The US and NATO keep a shared list of brevity words so pilots and controllers can say a lot in a second of radio time. Here are the ones a plane spotter will enjoy, with the official meanings.
Seeing
- BOGEY: “A CONTACT whose identity is unknown.” The word behind the app: what does bogey mean.
- TALLY: “Sighting of a target, non-friendly aircraft, or enemy position.” See tally-ho.
- NO JOY: “Aircrew does not have visual contact with the TARGET or BANDIT.”
- VISUAL: “Sighting of a FRIENDLY aircraft or ground position or ship. Opposite of BLIND.” The spotter’s word.
- BLIND: “No visual contact with FRIENDLY aircraft, ship, or ground position.”
- PADLOCKED: “Aircrew cannot take eyes off an aircraft, ground target, or surface position without risk of losing TALLY or VISUAL.”
Flying
- ANGELS: height in thousands of feet. Angels twenty is 20,000 feet.
- CHERUBS: “Height of a FRIENDLY aircraft in hundreds of feet above ground level.”
- BUSTER: “Fly at maximum continuous speed.” GATE: faster, with afterburner. See buster.
- BINGO: “Prebriefed fuel state needed for recovery.” Time to go home. See bingo fuel.
- FEET WET / FEET DRY: “Flying over water or land.”
- POPEYE: “Flying in clouds or an area of reduced visibility.”
- PANCAKE: “Land or request to land,” sometimes with a reason, like PANCAKE FUEL.
The radio procedures airline pilots use are a different set: squawk codes, mayday and pan-pan, the phonetic alphabet.
