Published date: 22 December 2022

Purpose

This Advisory Circular (AC) describes an acceptable means of compliance with standard radiotelephony phraseology for use by pilots and air traffic services (ATS) and incorporates examples and guidance for managing ground vehicles. It is based on the following ICAO documents:

  • ICAO Annex 10, Aeronautical Telecommunications Volume II (Communication Procedures including those with PANS status)
  • ICAO Doc 4444 Procedures for Air Navigation Services – Air Traffic Management
  • ICAO Doc 9432 Manual of Radiotelephony contains examples, based on the above documents, which are intended to be representative of radio telephony in common use.

Civil Aviation Rules Part 172 Air Traffic Service Organisations – Certification, rule 172.105 Radio and telephone procedures lists the above order of precedence for these documents to be used in determining standard phraseology when communicating with pilots.

Related rules

This AC relates to Civil Aviation Rule Parts 91 and 172 regarding communications requirements between pilots and ATS.

Change notice

Revision 15 replaces Revision 14 which was published 1 June 2021. In Revision 15, the term “Essential Traffic” is reintroduced to sections 4.14.1 to 4.14.3 to reflect the wording in rule 172.3, Definitions, and in the New Zealand Aeronautical Information Publication (AIPNZ) ENR sections on Essential Traffic. We have also corrected some formatting errors, which has changed the page numbers of some sub-sections, by trying to keep tables on one page wherever feasible.