Sir – I was amazed to read in the Witney Gazette (August 8) that the RAF will be using civilian terminology in future so that a small minority of civilian pilots understand air traffic control orders.

A near-miss by one foreign pilot, who had not flown from RAF Brize Norton before, was excused by him on the basis that he did not understand a military phrase, a frail excuse seeing that he was at a military airfield and not Heathrow.

I hope that this order only applies to civilian pilots using Brize Norton and not to all RAF pilots Otherwise our air force is in the hands of our old friends, elf and safety.

Wendy Morgan, Butlers Drive, Carterton