What Your Pilot Means When They Say 'Go Around,' 'Crosscheck,' 'Vector' and More

Pilots have their own language, designed to communicate complex messages as briefly and clearly as possible. With so many planes flying in the skies today, air traffic control (that's “ATC”) communications can get busy, and “pilot speak” helps cut out the noise.

Many terms are from the military and were standardized by the Air Force. Others are specific to commercial aircraft operations. Because English is the official language of aviation, all pilot slang is based on it, and ATC around the world understands the phrases.

As pilot Chris Manno explains, everyday pilot speak is not really what you might expect from watching movies.

“‘Roger’ simply means ‘received,’ or ‘I heard you’ — not ‘yes’ as Hollywood wants you to think. ‘Wilco’ means ‘will comply.’ We use the standard phonetic alphabet to avoid confusion,” he told Travel + Leisure. “Efficiency and clarity is the goal in military flight communications and should also be the priority in civil aviation. Ex-military pilots try to be as brief as possible.”

Manno says that some pilots with a civilian background can be a bit chatty, adding courtesies like “Good evening, Center,” to their standard communications which adds to congestion. As with any other job, newbie pilots may also be more enthusiastic.

“I think some pilots, especially new ones, might be prone to use aviation cliches — like saying ‘Roger that!’ — but most of us are over it,” he said. “I've been a pilot for 39 years and steer clear of ‘pilot theater.’”

And Manno has a word of caution for all of us civilians, especially if we monitor flights closely on flight tracking programs: “The problem for av geeks and passengers would be applying a layman’s context to aviation conversations which are vastly different.”