Aviation English by Revise Before Flight

Flight Log of Lost Words: Five Haunted Stories from Aviation HistorySome words carry more than meaning.

They carry echoes of old fears, forgotten stories, and the strange history of flight.In this Halloween edition of Flight Log of Lost Words, we uncover five curious entries from aviation's darker past:
✈️ GREMLINS IN THE WORKS — the imaginary creatures blamed for unexplained mechanical faults.
⚡ ST. ELMO'S FIRE — an eerie electrical glow once surrounded by superstition.
🛩️ COFFIN CORNER — the narrow aerodynamic margin encountered at high altitude.
📻 MAYDAY — the distress call whose origins reach across the English Channel.
🌑 ON A WING AND A PRAYER — an expression born from wartime aviation and the hope of making it home.

Five expressions, five stories, and a reminder that the language of aviation has a history as fascinating as flight itself.

🎧 Open the flight log, if you dare.
Explore more Aviation English resources at ReviseBeforeFlight.com

Episode 24: Mid-Flight Compound Nouns: Three Everyday Expressions

What happens when a phrasal verb becomes a noun? Discover the pattern behind three familiar Aviation English expressions: level-off, handoff, and readback.
Explore how these compound nouns work in operational communication and sharpen your language beyond the checklist.

🎧 Listen, refine your language, and keep learning beyond the checklist.
ReviseBeforeFlight.com

High or tall?
✈️ In Episode 23 of The Skybound Dictionary, we explore the difference between these two deceptively simple words:
🔹 TALL → physical height
🔹 HIGH → position, elevation, level or degree From tall towers to high altitude, discover how to choose the right word for precise aviation English. The right word. The right meaning.
🎧 Listen now — and keep your aviation English sharp.

In this episode of aviation English by Revise Before Flight, I look at the language used to describe the recent Amazon Prime Air runway excursion at Miami International Airport.

What is the difference between overran and excursion? Why does the NTSB use struck rather than hit? And what exactly are navigational aids and equipment?
Using the NTSB’s own wording, I explore three vocabulary choices that can help pilots and aviation professionals communicate more precisely - especially when discussing accidents and incidents.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
✈️ overran vs excursion
✈️ struck vs hit
✈️ navigational aids vs equipment
✈️ how register and precision matter in aviation English
✈️ how official accident-reporting language differs from everyday English
The NTSB investigation is ongoing, so I’ll focus on the language used to describe the event, not on drawing conclusions about its cause.

🎙️ ICAO Booster #1 — How To Describe Turbulence Precisely

Turbulence can be routine — or it can become a genuine operational concern. In this first episode of the ICAO Booster series, I break down exactly how to describe turbulence with precision: from grammar (why turbulence is uncountable) to intensity (light, moderate, severe, extreme) to the difference between occasional and intermittent. Using a real NTSB report on United Airlines Flight 115, I'll see how professional aviation language turns an ordinary in-flight event into a precise operational description — right down to a Level 5/6 phrase you can learn by heart.

✈️ Read the accompanying blog post with a visual summary and phraseology notes:
https://revisebeforeflight.com/how-to-describe-turbulence-precisely/

📩 Join the Aviation English Logbook newsletter for exclusive learning materials and podcast updates.

Have an idea for a future episode?
emilia@revisebeforeflight.com
✈️

🎙️ Minimum Fuel vs Fuel Emergency — Aviation English Beyond the Checklist (AVA052)

When should a pilot report "Minimum Fuel" and when is it time to declare "Mayday, fuel"? In this episode, we explore the crucial difference between these two ICAO expressions, why they are not interchangeable, and how precise communication can make all the difference in flight operations. Using Avianca Flight 052 as a case study, we'll see how one accident reinforced the importance of standard ICAO phraseology and clear pilot–controller communication.

✈️ Read the accompanying blog post with a visual summary and phraseology notes:
https://revisebeforeflight.com/minimum-fuel-vs-fuel-emergency/

📩 Join the Aviation English Logbook newsletter for exclusive learning materials and podcast updates. Have an idea for a future episode?
emilia@revisebeforeflight.com
✈️

Structural Icing, Ice Crystal Icing & Pitot Icing: What's the Difference?
In this episode of Aviation English by Revise Before Flight, I explore the difference between structural icing, ice crystal icing, and pitot icing.

Using clear explanations and a real-world case study involving Air Algérie Flight AH5017, I’ll examine how each type of icing occurs, why it creates unique risks, and how pilots should describe these events using accurate Aviation English terminology.

You’ll learn:
✈️ Why “icing” usually refers to structural icing
✈️ How ice crystal icing can cause serious failures without visible ice accumulation
✈️ Why pitot icing affects airspeed information rather than the aircraft structure
Whether you are a pilot, aviation student, or simply passionate about flight, this episode will help you understand one of the most important distinctions in aviation weather and communication.

Check a helpful illustration for this episode on my website www.ReviseBeforeFlight.com/structural-icing-ice-crystal-icing-pitot-icing-whats-the-difference/

🎙️ Episode 18 | Thunderstorm Season – CBs, Hail & Microburst Threat | ICAO Aviation English Case Study

Summer brings more than blue skies—it also brings some of the most dangerous weather phenomena pilots can encounter.

In this episode of the Revise Before Flight Podcast, I explore three major convective weather hazards every aviation professional should be able to describe confidently in ICAO aviation English:
🌩️ Cumulonimbus (CB) clouds
🧊 Hail
💨 Microbursts and low-level windshear
You'll learn:
✈️ How thunderstorms develop and why they pose multiple simultaneous hazards
✈️ Why hail can strike aircraft even outside the visible storm
✈️ How a microburst creates dangerous windshear during takeoff and landing
✈️ Operational aviation vocabulary expected at ICAO Level 5–6
✈️ Professional phrases pilots use when requesting weather deviations and describing convective activity

Whether you're preparing for an ICAO Language Proficiency Test, improving your operational aviation English, or simply passionate about aviation safety, this episode will help you communicate complex weather phenomena with greater precision and confidence.

When a Lufthansa Boeing 787 abruptly drops to the tarmac at the gate, media headlines immediately scream "Landing Gear Collapse." But as aviation professionals, we have to ask: is that what actually happened? Or did the gear retract?

In Episode 17 of Revise Before Flight Podcast, we break down a sudden ground incident involving flight LH-450 at Frankfurt Airport to explore one of the most critical—and most misunderstood—distinctions in aviation terminology.
Because in aviation, a "collapse" and a "retraction" tell two entirely different operational stories. One sends engineers looking for fractured metal; the other sends them looking for sequencing valves.

In this episode, you will learn:
✈️ The Operational Reality: A breakdown of the LH-450 pre-boarding incident.
✈️ The Core Difference: Why structural yielding (collapse) and system-driven movement (retraction) are never interchangeable.
✈️ ICAO Level 5–6 Vocabulary: Master key phrases like uncommanded retraction, structural yielding, and commence boarding.

In this episode, I explore the subtle but operationally critical distinction between a fault and a failure, inspired by a real-world Airbus A350 arrival in Shanghai (MU5406/CES5406) involving cascading system alerts and a subsequent loss of braking.You’ll learn:
✈️ how aviation English distinguishes between manageable system degradation and a total loss of function
✈️ why accurate terminology dictates emergency response, checklist compliance, and official safety logging
✈️ how terms like execute a normal landing, cascading faults, and memory items elevate your ICAO Level 5–6 precision

This episode goes beyond vocabulary lists and checklists. It’s about choosing words that match reality, responsibility, and risk — exactly what ICAO examiners listen for.

When we look at the sky, we see the giants at the gate—the Boeings and the Airbuses. But the foundation they stand on is built by something else entirely.

In this episode of Revise Before Flight, we strip away the airline gloss to analyze the "Invisible Backbone" of global aerospace: General Aviation (GA).Accounting for over 90% of all civil aircraft in the skies, GA is not a recreational hobby—it is a sophisticated economic engine, a technological incubator, and a vital humanitarian lifeline.

Using operational data, we break down how the aviation infrastructure relies on GA for everything from sustaining food security to securing the medical "Golden Hour." We also explore how light aircraft serve as the essential testing ground for sustainable propulsion (electrification and hydrogen fuel cells) and the baseline for professional ab initio flight training.

In this episode, I explore a real-world operational event involving Air Malta Flight KM-478, where a crew rostering issue led to a mid-flight decision to return to departure shortly after reaching cruise altitude. You’ll learn:
✈️ how terms like crew composition, significant discrepancy, and instructor rating are used in an operational context
✈️ why crew qualification and regulatory compliance are critical — even when a flight is already en route
✈️ how phrases like discontinue the flight and correct the crew lineup reflect real-world decision-making at ICAO Level 5–6 This episode goes beyond a simple incident description. It’s about understanding how administrative systems, human factors, and operational standards interact — and how to describe those interactions with clarity and precision. Because in aviation, safety isn’t only about systems and weather.
It’s also about ensuring that every role on the flight deck is exactly what it needs to be — before the flight can continue.

In this episode, I break down a runway incursion accident at LaGuardia Airport that occurred on March 22nd, 2026, involving an Air Canada Express CRJ-900 and an airport fire vehicle. You’ll learn:
✈️ how operational phrases like runway incursion, crossing clearance, and rollout phase are used in real-world context
✈️ why factors such as emergency traffic, high workload, and compressed timing can rapidly reduce safety margins
✈️ how expressions like dispatch emergency vehicles, consecutive rejected takeoffs, and reduced visual acquisition elevate your ICAO Level 5–6 communication This episode goes beyond describing what happened. It’s about understanding how multiple elements — timing, workload, weather, and human factors — combine in high-pressure environments, and how to reflect that accurately in your aviation English.

In this episode, I break down a real-world near midair event over Newark Liberty International Airport, where an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 and a FedEx Boeing 777 came within just 300 feet of each other on intersecting approaches.You’ll learn:
✈️ how terms like near collision, loss of separation, and converging traffic are used in operational context
✈️ why terminal airspace congestion and high controller workload play a critical role in incident development
✈️ how phrases like descend through, call off the approach, and hand off to departure elevate your ICAO Level 5–6 fluency.
This episode goes beyond describing what happened. It’s about understanding how timing, pressure, and precise communication shape the outcome — and how to reflect that in your language.
Because in aviation, it’s not just what you say.
It’s how accurately you say it when it matters most.

In this episode, I explore the subtle but operationally critical distinction between tail scrape and tail strike, inspired by a real-world event - a Sun Country Boeing 737-800, registration N851SY performing flight (SY201/SCX201) from Milwaukee,WI to Orlando,FL (USA).
You’ll learn:
✈️ how aviation English reflects severity and operational consequences
✈️ why tail strike appears in safety reports, MEL considerations, and official documentation
✈️ how terms like incur, tail skid system, and skid shoe elevate your ICAO Level 5–6 precision
This episode goes beyond vocabulary lists and checklists. It’s about choosing words that match reality, responsibility, and risk — exactly what ICAO examiners listen for.
Because in aviation, one word can turn an event into an accident.

🎙️ Flight Log of Lost Words — Episode 10: 5 Spooky Idioms at the Edge of Transmission
Some aviation stories never make it into manuals. Some words drift through the air like echoes. And some idioms sound as though they were lifted from the crackling static between far-off transmissions.
Tonight, Aviation English specialist Emilia Barska guides you into the linguistic twilight — where English becomes atmospheric, eerie, and unmistakably skybound.

In this Halloween edition, we explore:
✈️ Ghost flights and the idiom fly under the radar
✈️ Disappearances like Flight 19 and MH370 behind vanish into thin air
✈️ Fragile emergencies through hang by a thread
✈️ The haunting quiet of Denver International Airport and the calm before the storm
✈️ Airplane graveyards wrapped in silence and stories laid to rest

For extras, behind-the-scenes notes, and more skyborne language:
revisebeforeflight.com
Fasten your harness and listen in — because in the sky, as in language, what disappears is never truly gone.

What happens when a plane, just minutes into its climb, is suddenly grounded by a bird? On October 2nd, a China Eastern A321 operating Flight MU-2701 was forced to stop its ascent and return to Wuxi after a suspected bird strike at 8,900 feet. Join Aviation English specialist Emilia Barska as she breaks down the crew's textbook response, the resulting 7.5-hour passenger delay, and the damage that kept the aircraft on the ground for days.This is a deep dive into safety protocols and essential aviation vocabulary.
Boost your ICAO Level 5/6 skills with the definitions for Occurrence Aircraft, Replacement Aircraft, and To Enter a Hold.Fly safe, and tune in for more essential Aviation English!

Welcome to Episode 8 - Luggage, Baggage and Beyond - The Skybound Glossary. It is your ultimate guide to decoding travel terminology. I'm clearing the air on the subtle but important differences between "luggage" and "baggage," including their regional uses and figurative meanings. You'll also get an essential glossary of bag types, from "carry-ons" and "garment bags." Check my "luggage lingo" to make your next journey smoother and hopefully, entirely baggage-fee-free! ✈️🧳

What happens when a pilot's identity is grounded for mental health? This episode exposes the "unseen turbulence" of aviation's re-certification process, revealing why the current system can hinder recovery and compromise safety. I make a compelling case for universal counseling as the missing piece in aviation's safety puzzle.

Today on "Revise Before Flight," we revisited the tragic in-flight breakup of China Airlines Flight CI611, or Dynasty 611, which claimed 225 lives. This routine flight on May 25th, 2002, vanished mid-climb due to a structural failure. The investigation pinpointed an inadequately repaired 1980 tail strike as the root cause, leading to undetected fatigue damage that compromised the aircraft's integrity. CI611 underscores that meticulous maintenance and adherence to Structural Repair Manuals are non-negotiable. For pilots and ATCs, it's a vital lesson in precision and why advanced aviation English is crucial for safety.