Updated October 2026
The aviation alphabet is the ICAO phonetic alphabet, Alfa, Bravo, Charlie through Zulu, and it is how every letter is said on the radio. The FAA lists it in AIM 4-2-7 with the pilot's way of saying numbers: "tree" for three, "fife" for five, "niner" for nine. Add a fixed order for every call, who you are calling, who you are, where you are and what you want, and you have most of radio work.
The rest is practice, and Van Nuys gives you a lot of it. Every lesson here starts with a call to ground, and a busy tower answers on two frequencies. What follows is a script library: the alphabet, the four-part call, and word-for-word examples for Van Nuys Ground and Tower, SoCal Approach and a non-towered field. Light gun signals cover the day the radio quits. Frequencies are from the current FAA Chart Supplement. Learn the calls here, then fly them on a discovery flight with an instructor beside you.
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The Aviation Alphabet And How To Say Numbers
| Letter | Word | Letter | Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Alfa | N | November |
| B | Bravo | O | Oscar |
| C | Charlie | P | Papa |
| D | Delta | Q | Quebec (keh-BECK) |
| E | Echo | R | Romeo |
| F | Foxtrot | S | Sierra |
| G | Golf | T | Tango |
| H | Hotel | U | Uniform |
| I | India | V | Victor |
| J | Juliett | W | Whiskey |
| K | Kilo | X | Xray |
| L | Lima (LEE-mah) | Y | Yankee |
| M | Mike | Z | Zulu |
Digits have their own sounds: zero, wun, too, tree, fow-er, fife, six, seven, ait and niner. The odd ones exist so that a scratchy radio cannot turn five into nine.
| Item | Written | Spoken |
|---|---|---|
| Altitude | 4,500 | four thousand five hundred |
| Altitude above 9,900 | 12,500 | one two thousand five hundred |
| Heading (three digits, magnetic) | 090 | heading zero niner zero |
| Frequency | 120.2 | one two zero point two |
| Call sign (drop the N after the make) | N7030B | Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo |
| Time (UTC, 24-hour) | 0920Z | zero niner two zero Zulu |
N7030B is one of our six Cessna 162s, and AIM 4-2-4 is the rule that drops the N once you say the make.
Once a controller has shortened your call sign, usually to the type and last three characters ("Cessna Three Zero Bravo"), you may use the short form too. Never shorten it first.
The Four Parts Of Every Call: Who, Who, Where, What
AIM 4-2-3 lists the parts of an initial call. Say the facility you are calling and your full call sign, then your position if you are on the ground, then your request if it is short. Students learn it as who, who, where, what.
You: Van Nuys Ground, Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo, student pilot, at [parking spot], with information Kilo, VFR northwest, request taxi.
Four habits make every call easier:
- Listen first. AIM 4-2-2 is blunt: listen before you transmit. Talking over someone blocks both of you.
- Know the whole sentence before you press the push-to-talk switch. Write long calls on your kneeboard.
- Say "student pilot" on the first call to each facility. AIM 4-2-4 asks for it, and controllers adjust their pace.
- Read back runway assignments, hold-short instructions, altitudes, headings and frequencies. Van Nuys requires readback of every runway holding instruction, with your call sign.
Van Nuys Frequencies From The Chart Supplement
| Service | Frequency |
|---|---|
| ATIS | 127.55 |
| Clearance Delivery | 126.6 |
| Ground | 121.7 |
| Tower: 162° to 345°, and runway 16R/34L departures | 119.3 |
| Tower: 346° to 161°, and runway 16L/34R departures | 120.2 |
| Tower, helicopters | 119.0 |
| CTAF when the tower is closed | 119.3 |
| SoCal Approach, west of Van Nuys (VNY 160° to 280°) | 134.2 |
| SoCal Approach, north (VNY 280° to BUR 050°) | 120.4 |
| SoCal Approach, south (BUR 150° to VNY 160°) | 124.6 |
| Pattern altitude, 16R/34L | 2,002 feet MSL |
| Pattern altitude, 16L/34R | 1,602 feet MSL |
The Chart Supplement is reissued every 56 days, so check the edition in force before you fly. The tower split is worth learning early: departures off the short runway, where most training happens, talk to 120.2; departures off the long runway talk to 119.3.
Scripts: Van Nuys Ground, Tower, Departure And Arrival (Both Runways)
These show the shape of each exchange. Taxi routes, runways and reporting points will be whatever the controller gives you on the day.
Taxi Out With Ground
Ground: Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo, Van Nuys Ground, runway one six left, taxi via [route], hold short runway one six right.
You: Runway one six left via [route], hold short one six right, Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo.
At the hold line you call again and wait for an explicit crossing clearance. AIM 4-3-18 says ATC issues one for every runway crossing, and a clearance to taxi to your runway is not a clearance to cross another.
Departure From 16L Or 34R
Run-up complete, switch to 120.2.
You: Van Nuys Tower, Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo, holding short runway one six left, ready for departure, VFR northwest.
Tower: Cessna Three Zero Bravo, runway one six left, cleared for takeoff.
You: Cleared for takeoff one six left, Cessna Three Zero Bravo.
If you hear "line up and wait", read it back and do exactly that: on the runway, no takeoff roll. The Chart Supplement's noise rules apply to both runways: departing 16L or 16R, no turns before the flood basin; departing 34L or 34R, no turns before 1,800 feet MSL, unless the tower directs otherwise. Departures off 16R or 34L work the same way on 119.3.
Arrival To Either Runway
Get the ATIS first, then pick the tower frequency by the direction you are arriving from: 119.3 from the 162° to 345° sector, 120.2 from 346° to 161°. Call before you reach the Class D boundary.
You: Van Nuys Tower, Warrior Three Zero Three Four Quebec, student pilot, [distance and direction], [altitude], with information Kilo, landing.
Tower: Warrior Three Zero Three Four Quebec, Van Nuys Tower, report Cal State Northridge.
The FAA lists Cal State Northridge, the VA Hospital, the Sepulveda Flood Basin and Northridge Mall as the commonly used Van Nuys reporting points. If you cannot find the one you are given, say so and ask for another instruction. Pattern altitude is 1,602 feet MSL for 16L/34R and 2,002 feet MSL for 16R/34L, and 16R and 34R use right traffic.
Tower, after landing: Warrior Three Four Quebec, turn right next taxiway, hold short runway one six right, remain this frequency.
You: Right next taxiway, hold short one six right, Warrior Three Four Quebec.
The FAA's Van Nuys guidance is to stay with the tower while holding short after landing unless you are told to call ground.
SoCal Approach And VFR Flight Following
Flight following is radar traffic advisories for a VFR flight. AIM 4-1-15 says controllers give it on request, workload permitting, and that it never replaces your own lookout. From Van Nuys you call the SoCal sector for where you are; west of the field that is 134.2 in the current Chart Supplement.
You: SoCal Approach, Warrior Three Zero Three Four Quebec, VFR request.
SoCal: Warrior Three Zero Three Four Quebec, SoCal Approach, go ahead.
You: Warrior Three Zero Three Four Quebec, Piper Warrior, five miles west of Van Nuys, two thousand five hundred climbing four thousand five hundred, request flight following to Santa Barbara.
SoCal: Warrior Three Four Quebec, squawk four three two one.
Read back the code, set it, and wait for "radar contact". From then on, monitor the frequency, read back headings and altitudes, and tell the controller before you change frequency. When service ends you will hear "radar service terminated, squawk VFR"; set 1200. Burbank's Class C rules are on our Class C airspace page, and the codes on transponder codes and ADS-B.
Non-Towered Airports: CTAF, UNICOM And Self-Announcing
At an airport with no operating tower, everyone shares the common traffic advisory frequency, or CTAF, and talks to each other rather than to a controller. AIM 4-1-9 asks you to monitor it from 10 miles out and to announce 10 miles out, entering downwind, base and final, and leaving the runway. Departing, announce before you taxi and before you taxi onto the runway.
Say the airport name at the start and the end of every call. Santa Paula, about 30 nautical miles west-north-west with one runway, 4/22, is a typical first non-towered destination.
Santa Paula traffic, Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo, ten miles east, [altitude], landing runway two two, Santa Paula.
Santa Paula traffic, Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo, entering downwind runway two two, Santa Paula.
Santa Paula traffic, Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo, clear of runway two two, Santa Paula.
Check the Chart Supplement for the CTAF and for right traffic before you go. Never say "any traffic in the area, please advise"; the FAA says the phrase should not be used under any condition. A UNICOM is a non-government station that may give wind and runway information. Where there is no tower, flight service station or UNICOM, self-announce on MULTICOM, 122.9. At Van Nuys after 10:45 PM, the CTAF is 119.3. More on the airspace side is on our Class G airspace page.
ATIS, AWOS And ASOS: What You Listen To Before You Call
ATIS is a recorded broadcast at busier airports with the weather, the runway in use and any notices. At Van Nuys it is 127.55. Listen before you call ground or tower, and say the letter: "with information Kilo". AIM 4-1-13 adds a trap: "have numbers" means you have only wind, runway and altimeter, and must never be used to mean you have the ATIS.
ASOS and AWOS are automated stations broadcasting minute-by-minute weather by computer voice. ASOS is a joint National Weather Service, FAA and Defense Department system, and its reports carry AO1 or AO2 depending on whether it can tell rain from snow. AWOS comes in levels, from AWOS-A, altimeter only, up to AWOS-4. The Chart Supplement lists an ASOS as a Van Nuys weather source. Our Van Nuys weather today page decodes the current report, and how to read a METAR and TAF explains each group.
Light Gun Signals And Lost-Communication Procedures
| Signal | On The Ground | In The Air |
|---|---|---|
| Steady green | Cleared for takeoff | Cleared to land |
| Flashing green | Cleared to taxi | Return for landing, steady green to follow |
| Steady red | Stop | Give way to other aircraft and continue circling |
| Flashing red | Taxi clear of the runway in use | Airport unsafe, do not land |
| Flashing white | Return to starting point on the airport | Not applicable |
| Alternating red and green | Exercise extreme caution | Exercise extreme caution |
If the radio fails in flight, squawk 7600 (AIM 6-4-2). In VFR conditions, stay VFR and land as soon as practicable. Under 14 CFR 91.129(d) you may land at a towered field if the weather is at or above basic VFR minimums, you keep the tower in sight, and you receive a landing clearance. By light gun, that clearance is a steady green.
AIM 4-2-13 tells you to remain outside or above the Class D until you know the traffic flow, then join the pattern and watch the tower. At Van Nuys "above" is no help: the Class D stops just below 3,000 feet MSL, where the Burbank Class C begins, and entering Class C requires two-way radio. Stay outside it laterally. Acknowledge light signals by rocking the wings by day, or blinking the landing or navigation lights at night. If only the receiver has failed, still transmit your position and intentions.
Mic Fright: How Students Get Over It
Plenty of new students freeze on the push-to-talk switch, especially at a tower as busy as Van Nuys. It passes faster with a few habits:
- Listen before you fly. The public observation area off Woodley Avenue, on the east side of the field, plays the tower frequency. Twenty minutes there and the patter starts to sound like sentences.
- Fill in the blanks of the ground call on your kneeboard before engine start.
- Rehearse in the Redbird MCX full-motion simulator, which lets you practice calls at a fraction of airplane cost, $120 an hour inside a package.
- Use "say again". Controllers would much rather repeat themselves than watch you guess.
Related Reading
- Flying out of Van Nuys Airport: the field and the traffic the calls are built for.
- Runway markings, signs and lighting: the hold lines behind every hold-short readback.
- Transponder codes and ADS-B: 1200, 7600 and what "squawk" means.
- Your first solo flight: when the calls become yours alone.
- Class D airspace, using Van Nuys: why two-way contact comes first.
Radio Calls FAQ
What Is The Aviation Alphabet?
It is the ICAO phonetic alphabet, listed by the FAA in AIM 4-2-7: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot and so on to Zulu. Pilots use it for every letter, so N7030B is spoken "November Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo", or "Cessna Seven Zero Three Zero Bravo" with the make.
Why Do Pilots Say Niner?
To keep nine from being heard as five on a noisy radio. The AIM table spells the pronunciations out: tree for three, fow-er for four, fife for five and niner for nine.
What Is A CTAF?
The common traffic advisory frequency is the frequency pilots share at an airport without an operating tower. It may be a UNICOM, MULTICOM or tower frequency. At Van Nuys the CTAF is 119.3 when the tower is closed, between 10:45 PM and 6:00 AM.
What Is The Difference Between ATIS, AWOS And ASOS?
ATIS is a recorded broadcast of weather, runway in use and notices at busier airports, updated with each official weather report. AWOS and ASOS are automated stations that broadcast minute-by-minute weather by computer voice; ASOS is the joint National Weather Service, FAA and Defense Department system.
What Do Light Gun Signals Mean?
They are set in 14 CFR 91.125. Steady green clears you to take off or land, and flashing green clears you to taxi or return for landing. Steady red means stop or give way, flashing red means clear the runway or do not land, and alternating red and green means extreme caution.
What Frequency Is Van Nuys Tower?
The Chart Supplement of 29 October 2026 lists 119.3 for the 162° to 345° sector and runway 16R/34L departures, and 120.2 for the 346° to 161° sector and runway 16L/34R departures. Ground is 121.7 and the ATIS is 127.55.
Make Your First Call With An Instructor Beside You
The fastest cure for radio nerves is one flight where you hear it all done well. On a 60-minute discovery flight for $229 your instructor works Van Nuys Ground and Tower while you fly. The two-hour beginner flying lesson is $349 in a Cessna 162 or Piper Warrior. Our private pilot course starts at $10,400 with $2,500 down, and a free consultation lays out the lessons first.
Book A Discovery Flight — $229 Book A Free Consultation Call (818) 330-1318
