Listen to the short incident narration below. Before you press play, read the six sentences in Your dictation task — they tell the story out of order. Then listen once for the whole picture, listen again to confirm the sequence, and write the correct order. Replay as many times as you need, then check your answer against the key.
Continue reading Listening: Compressor Surge on Go-Around at Dubrovnik
We use can to talk about ability now — something we are able to do today. We use could to talk about ability in the past — something we were able to do before, or were not able to do. Both words go directly before the main verb, without ‘to’.
Continue reading Structure: ‘Can and could’
Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have equipped around 150 of their aircraft with Starlink satellite Wi-Fi. Passengers on eligible flights can now connect to fast internet in the air, free of charge with an Alaska Airlines loyalty account.
How does Starlink work on a plane, and which flights now offer it?
Continue reading Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines Equip 150 Aircraft with Free Starlink Wi-Fi
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 HeadlinesAviation 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’