy aircraft.  Ideally an identification of who should be given, however it is a good reminder for everyone to watch their rear.

“CHECK HIGH/LOW”  Like Check 6,but alerts to bogeys above or below someone (or group).

“Bingo (ammo/ fuel)”, out of load, need to RTB. or “Winchester” only for no  munitions (ammo, bombs, etc).

“Extend” – Gain separation from enemy aircraft

“Reverse” – Reverse direction, either away to to enemy aircraft.

“Scratch”, means target aircraft is confirmed destroyed, usually when a large part, like wing, departs from aircraft..

“Splash”, means target has impacted ground.  While it means in water also used on land (Also apply to missile hitting and destroying aircraft in modern times).

“WEP” – War Emergency Power,

 

GAME common Combat specific calls (not seen outside of online game):

“Drag”  When you are dragging multiple bogeys on your six toward allied players.  Usually inexperience players intent on kill not realizing they are lead into a trap.  Be on alert for calls of "I'm draggin" as this is often a very easy kill.

“I’m bait”, someone saying they are “fishing” for enemy aircraft to “drag” to their destruction.  Every great team is ready to do this.

“Auger” = when and airplane dives into the ground, perhaps spinning.

“Compressing”  When airplane is going too fast, usually in dive, stick loses control authority, bad if the ground is your flight direction.

“ReUp”, as in "I’m re-upping"  shorten slang saying you are taking off again (either after repair or respawned).

"Tater" slang which refers to 30mm+ weapons, "tatergun" .due to size of rounds like a potato. 109G, K's, Yak's, P-39... sadly in WT it is ridiculous easy to hit with tater shots.
“Egg” slang for laying a bomb.

“Cookie” is another slang for bomb used in UK forces (RAF, RN, and Commonwealth). “Dropping an egg” is common reference to bombing.

“Cherrypicking”  someone attacks a con who's engaged in a fight. cheap way to kill someone.

“Bailing” – because aircraft only good to grate cheese or strain spaghetti.

“Ditching” –  trying to crash land.

 

Misunderstood terms.
I have heard people say "splashed him" or "splashed a bogey"  used when you take someone down over ocean.

Scratch is over land kill.

But either way it means target is down/destroyed, so whether over land or water is of little difference.

 

There is MORE to this, and like anything the more practice the better you get.

It is also easier to listen than speak it, so even you know how to talk like a pilot, others can still quickly learn what you are saying and think you are soooo AWESOME in your uber talk! 8)s

 

:salute:

[sabaton_ 3,821]

those terms are only for american and british pilots?

[Auscam 2,583]

Not a bad list at all but its not just aviation that benefit, its also has a maritime use as well and they are intertwined with each other.  There are a number of codes that actually cut the need for plan speak but clearly .

 

You could use/add;

 

Feet Wet (water) / Feet Dry (land)

 

Check Check Check - cease fire

 

Bearing Green (stbd) / Red (port) then add degrees of compass eg: Contact bearing green 45 angle of sight 20

 

Angels to designate height, eg I'm feet dry at angels 20 

 

Out — I have finished talking to you and do not expect a reply (sometimes said Over and Out).  

You should never say "over and out".  You cant offer them the chance to reply and cut them off at the same time.  Its "out" or "over",

 

Roger So Far — Confirm you have received and understood the contents of my transmission so far. This is used during Long Message Procedure (Messages lasting over 20 seconds prefixed by the Pro-Word 'Long Message' and the initiating C/S must give a gap of five seconds after the receiving station has replied with 'Roger'. This five seconds is to allow other Stations onto the net if they have important messages.  

"Roger over", is the norm when asked "how copy over".  The C/S has acknowledged the message to that point and has now offered the originating station the ability to continue its message.  But with publications used for tactical signals, messages aren't that long as codes used, help in this.

 

Number "5" is expressed as FIFE eg: one niner fife = 195

 

Negative is also expressed as NEGAT

 

Question is Interrogative or INT eg: int qsa over = what is the strength of my signals.  A response would be qsa 1 - 5 (weak - very good)

 

Roger would be followed by "out" if message was understood

[VanSinn 2,253]

Nice info for people who don't know this.  I have something to add, however.  You didn't get this wrong, but it's definitely worth mentioning.

 

Speed and brevity in a combat communication is essential, but just as important is clarity.  Don't mumble your words.  Say each word only as quickly as you can clearly enunciate it.  A fast message is useless if misunderstood, and even if the recipient answers with a "Roger," you can't guarantee he truly understood what you said.

[Aotea 1,696]

Auscam is correct
 

Five is pronounced FIFE

 

The reason is actually the same reason Nine is pronounced NINER -it has nothing to do with Germanic Negatives.  It's because using a crappy microphone Nine and Five sound almost identical.  This could obviously cause huge problems if conveying altitude, distance or tail number info.

 

The only other point I would make is that OVER, OUT and COME IN are never used on VHF or UHF radios -the standard radios used for communication by the military.
It's only when you have to call on a long range HF set that these terms are used.  HF suffers from far more interference due to changes in the ionosphere and distant thunderstorms, precisely because it is long range comms.  This interference means the audio is much worse -full of crackling static and hiss.  There is a knob on an HF set that allows you to reduce background static by a variable amount.  So the set would only play a sound if a large signal was detected.  But these radios worked using vacuum tubes, so it took a small amount of time for the tubes to detect any change in signal strength, which meant that this "Squelch" function had the tendency to clip the beginning and end of a message off.  Hence HF calls often start with a repeated callsign and end with either OVER or OUT.  These extra sounds could be lost without losing the message content.

 

Shorter range comms (VHF) doesn't suffer from the same problems as much, so doesn't need to clutter or lengthen a message by adding unnecessary phrases like OVER to the end (despite what you might see in the movies).  UHF which is used primarily by the military is basically line-of-sight, so the shortest range and very clear.

 

Any aircraft that has a long wire antenna stretching from a mast near the nose to the tail is carrying an HF set.  By 1940 many fighters were equipped with VHF radios to supplement their HF sets. The VHF would have been for aircraft to aircraft comms, while the HF would have been used for long distance calls back to an Area Control.

In this game we are only dealing with aircraft to aircraft, so we can drop the OVER, OUT and COME IN

[spitfire27028 1]

awesome thank you so much. i love it. WAR-THUNDER RULES!

[spitfire27028 1]

are the skins for use on my aircraft in WT? if so, how do i use them. they downloaded to my RAR thingy

[m60a3ttsfaf 1]

“Abort, abort, abort”

[hemmerling 433]

so he thread opener suggests to use the NATO alphabet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet

which was irrelevant ( unknown ) at the whole WWII, as defined after WWII,

especially at that time national spelling of letters ( e.g. Germany, Italy, France, Russia, Japan ) was usual too.

Edited March 7, 2019 by hemmerling

[_ItZzWar_ 3,910]

On 07/03/2019 at 21:56, hemmerling said:

which was irrelevant ( unknown ) at the whole WWII, as defined after WWII,

Doesn´t matter. And some players use post war planes, too.