Communications and Radio Telephony
Domain 7 tests standard radiotelephony: correct phraseology, readback, frequency discipline and distress procedures. The exam rewards exact standard words and penalises informal substitutes that sound harmless in conversation but are ambiguous on a busy frequency.
Standards
ICAO Annex 10 sets communications standards. VHF air-ground communication uses the 117.975–137 MHz band, with 8.33 kHz channel spacing where applied. HF is used where VHF coverage is not available. A readback is required for clearances, runway instructions, altitude, heading, speed and frequency changes. Standard words include cleared, hold short, line up and wait, standby, roger, affirm and correction.
Distress and urgency
MAYDAY is the distress signal; PAN PAN is the urgency signal. Distress frequencies include 121.5 MHz and military 243.0 MHz. Keep transmissions short, use the aircraft callsign and do not interrupt a distress exchange.
Worked example: the controller says, Iran Air 123, cleared to land runway 29L. The pilot reads back, cleared to land runway 29R. The runway is wrong, so the controller must correct it immediately: Iran Air 123, negative, cleared to land runway 29L, acknowledge. A readback is not valid merely because it contains the words cleared to land.
Traps: accepting an incomplete readback; using OK or roger as a substitute for a required readback; saying take off when issuing a non-take-off instruction; failing to correct a wrong runway or level.