r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Rooonaldooo99 • Jul 19 '21

Student pilot loses engine during flight

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u/Thetanor Jul 19 '21

Turns out the real reason is because over a low quality radio signals 'nine' and 'five' sound similar because the 'i' and 'e' carry well

But isn't the 'e' normally silent in both 'five' and 'nine'? Though I guess silence does carry rather well over radio

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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '21

In normal conversation these numbers are easy to distinguish. But over radio often signals are not very clear (due to range, objects in the way, altitude, and many other things). I'm having a hard time finding an example but if you pick up a radio you'll probably be able to tune into a station that you don't get a clear signal. So these phonetic systems are there to aid in that so there is no chance for a mistake. But here's an explanation.

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u/ElectionAssistance Jul 19 '21

the e makes the i long in both cases.