Human Performance Tools – Phonetic Alphabet

The NATO phonetic alphabet  (also known as the ICAO phonetic or spelling alphabet) and the ITU phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet.  It is used by professional communicators, especially police, military and other emergency workers to identify letters precisely, either when communicating initials, abbreviations or spellings of words.  It is also a commonly used human performance tool for 3-way communication during work execution in nuclear, oil and gas industries to confirm precise instructions with a field worker.

This 1-Page summary provides a quick Reference Guide of the code words used for each letter and their pronunciation.  The 26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order:

• Alfa

• Bravo

• Charlie

• Delta

• Echo

• Foxtrot

• Golf

• Hotel

• India

• Juliett

• Kilo

• Lima

• Mike

• November

• Oscar

• Papa

• Quebec

• Romeo

• Sierra

• Tango

• Uniform

• Victor

• Whiskey

• X-ray

• Yankee

• Zulu

Download the Phonetic Alphabet 1-Page Quick Reference, print it off and take it with you so that you always have at your fingertips.

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