Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Callsign: Speedbird 472
Route: London Gatwick (EGKK) to Rome Fiumicino (LIRF)
Current state: You have just taken off from runway 26L at Gatwick and are climbing through 500 feet when the right engine fire warning activates. Your co-pilot is beginning the engine fire memory items. You are on Gatwick Departure frequency.
Souls on board: 137
Your role: Pilot Flying (PF)
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 a budget airline’s collapse to a hydrogen-powered jet engine — each with a clear definition, an example, and a note on how to use it.
Continue reading Vocabulary: Six Words from the Headlines
The first conditional describes a real or likely situation in the future. It has two parts: an if-clause (the condition) and a result clause (what will happen). The key rule: after if, use the present simple — not a future form. The result clause uses will + a base verb.
Continue reading Structure: ‘The first conditional’
The United States government has launched a new website that lets anyone track how a $12.5 billion investment in air traffic control (ATC) infrastructure is being spent. Called Modern Skies, the platform was unveiled on 22 May 2026 by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). It shows the progress of more than 10,000 projects at over 4,600 FAA facilities around the country.
Continue reading FAA Launches Public Tracker for $12.5 Billion ATC Rebuild
Listen to the audio recording and fill in the missing words and phrases. You can play the audio as many times as you like. Check your answers using the answer key and transcript below.
Continue reading Listening: Runway Incursion at Frankfurt
A reporting verb is any verb that introduces what someone said, found, acknowledged, or recommended. In aviation English — especially in investigation reports and regulatory correspondence — these verbs carry considerable weight. They tell the reader not just that something was said, but how it was said and what it implies. Choosing between stated, acknowledged, and revealed is not a stylistic preference; each describes a different communicative act.
During the NTSB hearings on the Boeing MD-11 engine pylon failure in Louisville, every reporting verb shaped the reader’s interpretation: Boeing acknowledging that replacement had been framed as advisory is a very different thing from Boeing stating a technical fact.
Continue reading Structure: ‘Reporting verbs’