Aircraft: Airbus A320
Callsign: Austrian 125
Route: Frankfurt (EDDF) to Vienna (LOWW)
Current state: You are in the cruise at flight level 340 in smooth air, under radar control with Munich Radar. The Captain is the Pilot Flying; you are working the radio.
Souls on board: 156
Your role: First Officer, working the radio (Pilot Monitoring)
Welcome to Word on the Wing, our regular look at the aviation English behind the news. Below are six terms that turned up in recent aviation stories — from airline finances to a jet that broke the sound barrier — each with a clear definition, an example, and a note on how to use it.
Continue reading Vocabulary: Aviation Terms from the Headlines
Aviation journalism, airworthiness directives, and certification reports share a distinctive style: they rarely write “the crew completed the maiden flight.” Instead, they write “the successful completion of the maiden flight“ — converting a verb into a noun phrase. This process is called nominalization, and it is one of the most visible markers of formal English at C1 level.
Nominalization converts a verb or adjective into a noun or noun phrase. The result is denser and more analytical in register — a feature that runs through technical aviation prose from airworthiness directives to earnings calls.
Continue reading Structure: ‘Nominalization’
Look at the photograph above and describe what you can see. Try to speak for about a minute, moving from a general overview of the scene, to the details, and finally to speculation about what is happening and why. Use the words in the box to help you. If you are not sure how to structure your answer, read our guide on how to describe a picture.
cowling · nacelle · engine core · access platform · high-visibility vest · MEL
Useful language: In the foreground / background there is… · The most striking thing is… · It looks as if… · I would imagine that… · This is probably because…
If you don’t know the exact word for something, describe it (“the part that covers the engine”) or use a filler and keep going — staying fluent matters more than the perfect word.
Prefer to write? As well as speaking, you can write your description — move from a general overview, to the details, to what is probably happening, using at least two of the words above.
Continue reading Picture Description: Engine Inspection on the Stand
On the morning of 19 June 2026, a brand-new Dassault Falcon 10X lifted off from Bordeaux-Mérignac on its maiden flight, marking a milestone for both the French manufacturer and Rolls-Royce. The two-and-a-half-hour sortie, which reached Mach 0.82 at 40,000 feet over the French Atlantic coast, formally opened the flight-test campaign that must precede certification — now targeted for late 2027.
As you read, find out: why is the Falcon 10X reaching the market years behind its main rivals — and what must still go right before customers take delivery?
Continue reading Dassault Falcon 10X Completes Maiden Flight from Bordeaux
Play the audio and write down what you hear. You can listen as many times as you like. When you are ready, check the answer key to see the target sentences, and use the full transcript to read through the whole passage.
Continue reading Listening: Clear Air Turbulence on Descent to Cairo