snozzle

A few minutes later, when the two RMFD vehicles arrived, the on-scene commander instructed one of them to take up a position on the left side of the airplane and to use its snozzle to apply firefighting agents in the airplane's main cargo compartment.

2005, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.15.3 Emergency Response”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Hard Landing, Gear Collapse, Federal Express Flight 647, Boeing MD-10-10F, N364FE, Memphis, Tennessee, December 18, 2003, archived from the original on 2020-10-18, page 24:

(aviation, firefighting) A reinforced firefighting nozzle used to pierce the exterior skin of an aircraft and spray water or firefighting foam inside the aircraft to help extinguish a fire.


deep stall

And even though my father had learned from past experience to watch this particular FAA pilot closely because of his tendency to pull back too far on the control column, Dad said he was still taken by surprise when the guy abruptly pulled back so hard that the 727 entered an extreme angle of attack—70 degrees rather than the usual maximum of 25 to 30 degrees—what an aerobatics pilot would do to start a snap roll or a spin. Suddenly, unbelievably, they were in a deep stall.

2014 May 7, Rebecca Wallick, “Seventeen Seconds in the Life of a Boeing Experimental Test Pilot”, in Seattle Magazine, archived from the original on 2021-01-31:

(aviation) An extremely dangerous type of aerodynamic stall (sudden loss of lift caused by airflow separation) where the angle of attack of a T-tailled aircraft becomes so high that the horizontal stabilizer and elevators are blanketed by the turbulent wake of the main wings, rendering the stabilizer and elevators ineffective and often preventing recovery from the stall.


rattlesnaking

(aerospace) A kind of extrusion defect in cladding, characterized by circumferential cracks.


stick time

en-noun

stick time (countable and uncountable, plural stick times)

Few pilots there matched his stick time.

2011, Michael D. Mullins, Out of the Mist, Memories of War, page 135:

(aviation) The amount of time that a pilot has spent flying.


arresting gear

arresting gear (countable and uncountable, plural arresting gears)

(aviation, military) A system used to quickly decelerate a landing aircraft, essential for landing on an aircraft carrier (although land-based airfields can also be equipped with arresting gear); the most common system consists of a series of transverse wire ropes designed to snag an aircraft's tailhook, connected to a hydraulic or mechanical energy-absorbing system, but other systems exist (typically only for use in an emergency situation) which use a net to slow down an aircraft.


seadrome

(historical, aviation) An airfield constructed at sea for the landing of aircraft unable to perform a nonstop crossing.


FTV

(aviation) Initialism of flight test vehicle.


Whipple shield

(aerospace) A thin foil film attached to the outside of a spacecraft to reduce the impact of micrometeoroids.


MEGA

(astronautics, space flight) Initialism of Moon-Earth gravity assist.

(astronautics, space flight) Initialism of Mars-Earth gravity assist.


gear-up landing

gear-up landing (plural gear-up landings)

The gear warning horn sounds if any of the gear are not down and locked when the throttle is pulled back to idle with the flaps down, providing a valuable protection against a gear-up landing.

(aviation) A landing of an aircraft with the landing gear retracted due to the pilot(s) forgetting to extend the gear or to take some other action necessary for the gear to deploy.


IGS

instrument guidance system
instrument guidance system#English

(aviation) Initialism of instrument guidance system.


scud run

en-verb

scud run (third-person singular simple present scud runs, present participle scud running, simple past and past participle scud ran)

scud runs (present singular third-person)
scud running (participle present)
scud ran (participle past)
scud ran (past)

When the weather worsened, the pilot elected to scud run and flew into a hill three miles past the end of the runway. I wisely elected to wait until conditions improved.

(aviation) To fly below the bases of low clouds and close to the ground in an attempt to maintain external visual reference in weather ordinarily considered too poor for visual flying.


rolloff

en-noun

rolloff (usually uncountable, plural rolloffs)

The Learjet does not possess sufficient inherent prestall buffet characteristics at low speeds to provide the pilot with a clear warning that the aircraft is stalled before it enters a flight condition from which a normal recovery cannot be accomplished. Therefore, the aircraft is equipped with an artificial stall warning system which incorporates a stickshaker and stickpusher to provide a prestall warning in order to prevent an abrupt wing rolloff. The system includes a stall vane on each side of the nose of the aircraft, two angle of attack indicators, two stall warning lights, and a computer.

1982, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.16.2 Aircraft Characteristics”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Sky Train Air, Inc., Gates Learjet 24, N44CJ, Felt, Oklahoma, October 1, 1981, archived from the original on 2021-02-21, pages 11–12:

(aviation) A sudden large uncommanded roll to the left or right experienced by an aircraft entering a stall, resulting from one wing stalling slightly before the other and exacerbated by the reduction in aileron control authority at high angles of attack.


roll off

en-verb

roll off (third-person singular simple present rolls off, present participle rolling off, simple past and past participle rolled off)

rolls off (present singular third-person)
rolling off (participle present)
rolled off (participle past)
rolled off (past)

In addition to the large decrease in lift caused by the stall itself, further performance degradation can be expected as the airplane rolls off, as the spoilers on the high wing deploy in an attempt to fight the plane's sudden rolling motion.

(aviation, of an aircraft) To spontaneously roll suddenly and rapidly to one side or the other upon entering a stall (due to one wing stalling slightly before the other does, combined with the reduced effectiveness of ailerons for roll control at high angles of attack).


split S

split Ses (plural)
split-S (alternative)

Named for the resemblance of the aircraft's flightpath to the upper or lower half of the letter S (an aircraft performing two split Ses in sequence, with the first split S leading immediately into the second, would trace out a flightpath in the shape of a vertical S).

(aviation) An aerobatic maneuver in which an aircraft, starting from upright level flight, rolls inverted and then performs one-half of an inside loop, ending up in upright level flight in the opposite direction at a lower altitude; equivalent to an Immelmann turn (modern sense) performed in reverse.


lithocapture

en-noun

lithocapture (countable and uncountable, plural lithocaptures)

/ˈlɪ.θoʊˌkæp.t͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θəˌkæp.t͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θoʊ.kæpˌt͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θə.kæpˌt͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θoʊˌkæp.t͡ʃə/

From litho- (“pertaining to stone”) + capture, coined as a pun on aerocapture and lithobraking.

prefix

If the initial orbit is hyperbolic, lithobraking would properly be termed lithocapture.

2020, Jonathan C. McDowell, “Astronautical Glossary”, in Jonathan's Space Report, retrieved 2021-02-21:

(astronautics, humorous) A form of lithobraking in which a spacecraft or other object on a hyperbolic trajectory inbound to a planet, moon, asteroid, or other celestial body is decelerated by impact with the surface of the body.


lithocapture

en-verb

lithocapture (third-person singular simple present lithocaptures, present participle lithocapturing, simple past and past participle lithocaptured)

lithocaptures (present singular third-person)
lithocapturing (participle present)
lithocaptured (participle past)
lithocaptured (past)

/ˈlɪ.θoʊˌkæp.t͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θəˌkæp.t͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θoʊ.kæpˌt͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θə.kæpˌt͡ʃɚ/

/ˈlɪ.θoʊˌkæp.t͡ʃə/

(astronautics, humorous) To perform lithocapture.


MSAW

en-noun

MSAW (usually uncountable, plural MSAWs)

minimum safe altitude warning
w:minimum safe altitude warning

(aviation) Initialism of minimum safe altitude warning.


pilot coat

So called because it was worn by seamen or aviators.

(aviation) A type of thick coat, typically leather with fur or wool lining, used by aviators in aircraft without an enclosed cockpit or having an uninsulated cabin.


back course

(aviation) The approach course formed by the rear lobe of the signal pattern of a localizer antenna array (the portion of the localizer signal emitted from the rear face of the antenna array), oriented in the reciprocal direction to the primary approach course (i.e., the back course - if a usable back course exists at all - will be rotated 180° from the primary course); not produced in usable form by all localizers, with newer equipment radiating very little signal into the rear and side lobes (not enough to allow for a back-course approach).


direction indicator

direction indicator (plural direction indicators)

(aviation) An instrument that shows both the current heading and the desired heading needed to follow a predetermined course.


flight director

flight director (plural flight directors)

(aviation) A system of a narrow horizontal and vertical bar overlaid on an aircraft's attitude indicator, with the bars deflecting to provide guidance as to the pitch and roll inputs required to maintain the desired flightpath.

lennonohjausnäyttö

system of bars overlaid on an attitude indicator


KIAS

A rolling takeoff was made, takeoff thrust was stabilized at 80 KIAS, and left rudder and right aileron were used to compensate for the right crosswind. The V₁ and V_R callouts were made about 2 sec after these speeds were recorded by the DFDR.

1979 December 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.11 Flight Recorders”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., DC-10-10, N110AA, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, May 25, 1979, archived from the original on 2022-08-17, page 4:

indicated airspeed
indicated airspeed#English

(aviation) Initialism of knots indicated airspeed.


KCAS

calibrated airspeed
calibrated airspeed#English

(aviation) Initialism of knots calibrated airspeed.


KEAS

It is critical to not allow EAS to get slower than 185 kts. If theta is greater than about 10°, and EAS is decreasing through about 200, then the CDR should take Pitch CSS and push to the horizon, θ = 0°. This will hold 185 to 195 KEAS, which is the bailout recommended airspeed.

2007 February 14, NASA, “4.10.6 Subsonic Stall”, in Contingency Aborts 21007/31007, archived from the original on 2021-02-26, page 59:

equivalent airspeed
equivalent airspeed#English

(aviation) Initialism of knots equivalent airspeed.


KTAS

(aviation) Initialism of knots true airspeed.


true airspeed

true airspeed (usually uncountable, plural true airspeeds)

(aviation) The speed of an aircraft relative to the air mass within which it is flying.


calibrated airspeed

calibrated airspeed (usually uncountable, plural calibrated airspeeds)

(aviation) An aircraft's indicated airspeed corrected for errors introduced by instrument variations and by the position on the aircraft of the sensors of the aircraft's pitot-static system.


indicated airspeed

indicated airspeed (usually uncountable, plural indicated airspeeds)

(aviation) The airspeed displayed by an aircraft's airspeed indicator based on measurements from the pitot-static system; the airspeed used by pilots and air traffic control when flying and controlling aircraft.


equivalent airspeed

equivalent airspeed (usually uncountable, plural equivalent airspeeds)

(aviation) Dynamic pressure expressed as airspeed; the airspeed at sea level in the International Standard Atmosphere at which an airplane would experience the same dynamic pressure as it does in its current flight conditions; calibrated airspeed corrected for errors introduced by the compressibility of air at nonzero Mach numbers.


CWS

(aviation) Initialism of control wheel steering.


ace in a day

(aviation, military) An aviator (usually a fighter pilot) who destroys five or more enemy aircraft (the number required to become an ace) in a single day.


gravity drag

For GTO missions, the launch vehicle follows a significantly shallower flightpath than for LEO missions, considerably reducing gravity drag at the expense of a significantly increased thermal loading and somewhat greater structural loads and aerodynamic drag.

(astronautics) The resistance felt by a vehicle ascending against the force of gravity; reduction in delta-v experienced as a result of the partial cancellation by gravity of the vertical component of the thrust applied by a vehicle's engine(s).


TOGA

If you encounter windshear on approach, apply TOGA power and rotate the nose up to just below the stickshaker activation threshold to maximize the aircraft's climb capability.

(aviation, usually attributive) Initialism of takeoff / go-around (an engine thrust setting, usually the highest).


Gabbard diagram

Gabbard diagram (plural Gabbard diagrams)

(space science) A scatter plot on which the periapses and apoapses of the pieces of space debris from a single fragmentation event are plotted with respect to the pieces' orbital periods.


hot refuel

en-verb

hot refuel (third-person singular simple present hot refuels, present participle hot refueling or hot refuelling, simple past and past participle hot refueled or hot refuelled)

hot refuels (present singular third-person)
hot refueling (participle present)
hot refuelling (participle present)
hot refueled (participle past)
hot refueled (past)
hot refuelled (participle past)
hot refuelled (past)

The plane's APU was broken and the airport didn't have ground starting equipment, so we had to hot refuel the bird - if we'd shut both engines down, we wouldn't have been able to get them started again.

(aviation) To refuel an aircraft while one of its engines is running.


hot refuel

Hot refuels require the fueling crew to take great care to avoid getting sucked into the operating engine.

(aviation) An instance of hot refueling.


spool up

spool up (third-person singular simple present spools up, present participle spooling up, simple past and past participle spooled up)

spools up (present singular third-person)
spooling up (participle present)
spooled up (participle past)
spooled up (past)

The large rotational inertia of the heavy compressor and turbine rotors makes the engine slow to spool up from idle.

(aviation, of a turbine engine) To increase in rotational speed, producing an increase in thrust.


spool down

spool down (third-person singular simple present spools down, present participle spooling down, simple past and past participle spooled down)

spools down (present singular third-person)
spooling down (participle present)
spooled down (participle past)
spooled down (past)

All ground personnel MUST be made aware that big jet engines take a considerable time to spool down. We don't want any more mechanics getting sucked in or catapulted across the apron.

(aviation, of a turbine engine) To decrease in rotational speed, producing a decrease in thrust.


GBAS

ground-based augmentation system
w:ground-based augmentation system

(aviation) Initialism of ground-based augmentation system, a system for improving the precision and accuracy of GPS signals to allow their use for low-visibility instrument approaches.


GLS

(aviation) Initialism of GBAS landing system.


ZELL

(aviation, military, historical) Initialism of zero-length launch.


cruise-climb

cruise-climb (third-person singular simple present cruise-climbs, present participle cruise-climbing, simple past and past participle cruise-climbed)

cruise-climbs (present singular third-person)
cruise-climbing (participle present)
cruise-climbed (participle past)
cruise-climbed (past)
cruise climb (alternative)

For a transatlantic crossing, the Concorde would be assigned a ~15,000-foot block of altitude; it started out at flight level 450 and gradually cruise-climbed up to between FL570 and FL600 over the mid-Atlantic before beginning to descend.

(aviation, usually intransitive, of an aircraft) To slowly but continuously climb during cruise flight as the aircraft's weight decreases due to fuel burnoff (done because flight at higher altitudes is more efficient but requires a lighter aircraft).


cruise-climb

cruise-climbs (plural)
cruise climb (alternative)

A cruise-climb is more efficient than the standard step climb, but is rarely used since it's much harder for ATC to manage.

(aviation) An instance of cruise-climbing.


step climb

step climb (third-person singular simple present step climbs, present participle step climbing, simple past and past participle step climbed)

step climbs (present singular third-person)
step climbing (participle present)
step climbed (participle past)
step climbed (past)
step-climb (alternative)

The flight plan called for step climbing from an initial cruising altitude of FL330 to the final altitude of FL350 halfway through the flight.

(aviation, usually intransitive, of an aircraft) To periodically climb to higher and higher altitudes during cruise flight, as the aircraft becomes lighter from fuel burnoff, to take advantage of the reduced drag at higher altitudes; like cruise-climbing, but with the aircraft climbing in discrete steps instead of continuously.


step climb

step climbs (plural)
step-climb (alternative)

The step climb from FL340 through FL360 and FL380 to FL400 will reduce our fuel burn compared to if we cruised at FL340 for the whole flight.

(aviation) An instance of step climbing.


LOM

locator outer marker
locator outer marker#English

(aviation) Initialism of locator outer marker.


locator outer marker

en-noun

locator outer marker (plural locator outer markers)

(aviation, chiefly US) A ground-based radio navigation aid consisting of a pair of colocated radio beacons at the final approach fix of an ILS or IGS approach course: an NDB to guide aircraft to the approach fix, and an outer marker to alert aircraft as they pass over the station.


outer marker

(aviation) A type of marker beacon placed to indicate the final approach fix of an ILS or IGS approach, triggering a continuous sequence of visual and aural Morse code dashes from the marker beacon receiver in the cockpit of an aircraft flying over the marker.


NDB

non-directional beacon
nuclear depth bomb

(aviation) Initialism of non-directional beacon, a type of radiobeacon used in air navigation which transmits an omnidirectional radio signal containing no encoded information about the direction from an aircraft to the beacon.


middle marker

missed approach point
missed approach point

(aviation) A type of marker beacon placed to indicate the missed approach point of a Category I ILS or IGS approach (typically the point at which the glideslope descends through 200 feet AGL), triggering a continuous visual and aural sequence of alternating Morse code dots and dashes from the marker beacon receiver in the cockpit of an aircraft flying over the marker.


inner marker

(aviation) A type of marker beacon placed to indicate when an aircraft crosses the runway threshold of a Category II or Category III ILS or IGS approach, triggering a continuous visual and aural sequence of rapid-fire Morse code dots from the marker beacon receiver in the cockpit of an aircraft flying over the marker.


marker beacon

(aviation) A type of VHF radiobeacon which radiates in a tight cone pattern extending vertically from the transmitter; now generally only used to mark specific points along an ILS or IGS approach path, but formerly also commonly used to mark reporting points along en route airways.


fan marker

non-precision approach
non-precision approach

(aviation) An obsolescent type of marker beacon, usually used to mark en route airways but occasionally used as part of a non-precision approach, which radiates in a pattern that is considerably wider, from the perspective of an aircraft approaching the marker along the airway, than it is long (allowing an aircraft to pick up the signal from the marker even if slightly to one side of the airway's centerline).


ARFF

(aviation) Initialism of aircraft rescue and firefighting.


moonfall

moonfall (usually uncountable, plural moonfalls)

From moon + fall.
* (astronautics): after landfall.

Total time to unpack the landing pod after moonfall is one working year, conducted in parallel with paving and other activities.

1981, Space Manufacturing, volume 4, page 115:

The first crisis the lunar explorers faced came just short of moonfall. The Apollo 11 Lunar Module, code-named “Eagle', was still 9.5 km (6 miles) up when the vital guidance computer began flashing an alarm – […]

2014, John Jackman, Wendy Wren, Nelson English: Development: Book 4, page 40:

(astronautics) Arrival on the Moon, or a moon, by spacecraft.


disreef

en-verb

disreef (third-person singular simple present disreefs, present participle disreefing, simple past and past participle disreefed)

disreefs (present singular third-person)
disreefing (participle present)
disreefed (participle past)
disreefed (past)

Once the SRBs decelerate following initial main-parachute deployment, the parachutes disreef in stages to gradually slow the boosters to a safe splashdown speed.

(aviation, space flight) To allow (a reefed parachute) to fully open.


static fire

static fires (plural)
static-fire (alternative)

(astronautics) A type of test where a fully-fueled launch vehicle's engines are fired at full thrust for several seconds while the vehicle is firmly clamped to the launch pad.


static fire

static fire (third-person singular simple present static fires, present participle static firing, simple past and past participle static fired)

static fires (present singular third-person)
static firing (participle present)
static fired (participle past)
static fired (past)
static-fire (alternative)

(astronautics) To perform a static fire test.


Aldrin cycler

From Aldrin + cycler. After Buzz Aldrin, who developed the concept and its mathematical basis. From being a cycler, a space vehicle which cycles between intercepts of two celestial bodies in their own orbits, with little or no orbital adjustments needed, on as close to pure ballistics as practicable.

(astronautics) A spacecraft which cycles between Earth and Mars, in its own orbit which intercepts both their orbits at times when the planets are at those points in their orbits; which allows transport from Earth to Mars, or vice versa.


TAT

total air temperature
w:total air temperature

(aviation) Initialism of total air temperature.


viff

viff (third-person singular simple present viffs, present participle viffing, simple past and past participle viffed)

viffs (present singular third-person)
viffing (participle present)
viffed (participle past)
viffed (past)

From the initial letters of "vectoring in forward flight".

(aviation, of an aircraft) To change direction by changing the direction of thrust from the engine(s).


viff

en-noun

viff (countable and uncountable, plural viffs)

(aviation, countable) A change in direction by changing the direction of thrust from the engine(s).

(aviation, uncountable) The ability to make such changes in direction.


BWB

(aviation) Initialism of blended wing-body.


Mach tuck

(aviation, aerodynamics) A change in an aircraft's pitching tendency at transonic speeds, often manifesting as a strong tendency to pitch down into a dive.


Mach tuck

en-verb

Mach tuck (third-person singular simple present Mach tucks, present participle Mach tucking, simple past and past participle Mach tucked)

Mach tucks (present singular third-person)
Mach tucking (participle present)
Mach tucked (participle past)
Mach tucked (past)
Mach-tuck (alternative)

(aviation, aerodynamics) To experience Mach tuck.


anti-ballistic missile

en-noun

anti-ballistic missile (plural anti-ballistic missiles)

anti-ballistic missiles (plural)
antiballistic missile (alternative)

(military, astronautics) A missile designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in flight.


Vx

(aviation) The indicated airspeed at which an aircraft's maximum sustained angle of climb is the steepest.


Vyse

Vyse (usually uncountable, plural Vyses)

(aviation) The indicated airspeed at which a multiengine aircraft's rate of climb with only one engine running is at a maximum.


soft-land

en-verb

soft-land (third-person singular simple present soft-lands, present participle soft-landing, simple past and past participle soft-landed)

soft-lands (present singular third-person)
soft-landing (participle present)
soft-landed (participle past)
soft-landed (past)
soft land (alternative)

The Spirit and Opportunity rovers were soft-landed on Mars in 2004.

The crate of supplies soft-landed in the drop zone under its parachute, allowing the soldiers to replenish their food and ammo for the next few days of fighting.

(transitive, intransitive, astronautics, aviation) To land (a vehicle or other payload) on the surface of a body in such a manner that it survives the landing mostly or entirely intact and is usable or able to operate, at least briefly, following touchdown.


feet dry

The aircraft headed “feet-dry” by the pilot's judicious use of rudders and afterburners.

Feet wet: Fighter direction brevity code used to report that a plane had left land ("feet dry") and was now over water.

1994, Paul T. Gillcrist, Tomcat!: The Grumman F-14 Story, page 196:


feet wet

Three minutes later, at 2015, Captain Brindel entered the CIC and was notified of TN 2202 “feet wet” (aviation terminology meaning that an aircraft is over water) in the northern Persian Gulf and heading south.

1997, Jeffrey L. Levinson, Randy L. Edwards, Missile Inbound: The Attack on the Stark in the Persian Gulf, page 71:

[…] when you'd crossed the coastline after departing the ship Roger Klondike twelve dash four, understand flight of three. Feet wet.

2008, David A. Ballentine, Gunbird Driver: A Marine Huey Pilot's War in Vietnam, page 56:


chosen instrument

en-noun

chosen instrument (plural chosen instruments)

(aviation) An airline selected by government to represent the country.


jet pipe

(especially aviation) A pipe at the back of a gas turbine out of which exhaust gases are discharged


oil burner route

oil burner route (plural oil burner routes)

In reference to the smoke trails that jet engines may leave behind at low altitudes.

(aviation, slang, military) A region of airspace in which military jets are authorized to carry out low-altitude training.


ground wallah

(UK, military, aviation, slang, dated) An officer who does not fly aircraft.


flight control

flight control (countable and uncountable, plural flight controls)

The airplane's primary flight controls comprise elevators and ailerons driven by manually-controlled servo tabs, and a hydraulically-powered rudder and spoilerons.

(aviation, countable) A system for controlling an aircraft's rotational or translational motion in one or more axes.

(aviation, by extension, uncountable) The process of controlling an aircraft's rotational or translational motion in one or more axes.


rolleron

(aviation) An aerodynamic control surface device, used to control against unwanted rolling (rotation) about the axis of movement. The moving wingtip is self-gyro-stabilized with a rolling bladed wheel catching the airstream, providing the gyroscopic moment.


MSSS

(space science, US) Abbreviation of Malin Space Science Systems (a private company that designs, develop and operate instruments and technical equipment for unmanned spacecraft.)


RATOG

(British, aviation, military) Initialism of rocket-assisted take-off gear.


spooldown

At 1620:38, the captain stated, "gotta get it over again...at least upside down we're flyin." At 1620:49, the CVR recorded sounds similar to engine compressor stalls and engine spooldown. At 1620:54, the captain commanded deployment of the speedbrakes, and, about 1 second later, the first officer replied, "got it." At 1620:56.2, the captain stated, "ah here we go." The FDR recording ended at 1620:56.3, and the CVR recording ended at 1620:57.1.

2002 December 30, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.1 History of Flight”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Loss of Control and Impact with Pacific Ocean, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, McDonnell Douglas MD-83, N963AS, About 2.7 Miles North of Anacapa Island, California, January 31, 2000, archived from the original on 2022-06-16, page 9:

(aviation) The process of reduction of the rotational speed of a turbine engine, causing a reduction in thrust.


spoolup

(aviation) The process of increasing the rotational speed of a turbine engine, causing an increase in thrust.


Flox

Flox (usually uncountable, plural Floxes)

(astronautics) A mixture of liquid oxygen with some added fluorine, used as a high-energy oxidizer.


NSSL

(US, politics, military, espionage, aerospace) Initialism of National Security Space Launch program; a U.S. government program for assured access to space


NSSL

national security
national security#English

(US, politics, military, espionage, aerospace) Initialism of national security spacelaunch; a high security spacelaunch of U.S. government payloads, such as spy satellites


EELV

(US, politics, military, espionage, aerospace) Initialism of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program; a U.S. government program for assured access to space


EELV

(US, politics, military, espionage, aerospace) Initialism of evolved expendable launch vehicle; a rocket developed under the EELV government program.


NROL

(US, government, military, espionage, aerospace) Initialism of National Reconnaissance Office launch. An NRO spacelaunch for delivering a high security government payload into space.


ADIZ

Thursday morning began with reports of multiple warplane incursions into the ADIZ, and cyber-attacks targeting the websites of the president’s office and the ministries of foreign affairs and defence.

2022 August 5, Helen Davidson, “What the fallout from Pelosi’s visit means for Taiwan and China”, in The Guardian:

air defense identification zone
w:air defense identification zone

(military, aviation) Initialism of air defense identification zone.


mast bumping

(aviation) A dangerous condition where the mast of a helicopter contacts adjacent fixed structure while rotating, damaging the mast and potentially resulting in the separation of the main rotor from the helicopter.


budget airline

I'll be interested to see how this service does. It will be basic with fares to match, so will be akin to a budget airline taking on a flag-carrier.

2021 June 30, Philip Haigh, “Regional trains squeezed as ECML congestion heads north”, in RAIL, number 934, page 52:


wizzo

From the colloquial pronunciation of WSO (“weapon systems officer”).

These comments on the latest generation of High-Tech-Attack aircraft, the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle, come front Captain Mark 'Bones' Wetzel, a senior Wizzo and a Flight Commander with the 334FW, the 'Fighting Eagles', part of the recently formed 4th Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina.

1993, Andy Evans, Backseat Flyers: Navigation and Weaponry in the Modern Airplane, London: Arms and Armour Press, →ISBN, page 72:

But his vision had been good enough for the Backseater role, the Navigator, EWO, or Wizzo. As an Electronics Warfare Officer or Weapons Systems Officer he could still fly Gets or heavies), whatever his role finally ended up being upon graduation.

2013, F. P. Dorchak, Ero: A Novel, Wailing Loon, →ISBN, page 6:

The pilot explained the function and purpose of the screens and monitors and impressive equipment that were the responsibility of weapons systems officers, or "wizzos," as they were called.

2013, David Lyons, Blood Game: A Jock Boucher Thriller, New York, N.Y. […]: Emily Bestler Books, →ISBN, page 8:

"I wont put anyone else at risk," Gardiner promised. "Besides, Ray's got the stick, I'm just sitting wizzo."

2018, S. E. Soldwedel, Disintegration, Oakland, C.A.: Inkshares, Inc., →ISBN, page 327:

(aviation, slang) A weapon systems officer.


reporting point

reporting point (plural reporting points)

(aviation) A geographical reference point used to report the location of an aircraft


avcat

From aviation, aviation carrier (aircraft carrier), and aviation turbine fuel (avtur).

(US, military, aviation, nautical) Synonym of JP-5, the U.S. Navy jet fuel.


BFM

(military, aviation) Initialism of basic fighter maneuvers (“the corpus of maneuvers and tactics expected of fighter aircraft and their pilots”).


BFM

(military, aviation) Initialism of basic fighter maneuver, a foundational maneuver or tactic used by fighter planes and fighter pilots.


EMAS

engineered materials arresting system
w:engineered materials arresting system

(aviation) Initialism of engineered materials arresting system.


LOAC

(aerospace) Acronym of loss of attitude control.


IAF

An IAF representative told an Indian parliamentary committee that due to the Ukraine war a “major delivery” from Moscow “is not going to take place.”

2023 March 24, Rhea Mogul, “Russia can’t meet India arms deliveries due to Ukraine war, Indian Air Force says”, in CNN:

(military, aviation) Any of several air forces

Any of several air forces
Initialism of Indian Air Force.

Any of several air forces
Initialism of Indonesian Air Force.

Any of several air forces
Initialism of Iraqi Air Force.

“Following precise IDF intelligence, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) is currently conducting strikes on strategic terror targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the area of Beirut. Among the targets struck are weapons production facilities, buildings used to store advanced weapons and key command centers of the terrorist organization,” the IDF said in a statement.

2024 September 27, Abeer Salman, “Israel continues striking Beirut buildings allegedly housing Hezbollah weapons and command centers”, in CNN:

Any of several air forces
Initialism of Israeli Air Force.

Any of several air forces
Initialism of Italian Air Force.

(dated) Initialism of Iranian Air Force.

Any of several air forces
Initialism of Iranian Air Force.


IRU

inertial reference unit
inertial reference unit#English

(aerospace) Initialism of inertial reference unit.


preighter

(aviation) A freighter converted from a passenger aircraft.


CRAF

Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby
w:Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby

(aerospace, historical) Initialism of Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby.


gust lock

(aviation) A device used to lock the control surfaces of a parked aircraft in order to reduce the probability of flight-control damage resulting from strong or gusty winds.


blucket

Blend of blade + bucket; the use of bucket here refers to the inner, turbine portion of the blade.

mechanical engineering
mechanical engineering

(aviation, mechanical engineering) A type of turbine blade where the inner portion of the blade is driven by expanding exhaust gases from the engine core, while the outer portion extends into the bypass duct and serves as a fan blade; used on a few turbofans with rear-mounted fans.


thrust bucket

(astronautics) A reduction in thrust performed by some launch vehicles when approaching max Q, in order to reduce aerodynamic stresses on the vehicle's structure.


thrust vectoring

(aviation, astronautics) The deflection of the exhaust nozzle(s) of a jet engine or rocket so as to alter the direction in which the engine produces thrust and help control the attitude and/or direction of flight of the vehicle using the engine.


VMO

(aviation) Maximum operating speed; the airspeed which an aircraft should not exceed in the course of routine operation.


Vxse

Vxse (usually uncountable, plural Vxses)

(aviation) The indicated airspeed at which a multiengine aircraft's maximum sustained angle of climb with only one engine running is the steepest.


Elon time

From Elon Musk's overly optimistic projections of launch/completion dates.

(automotive, astronautics, journalism) An estimated time of arrival (ETA), that is exceedingly optimistic, needing to be doubled or tripled to arrive at a reasonable estimate. Used by journalists, editorialists, and fans, concerning the ETAs of milestones and products from commercial spacelaunch provider SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla, Inc.; as well as other endeavours of Elon Musk.


ADIRU

(aviation) Acronym of air data inertial reference unit.


McDowell line

(aerospace): From being proposed by astrophysicist Jonathan C. McDowell in 2018; when analyzing orbiting satellites to determine the perigee altitude at which one can successfully orbit 2 or more times on a highly elliptical orbit.

McDowell Line (alternative)
McDowell Limit (alternative)
McDowell limit (alternative)

(aerospace) The altitude of periapsis at which atmospheric drag will prevent an object from successfully orbiting.


bi-elliptic transfer

bi-elliptic transfer (plural bi-elliptic transfers)

(astronautics) A type of movement of a spacecraft from one orbit to another, in which the spacecraft first raises its apoapsis to an extremely high altitude, then, at the new, higher, apoapsis, performs an engine burn to change its periapsis to that of the desired orbit, and, finally, upon reaching the new periapsis, performs a third burn to lower the eccentricity of its orbit and circularize in the desired orbit, or performs these steps in reverse to move from a higher to a lower orbit.


main gear

main gear (countable and uncountable, plural main gears)

(aviation) The primary landing gear of an aircraft, generally located slightly behind the aircraft's center of mass (or slightly ahead of it on a taildragger aircraft) and carrying the majority of the aircraft's weight.


wing gear

wing gear (usually uncountable, plural wing gears)

(aviation) Landing gear mounted in the roots of an aircraft's wings.


body gear

body gear (usually uncountable, plural body gears)

(aviation) Landing gear mounted in the lower part of an aircraft's fuselage, generally between or slightly behind the wings.


somatogravic illusion

somatogravic illusion (plural somatogravic illusions)

(aviation) An illusory perception of one's pitch angle, due to the effects of linear acceleration on the vestibular system of the inner ear.


flight nurse

flight attendant
flight attendant#English

registered nurse
registered nurse#English

(historical, aviation, occupations) The predecessor to flight attendants, who were registered nurses.

(aviation, medicine, occupations) A medical nurse specialized in working aboard air ambulances, medevac aircraft.


on instruments

We were on instruments for the descent through the clouds.

(aviation) (Flying) by reference to one's flight instruments, rather than by visual contact with the ground.


ECAM

electronic centralized aircraft monitor#English

(aviation) Acronym of electronic centralized aircraft monitor.


EICAS

engine-indicating and crew-alerting system#English

(aviation) Acronym of engine-indicating and crew-alerting system.


EFIS

electronic flight instrument system#English

(aviation) Acronym of electronic flight instrument system.


AAIB

(aviation) Various aviation accident investigation organizations.

Initialism of Air Accident Investigation Bureau (Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore)

Initialism of Air Accidents Investigation Branch (UK)

Initialism of Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (Iceland)

Initialism of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (India, (formerly) Switzerland)


decrab

en-verb

decrab (third-person singular simple present decrabs, present participle decrabbing, simple past and past participle decrabbed)

decrabs (present singular third-person)
decrabbing (participle present)
decrabbed (participle past)
decrabbed (past)

(aviation, ambitransitive) To align (an aircraft) with the runway, usually by means of rudder or rudderon input, immediately before, simultaneously with, or immediately after touchdown during a landing from a crabbed approach.


decrab

en-noun

decrab (usually uncountable, plural decrabs)

(aviation) The process of aligning an aircraft with the runway, usually by means of rudder or rudderon input, immediately before, simultaneously with, or immediately after touchdown during a landing from a crabbed approach.


crab angle

(aviation) The angle by which an aircraft's nose is pointed upwind of its groundtrack to compensate for crosswinds during an approach and landing.


edge control

Trailing edge control surface configurations may be composed of a full span, inboard partial-span, outboard tip partial-span, or up to six individual control surfaces, including side-by-side common edge control surfaces, and nested controls.

1975, Prediction of Unsteady Aerodynamic Loadings Caused by Leading Edge and Trailing Edge Control Surface Motions in Subsonic Compressible Flow, page 63:

(aviation) The management and manipulation of the edges of an aircraft's wings or control surfaces to enhance performance and stability.


jet blast

(aviation) The extremely powerful (often hurricane-force) winds behind a running jet engine.


joyhop

He was ready to demonstrate it last month when his test pilot, Marshall S. ("Maury") Boggs, who had made innumerable blind landings, crashed to death in broad daylight on a joyhop in California.

1933, Briton Hadden, Time, volume 21, page 29:

Compared to making both ends of the country meet back in those days, flying the “Hump” was just a joyhop.

1952, American Aviation, volume 16, page 67:


joyhop

en-verb

joyhop (third-person singular simple present joyhops, present participle joyhopping, simple past and past participle joyhopped)

joyhops (present singular third-person)
joyhopping (participle present)
joyhopped (participle past)
joyhopped (past)


transition altitude

en-noun

transition altitude (usually uncountable, plural transition altitudes)

(aviation) The altitude (which varies by country) above which an aircraft's barometric altimeters are set as if the sea-level atmospheric pressure were equal to 1013.25 hectopascals (regardless of the actual atmospheric conditions) and altitudes are reported as flight levels.


transition level

transition level (usually uncountable, plural transition levels)

(aviation) The lowest flight level above the transition altitude; depends on the transition altitude and the measured or calculated sea-level atmospheric pressure. The flight level at which a descending aircraft's barometric altimeters are reset from a constant setting of 1013.25 hectopascals to the setting corresponding to the actual measured or calculated atmospheric pressure at mean sea level.


transition layer

transition layer (usually uncountable, plural transition layers)

(aviation) The airspace above the transition altitude but below the transition level.


very light

(aviation) A size classification below that of sublight and above that of ultralight.

very light aircraft
very light aircraft#English

A type of microlight, an aircraft type similar to ultralight or sailplane.

(aviation) An aircraft fitting the size classification.


very light

(aviation) Peratining to the verylight classification.


Oberth effect

(astronautics) The concept that the most efficient place for spacecraft to change velocity is at the periapsis (the lowest point of an orbit).


waterdrome

Blend of water + aerodrome. May be analyzed as water + -drome.

(nautical, aviation) A facility for landing and launching aircraft, where the runway is the surface of a body of water.


DSCOVR

DSCOVR was originally called Triana, an earth observation mission championed by Al Gore when he was vice president. The spacecraft, derisively called GoreSat, was put into storage for years until it was adapted for use as a solar storm warning system.

2022 January 26, Kenneth Chang, “SpaceX Rocket Part to Crash Into Moon 7 Years After Launch”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Deep Space Climate Observatory
w:Deep Space Climate Observatory

(space science) Abbreviation of Deep Space Climate Observatory.


bicycle landing gear

bicycle landing gear (countable and uncountable, plural bicycle landing gears)

(aviation) A form of landing gear having the main gear and nosegear located fore and aft of the center of gravity under the fuselage with outriggers on the wings.


tandem landing gear

tandem landing gear (countable and uncountable, plural tandem landing gears)

bicycle landing gear
bicycle landing gear#English

(aviation) Synonym of bicycle landing gear.


IRAS

(astronomy, NASA) Initialism of Infrared Astronomical Satellite (the first space telescope to perform a survey of the entire night sky at infrared wavelengths.)


LEV

LEVs (plural)
L.E.V. (alternative)
L. E. V. (alternative)

(astronautics) Abbreviation of lunar excursion vehicle.


boom path

(aviation) The narrow region under a supersonic aircraft's flight path, where the sonic boom is liable to be heard as it flies overhead.


boom corridor

(aviation) A restricted portion of airspace for supersonic aircraft, intended to reduce the potential coverage of their boom paths.


flat scissors

flat scissors (countable and uncountable, plural flat scissors)

(uncountable, aviation, military, with the) A form of the scissors defensive maneuver in dogfighting, involving turning one's aircraft towards that of the attacker and slowing in order to force the opponent to overshoot, without moving out of the initial plane of the attack; often continues, with the roles of attacker and defender alternating between the two aircraft, until one is either shot down or manages to escape.

(countable, aviation, military) An instance of the above dogfighting maneuver.


rolling scissors

rolling scissors (countable and uncountable, plural rolling scissors)

Remember: maintain your aircraft's energy, keep his tail on your line of sight, and relentlessly pursue the insufferable oaf that insulted your driving skills. If he gets behind you, break out the rolling scissors and force an overshoot.

2021 March 19, Bosnian Ape Society, 4:36 from the start, in Is Your Car Safe From Supermaneuverable Air-Defense Fighter Aircraft?, archived from the original on 2022-08-07:

(uncountable, aviation, military, with the) A form of the scissors defensive maneuver in dogfighting, involving pulling up, rolling one's aircraft towards that of the attacker, and pulling the nose of one's aircraft towards the attacker to force an overshoot, resulting in the two aircraft barrel-rolling around each other as each attempts to gain the advantage.


defensive spiral

defensive spiral (plural defensive spirals)

(aviation, military) A last-resort defensive maneuver in dogfighting used by an aircraft with critically-low kinetic energy, consisting of a rolling scissors performed straight down, using gravity to supply the kinetic energy needed to continue maneuvering, while attempting to either slow down enough to get behind the attacker or else trick the attacker into crashing into the ground.

basic fighter maneuvers#Defensive spiral


flat spin

(aviation) An especially dangerous type of spin (abnormal stalled flight mode) with a very high angle of attack (typically between 65° and 90°), such that the aircraft's nose is pointed near the horizon despite an extreme negative flightpath angle (gamma); typically unresponsive to flight control inputs and unrecoverable in most aircraft.


finger-four

(aviation) A flight formation used by fighter aircraft. It consists of four aircraft, and four such formations can be combined into a squadron.


SSME

Space Shuttle Main Engine
w:Space Shuttle Main Engine

(US, space science, aviation) Initialism of Space Shuttle Main Engine.


zoom climb

zoom climbs (plural)
zoom-climb (alternative)

(aviation) A climb at a rate of climb greater than the maximum climb rate using only the thrust of the aircraft's engines; a climb that sacrifices airspeed to gain altitude.


box man

[…] there have been an uncomfortably large number of incidents where a leader has flown his whole team into the ground. […] It had happened in the Luftwaffe with an F104 team, and many years later I saw it happen to the box man in the French Fouga Magister team at the Paris Air Show.

(aviation) The pilot flying behind the leader in a box formation.


missing man formation

missing man formation (plural missing man formations)

(aviation) An aerial salute to commemorate a deceased person, consisting of a formation of flying aircraft with a space where one plane should be flying.


narrow-cut

(aviation, petrochemistry, of jet fuel) Composed of moderately-heavy hydrocarbons with boiling points in the kerosene range, without a significant proportion of lighter, gasoline-type hydrocarbons; Jet A is an example of a fuel of this type.


wide-cut

(aviation, petrochemistry, of jet fuel) Composed of a mixture of hydrocarbons with a wide range of boiling points, including both moderately-heavy, higher-boiling kerosene-type molecules and lighter, lower-boiling, more-volatile gasoline-type molecules; Jet B or JP-4 is a fuel of this type.


anti-air

antiair (alternative)
anti air (alternative)

(military, aviation) Synonym of anti-aircraft.


leaderman

From leader + man, a literal translation of the Russian лидировщик (lidirovščik).

(aviation) a foreign (usually Russian) navigator who helps guide an aircraft during its descent


Lufbery circle

Named after fighter ace Raoul Lufbery (1885–1918), though he was not the inventor.

(military, aviation) A defensive combat tactic in which multiple aircraft form a horizontal circle in the air when attacked, so that the armament of each aircraft offers a measure of protection to the others.


over the fence

Look up the recommended speed for the landing pattern. You'll find tables for varying loads. Okay so far. Now, note that a speed is established for the approach phase and another slower one for over the fence.

1955, Flying Safety, volume 11, page 23:

You can usually wait until you are "over the fence" before you chop the power.

1966, FAA Aviation News, volumes 5-7, page 11:

(aviation) Entering, or having entered, the airfield in preparation for landing.


HLS

(space science) Abbreviation of human landing system.


GOX

(astronautics) Acronym of gaseous oxygen.


ASB

(aviation) Initialism of anti-shock body.


anti-shock body

anti-shock body (plural anti-shock bodies)

(aviation) A pod, protuberance, or swelling used to adjust the variation in an aircraft's cross-sectional area along its length so as to better conform to the area rule, reducing wave drag at transonic speeds.


Sears-Haack body

Sears-Haack body (plural Sears-Haack bodies)

The derivation and shape were published independently by Wolfgang Haack in 1941 and William Sears in 1947.

(aeronautics) The shape with the lowest theoretical wave drag in supersonic flow, for a given body length and a given volume.


wave drag

(aerodynamics) Drag resulting from shock wave formation at transonic and supersonic speeds.


penguin trainer

penguin trainer (plural penguin trainers)

What the penguin trainers lacked in aerodynamic ability was more than made up in weight and strength, for it was their purpose to take all of the heavy shocks and general road work while the pilot was getting the feel of the controls.

1930, Flying Magazine, volume 1, number 1, page 36:

On its return to Hamble in 1930 the machine was equipped with twin metal floats and Mongoose engine as a penguin trainer for Air Service Training Ltd.

1965, Aubrey Joseph Jackson, Avro Aircraft Since 1908, page 184:

(UK, aviation, historical) A machine resembling an aeroplane but unable to fly, used for training pilots.


fuse plug

ACI's Hong Kong station manager was at a loss as to how best to proceed. Flight 103's brakes had been cooled with blowers, and the plane towed to its gate. It had three blown tires, one had burst on the runway when the aircraft's anti‑skid system failed and two had deflated when their red-hot brakes had overheated the tires and the fuse plugs had blown. The tire that had blown on the runway had disintegrated and punched two holes in the aircraft's undersurface. The holes were small, but they had to be fixed.

2018 February 8, Terry Liittschwager, chapter 30, in Wrongful Act, archived from the original on 2022-01-31:

(aviation) A component of an aircraft wheel held in place by a metal alloy with a low melting point, such that, if the wheel is severely overheated (for instance, by heavy braking), pressure is released from the wheel and tire/tyre in a controlled manner rather than risking an explosion of the wheel assembly.


dump and burn

(aviation) A maneuver involving dumping and burning.


dump and burn

en-verb

dump and burn (third-person singular simple present dumps and burns, present participle dumping and burning, simple past and past participle dumped and burned or dumped and burnt)

dumps and burns (present singular third-person)
dumping and burning (participle present)
dumped and burned (participle past)
dumped and burned (past)
dumped and burnt (participle past)
dumped and burnt (past)

(aviation, of an aircraft) To jettison fuel and then immediately ignite the cloud of jettisoned fuel using one's afterburners to create a large fireball behind the aircraft, typically as an airshow maneuver.


resolution advisory

en-noun

resolution advisory (plural resolution advisories)

(aviation) A TCAS warning directing the pilot of an aircraft to take immediate evasive action of a specified type (for instance: "INCREASE CLIMB, INCREASE CLIMB") to avoid a possible impending mid-air collision.


traffic advisory

traffic advisory (plural traffic advisories)

(aviation) A TCAS caution message alerting the pilot of an aircraft to the presence of nearby traffic which does not yet pose an imminent collision hazard.


airworthiness directive

airworthiness directive (plural airworthiness directives)

(aviation, law) A regulation issued by the civil aviation authority of a country or region, generally in response to the discovery of an unsafe condition affecting particular aircraft, requiring that certain actions (such as specified modifications or enhanced maintenance or inspection requirements) be performed on these aircraft in order for them to remain legally airworthy.


EAD

emergency airworthiness directive
w:emergency airworthiness directive

(aviation) Initialism of emergency airworthiness directive.


AVGP

(military, aviation) Abbreviation of aviation group.


hydroflight

(nautical, aviation) A method of tethered flight using an umbilicus to provide power and reaction mass via a hydrojet supplied from a surface pump on a body of water.


balked landing

(aviation) A go-around initiated after the aircraft has already touched down on the runway.


NMA

(aviation) Initialism of new midsize aircraft.

(aviation) Initialism of new mid-market aircraft.

middle-of-the-market
middle of the market#English

(aviation) Initialism of new middle-of-the-market aircraft.


crash axe

They further state the crash axe is a dangerous weapon, especially if it is put in the cabin. That point should be considered. There were two comments from ALPA: One comment was that they agreed with the proposal, thinking the crash axe has lost its effectiveness and that they would prefer a combination crash axe and pry bar. Gates Learjet commented that today's aircraft does not allow for a crash axe, and that the proposal is way too broad. They may support, or it would be okay if it was included in the aircraft operator 121 operations.

1976, First Biennial Operations Review, 1975-1976: Conference Summary, page 26:

Meanwhile, one of the loadmasters was trying to remove the filler cap from the utility system reservoir, but the cap was so hot it burned his hand. A second loadmaster used a crash axe to loosen the cap, then began passing back cans of spare hydraulic fluid to replenish the system.

Jack's mind raced as he tried to come up with a reason why this man would have a cockpit crash axe. He knew there was only one on board, and that it was stored in the cockpit. It wasn't unusual for pilots to be trapped in the cockpit after an accident. Even a minor “fender bender” could bend the airframe door enough to make the door inoperable.

2017 March 20, John Etzil, Airliner Down: An Aviation Thriller, Pier West llc, →ISBN:

(aviation) A lightweight fire axe carried in the cockpit of medium and large passenger aircraft and used to cut an escape route through aircraft wreckage after a crash, or to gain access to a hidden fire during flight.


FRUIT

(aviation) Acronym of false replies unsynchronized/uncorrelated in time.


ARTCC

air route traffic control center
w:air route traffic control center

(aviation) Initialism of air route traffic control center.


Gillham code

Named after Ronald Lionel Gillham, a signals officer.

(aviation) A zero-padded 12-bit binary code, a modified Gray code, used to transmit uncorrected barometric altitude between an encoding altimeter or analog air data computer and a digital transponder.


Gillham interface

Gillham interface (plural Gillham interfaces)

(aviation) The device used to transmit Gillham code.


forced induction

(mechanical engineering, automotive, aviation) The process of blowing compressed air into the cylinders of an internal combustion piston engine to increase the compression ratio and power of the engine, typically by using a turbocharger or supercharger.


pogo oscillation

pogo oscillation (countable and uncountable, plural pogo oscillations)

Pogo stick + oscillation; the pogo stick comparison being used to represent the longitudinal direction of the oscillation.

(astronautics) A dangerous oscillation in the fuel or structure of a rocket along the long axis induced by a surge in thrust.


Hohmann transfer

Hohmann transfer (plural Hohmann transfers)

Named after Walter Hohmann, the German engineer who described it.

(astronautics) An elliptical orbit used to transfer a spacecraft between two circular orbits of different altitudes in the same plane, with the periapsis of the orbit being tangent to the smaller circular orbit and its apoapsis being tangent to the larger circular orbit.

(astronautics) The process of using such an orbit to transfer between two other orbits.


rocket propellant 1

(astronautics) A highly refined kerosene used as a rocket fuel.


skiplagging

Airlines do not like skiplagging because it costs them money.

2023 November 24, “Skiplagging: Why some flyers love it and why airlines hate it”, in CNN:

(aviation) The practice of disembarking at a "hidden city" rather than continuing to one's ticketed destination, in order to save money on the airfare.


throwaway ticketing

(aviation) The purchase of a ticket with the intent to use only a portion of the included travel, in order to save on airfare.


Bitching Betty

Referring to the female voice used in such recordings.

(aviation, slang) A voice warning system in an aircraft.


space bridge

space bridges (plural)
spacebridge (alternative)

(astronautics) Synonym of space elevator.

(astronautics) Synonym of skyhook (“tether for launching payloads into space”).


ghost flight

The ghost flights, defined as those with no passengers or less than 10% of passenger capacity, operated from all 32 airports listed in the data.

2022 February 22, Damian Carrington, “Almost 15,000 ‘ghost flights’ have left UK since pandemic began”, in The Guardian:

Airlines may be denying that they run ghost flights, but they're certainly able to operate them during travel bans: they don't have to cancel flights even if pandemic restrictions mean their passengers can no longer travel.

2022 May, Sarah Barrell, “Ghost Flights: Are Empty Planes Haunting Our Skies?”, in National Geographic Traveler, →ISSN, page 143:

(aviation) An empty or near-empty flight run by an airline to fulfill contractual obligations.

(aviation) A flight in which the aircraft continues to fly after incapacitation of the pilots or crew.


air marker

air markers (plural)
airmarker (alternative)

(aviation, historical) A large sign painted on a roof indicating directions and distances to assist pilots in navigating.


IMA

integrated modular avionics
w:integrated modular avionics

(aviation) Initialism of integrated modular avionics.


flight instrument

flight instrument (plural flight instruments)

(aviation, usually in the plural) A device that measures and displays data concerning one or more aspects of the situation of an aircraft, such as its altitude, attitude, airspeed, etc.


instrument approach

instrument approach (plural instrument approaches)

(aviation) An approach (pre-landing procedure) using flight instruments for some or all navigation to the landing airport and runway, as opposed to one flown solely by visual reference to the ground.


precision approach

precision approach (plural precision approaches)

(aviation) An instrument approach using a guidance system that provides guidance in the vertical as well as the horizontal plane, such as ILS, PAR, or GLS.


non-precision approach

non-precision approach (plural non-precision approaches)

non-precision approaches (plural)
nonprecision approach (alternative)

(aviation) An instrument approach using a guidance system that provides only horizontal, and not vertical, guidance (such as VOR, NDB, or localizer navigation), requiring the pilot to manually maintain terrain clearance by flying at a predefined safe altitude for each segment of the approach by reference to their altimeter.


hammerhead turn

hammerhead turn (plural hammerhead turns)

(aviation) A turnaround maneuver in aerobatics.


stall angle

(aviation) The critical angle; the angle of attack beyond which an airfoil stalls (loses lift and gains drag).


stall speed

From how attempting to slow below this speed by pulling back on the nose will cause the aircraft to stall.

The aircraft configuration was such that there was little or no warning of the stall onset. The inboard slats were extended, and therefore, the flow separation from the stall would be limited to the outboard segment of the left wing and would not be felt by the left horizontal stabilizer. There would be little or no buffet. The DFDR also indicated that there was some turbulence, which could have masked any aerodynamic buffeting. Since the roll to the left began at V₂ + 6 and since the pilots were aware that V₂ was well above the aircraft's stall speed, they probably did not suspect that the roll to the left indicated a stall. In fact, the roll probably confused them, especially since the stickshaker had not activated.

1979 December 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “Aircraft and Flightcrew Performance”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., DC-10-10, N110AA, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, May 25, 1979, archived from the original on 2022-08-17, page 54:

(aviation) The airspeed at which the lift generated by an aircraft flying with an angle of attack equal to the stall angle (the point of maximum lift for a given airspeed) is exactly equal to the aircraft's weight; the minimum airspeed at which it is possible to maintain level unaccelerated flight.


(aviation) Stall speed in landing configuration, with all high-lift devices (flaps and/or slats) extended.


high-lift device

high-lift device (plural high-lift devices)

(aviation) A mechanical device or control surface which, when deployed or activated, increases the lift generated by an aircraft, allowing it to fly at lower airspeeds.


scavenge pump

The scavenge pump is designed to remove the last amounts of usable fuel from the CWT and pump it into the left inboard (No. 2) fuel tank. The intake opening for this pump is located very close to the bottom of the tank between the mid spar and SWB2. Although the scavenge pump removes fuel that is unobtainable by the jettison/override pumps, a small amount of residual fuel will remain in the fuel tank that the scavenge pump is not able to remove (unusable fuel). In the 747 CWT, the jettison/override and scavenge pumps are mounted on the rear spar such that the pump motor is external to the tank but contains fuel-cooled windings.

2000 August 23, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.6.2.2 747-100 Fuel Pump System Description”, in Aircraft Accident Report: In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean, Trans World Airlines Flight 800, Boeing 747-131, N93119, Near East Moriches, New York, July 17, 1996, archived from the original on 2022-07-11, page 40:

(chiefly aviation) A fuel pump used to remove the last dregs of usable fuel from a fuel tank once the fuel level in the tank has fallen too low for the primary fuel pumps to be able to draw fuel from the tank.


dry bay

The compartment between SWB3 and the front spar was originally equipped with a bladder cell for water and plumbing to inject that water into the engines to increase engine thrust on takeoff. When the original engines were replaced with higher thrust engines, water for water injection was not needed, and the compartment between SWB3 and the front spar was converted to a dry bay. The accident airplane's water system had been deactivated, and the bladder cell and plumbing had been removed. In some later models of the 747 and in the military (E-4B) version, this dry bay has been modified to carry fuel.

2000 August 23, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.6.1.1 747-100 Wing Center Section and Center Wing Fuel Tank Description”, in Aircraft Accident Report: In-flight Breakup Over the Atlantic Ocean, Trans World Airlines Flight 800, Boeing 747-131, N93119, Near East Moriches, New York, July 17, 1996, archived from the original on 2022-05-04, page 16:

(aviation) An enclosed compartment immediately adjacent to a fuel tank but not itself used for fuel.


high-time

en-adj

high-time (comparative higher-time, superlative highest-time)

higher-time (comparative)
highest-time (superlative)

Boeing and the FAA conducted additional tests and research to further investigate why the rivets failed and what the possible repercussions of such a failure would be, including metallurgical examination of high-time bellcranks, material properties testing on old and new bellcranks, review of bellcrank failure rate data obtained from 767 operators, and examination of maintenance procedures to determine whether changes in procedures and/or intervals were warranted. The Safety Board monitored the FAA's and Boeing's tests and research into the bellcrank shear rivet failures.

2002 March 13, National Transportation Safety Board, “767 Bellcrank Anomalies”, in Aircraft Accident Brief: EgyptAir Flight 990, Boeing 767-366ER, SU-GAP, 60 Miles South of Nantucket, Massachusetts, October 31, 1999, archived from the original on 2022-05-11, page 18:

(mechanical engineering, especially aviation, of a vehicle or mechanical component) Having been in use for a (relatively) long time or a large number of operating cycles; nearing retirement or replacement age.


hot microphone

When the captain asked, "What's happening? What's happening?" at 0150:06, his words were not recorded by the hot microphone at the first officer's position; however, the hot microphone recorded the captain's subsequent remarks until it stopped recording cockpit conversation at 0150:25. (None of the relief first officer's comments during the accident sequence were recorded by the hot microphone. For additional information, see the section titled, "Audio Information Recorded by First Officer's Hot Microphone.")

2002 March 13, National Transportation Safety Board, “Events After the Command Captain Returned to the Cockpit”, in Aircraft Accident Brief: EgyptAir Flight 990, Boeing 767-366ER, SU-GAP, 60 Miles South of Nantucket, Massachusetts, October 31, 1999, archived from the original on 2022-05-11, page 62:

(electronics, especially aviation) A microphone that is activated (but not powered) by the sound of the user's voice, allowing it to pick up speech without having to be manually turned on, while still rejecting background noise unaccompanied by speech.


swept wing

(aviation) A wing that is angled backwards (or, occasionally, forwards) from its point of attachment to the fuselage, so that the wingtip is located further aft or forward than the wing root.


yaw damper

(aviation) A component of the flight control system of most swept-wing aircraft which suppresses the aircraft's natural Dutch roll tendency using carefully-timed automatic rudder inputs.


adverse yaw

(aviation) The phenomenon whereby rolling an aircraft to start a turn in one direction increases the drag on the upgoing wing on the outside of the turn, creating a tendency (especially at low airspeed and high angle of attack) for the aircraft to yaw out of the turn, and, instead, begin to turn in the direction opposite that desired.


wake turbulence

(aviation) The disturbances formed in the atmosphere behind an aircraft passing through the air, consisting primarily of a combination of wake vortices and jet blast or prop wash.


wake vortex

(aviation, aerodynamics) One of the paired vortices formed behind any heavier-than-air aircraft when producing lift, created by the velocity differential between the air being accelerated downwards by the wings (or other lifting surface), on the one hand, and the unaccelerated air beyond the aircraft's wingtips, on the other.


yo-yo despin

From the cables being wrapped around the spacecraft and unreeling in the manner of a double yo-yo.

(astronautics) A method of reducing the rotation rate of a rapidly-spinning spacecraft by unreeling a pair of weights from the spinning spacecraft, greatly increasing the spacecraft's moment of inertia and transferring most of the spacecraft's angular momentum to the weights.


yo-yo weight

(astronautics) One of the weights unreeled from a spacecraft during yo-yo despin to reduce the spacecraft's rotation rate.


yo-weight

By analogy with the paired yo-yo weights similarly unreeled in the course of yo-yo despin.

(astronautics) A weight unreeled from a discarded rocket stage to unbalance the stage and cause it to tumble, preventing the stage's residual thrust from causing it to ram the payload that discarded the stage.


tumble motor

(astronautics) A small rocket motor mounted to a rocket stage, which fires following staging in order to cause the discarded stage to tumble and prevent it from potentially ramming the spacecraft due to residual thrust.


vacuum airship

(aviation, astronautics) A hypothetical airship that is evacuated rather than filled with a lighter-than-air gas such as hydrogen or helium.


airport system

(aviation) A collection of airports, heliports or other aviation facilities that serve a particular location.


on the deck

The HAWK is one of the Army's newest air defense weapons. It is capable of carrying a modern warhead and of destroying attackers flying "on the deck" at such ranges as to insure effective protection of defended areas.

1961, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Services, Hearings ... on Sundry Legislation Affecting the Naval and Military Establishments (issues 10–32, page 1340)

The fighters were flying “on the deck” — as close to the water as possible — to avoid detection.

2008, Sydney Sharpe, Staying in the Game: The Remarkable Story of Doc Seaman, page 42:

(aviation) Flying at a very low altitude.


GCA

ground-controlled approach
ground-controlled approach#English

(aviation) Initialism of ground-controlled approach.


stopway

(aviation) A piece of land extending beyond the runway for use in case of an aborted takeoff.


eVTOL

(aviation) The electrified version of VTOL. Electric flight with vertical take-off and landing.


eSTOL

(aviation) The electrified version of STOL; electric flight with short take-off and landing.


eSTOVL

(aviation) The electrified version of STOVL; electric flight with short take-off and vertical landing.


eVSTOL

eVSTOLs (plural)
eV/STOL (alternative)
eSVTOL (alternative)
eS/VTOL (alternative)

(aviation) The electrified version of V/STOL. Electric flight with vertical or short take-off and landing.


CTOL

(aviation) Acronym of conventional take-off and landing (“taking off and landing horizontally from a conventional length runway in the usual distance”).


eCTOL

(aviation) The electrified version of CTOL. Electric flight for conventional take-off and landing aircraft.


BCAR

(aviation, UK) Abbreviation of British Civil Airworthiness Requirements.


LLWAS

en-noun

LLWAS (usually uncountable, plural LLWASes)

(aviation, meteorology) Initialism of low-level windshear alert system.


ANU

en-adj

ANU (comparative more ANU, superlative most ANU)

more ANU (comparative)
most ANU (superlative)

(aviation) Initialism of airplane nose up.


core lock

The lack of core rotation on the accident airplane engines was similar to the instances of core lock experienced by CF34 engines during Bombardier’s acceptance testing, except that the accident airplane engines were exposed to more severe thermal distress than the engines on the production airplanes. Specifically, the accident airplane’s engines flamed out from high power and high altitude, whereas the engines installed on the production airplanes were shut down only after their internal temperatures were stabilized.

2007 January 9, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.2.3 Double Engine Failure”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Crash of Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, Bombardier CL-600-2B19, N8396A, Jefferson City, Missouri, October 14, 2004, archived from the original on 2022-03-15, page 49:

(aviation, mechanical engineering) Seizure of a turbine engine due to misalignment and loss of clearance between stationary and rotating components, caused by different components cooling and contracting at different rates following engine shutdown or flameout.


core lock

en-verb

core lock (third-person singular simple present core locks, present participle core locking, simple past and past participle core locked)

core locks (present singular third-person)
core locking (participle present)
core locked (participle past)
core locked (past)

As testimony during the Safety Board’s June 2005 public hearing on the Pinnacle Airlines accident indicated, neither Bombardier nor GE considered core lock to be a safety-of-flight issue. The manufacturers claimed that engines that passed the screening procedure, with or without grind-in rework, would not core lock as long as the 240-knot airspeed was maintained.

2007 January 9, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.18.2 Core Lock”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Crash of Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, Bombardier CL-600-2B19, N8396A, Jefferson City, Missouri, October 14, 2004, archived from the original on 2022-03-15, page 37:

(aviation, mechanical engineering, of a turbine engine) To experience core lock.


core locked

Engines that are found to be core locked are reworked using an in-flight "grind-in" procedure that was designed to remove seal material at the interference location. Engines that undergo grind-in rework are then rescreened for core lock. The grind-in procedure is as follows [...]

(aviation, mechanical engineering) Affected by core lock.


air host

(UK, aviation) A male flight attendant; a steward.


air steward

(Malaysia, Singapore, aviation) A male flight attendant.


flight controller

en-noun

flight controller (plural flight controllers)

air traffic controller
air traffic controller#English


SEAD

(military, aviation) Acronym of suppression of enemy air defense(s).


roll the trucks

en-verb

roll the trucks (third-person singular simple present rolls the trucks, present participle rolling the trucks, simple past and past participle rolled the trucks)

rolls the trucks (present singular third-person)
rolling the trucks (participle present)
rolled the trucks (participle past)
rolled the trucks (past)

About 2211:04, the first officer contacted the ground controller to inform him that aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) was needed because of a cargo fire. The controller then confirmed that the first officer was reporting an aircraft fire and stated, about 2211:24, 'we're gonna roll the trucks right now.' Afterward, the pilots began the fire and evacuation checklist. The CVR recording ended about 2211:38.

2009 June 30, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.1 History of the Flight”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Ground Fire Aboard Cargo Airplane, ABX Air Flight 1611, Boeing 767-200, N799AX, San Francisco, California, June 28, 2008, archived from the original on 2022-06-22, page 3:

(aviation, slang, intransitive) To alert and deploy ARFF emergency vehicles to the scene of an aircraft accident, incident, or emergency landing on or near an airport.


KSLV

(astronautics) Initialism of Korean space launch vehicle.


EKV

(military, astronautics) Initialism of exoatmospheric kill vehicle, a missile warhead reentry vehicle intercept antimisssile, whose intercept zone lies beyond the atmosphere.


derich

derich (third-person singular simple present deriches, present participle deriching, simple past and past participle deriched)

deriches (present singular third-person)
deriching (participle present)
deriched (participle past)
deriched (past)

The fuel derich system on each engine protected against severe turbine over-temperature. If the engine's EGT indicator reached 860 degrees Celsius while the system was armed, the air/fuel ratio in the engine was automatically reduced (deriched).

2019 [2008], Richard H. Graham, Flying the SR-71 Blackbird: In the Cockpit on a Secret Operational Mission, Motorbooks International, →ISBN, page 62:

(aviation, rare) To make the air–fuel ratio (of a jet engine or a carburetor) leaner (less rich).


load factor

FDR data indicated that, about 0915:36, the airplane experienced a 0.04 G drop in longitudinal load factor, a 0.07 G shift to the left in lateral load factor, and about a 0.3 G drop in normal (vertical) load factor. The airplane performance study found that these excursions were consistent with a wake turbulence encounter.

2004 October 26, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.1 History of Flight”, in Aircraft Accident Report: In-Flight Separation of Vertical Stabilizer, American Airlines Flight 587, Airbus Industrie A300-605R, N14053, Belle Harbor, New York, November 12, 2001, archived from the original on 2022-06-03, page 3:

(aviation) The acceleration experienced by an aircraft along a given axis at a particular instant in time.


wetted area

en-noun

wetted area (usually uncountable, plural wetted areas)

(hydrodynamics) The total surface area of a vehicle which interacts with the fluid through which the vehicle travels.

(aviation) The total surface area of an aircraft.


(aviation, military, US, historical) The original designation of the Lockheed XF-90, redesignated in 1948.


(aviation, military, historical, US) The original designation of the Curtiss P-60.


XQ

Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie
w:Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie

(aviation, military, US, historical) The original designation of the Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie.


The load factor and engine N1 data fluctuations recorded on the FDR suggested that flight 587 encountered the wake of Japan Air Lines flight 47 for the second time between about 0915:50 and 0915:54 and that the motion of the airplane was affected by the wake vortex during this time.

2004 October 26, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.16.2.2 Flight 587 Simulation”, in Aircraft Accident Report: In-Flight Separation of Vertical Stabilizer, American Airlines Flight 587, Airbus Industrie A300-605R, N14053, Belle Harbor, New York, November 12, 2001, archived from the original on 2022-07-03, page 56:

(aviation) The rotational speed of the low-pressure spool of a multiple-spool gas turbine engine, expressed as a percentage of a certain reference rotational speed.


directional gyro

directional gyro (plural directional gyros)

/dəˈɹɛk.ʃɪ.nəl ˈd͡ʒaɪ.ɹoʊ/

(aviation) A gyroscopic flight instrument that provides heading information.


lunar hay fever

From lunar + hay fever. From having symptoms like hay fever, but occurring due to encounters with lunar contaminants. Coined by Harrison Schmitt in 1972, Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist, to describe the condition already previously encountered by earlier crews, and by his crew.

(pathology, astronautics, Apollo Program, informal) A condition caused by irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, from exposure to highly abrasive lunar dust.


bleed air

(aviation) Compressed air taken from the compressor stage of a gas turbine upstream of its fuel-burning sections.


RVR

runway visual range
w:runway visual range

(aviation, meteorology) Initialism of runway visual range.


NLV

(astronautics) Initialism of Nippon launch vehicle.


WEFT

(aviation) Acronym of wing(s), engine(s), fuselage(s), tail(s), a mnemonic for airplane identification, of most the most identifiable parts of the aeroplane, that can be used to distinguish one aircraft from another.


high yo-yo

When you have the airspeed advantage, you can execute a high yo-yo for increased maneuverability in a turn fight while conserving your energy. Now who's laughing?

2021 March 19, Bosnian Ape Society, 5:13 from the start, in Is Your Car Safe From Supermaneuverable Air-Defense Fighter Aircraft?, archived from the original on 2022-08-07:

(aviation, military) A dogfighting maneuver used by a rapidly-closing attacker to avoid an overshoot during a turn, involving pulling up into a climb to exchange airspeed for altitude and allow the attacker to make a slower, tighter turn and drop back down behind the defender.


low yo-yo

(aviation, military) A dogfighting maneuver used to increase the closure rate of the attacker during a turn, involving the attacker temporarily giving up some altitude to simultaneously increase airspeed and allow them to turn more steeply, enabling the attacker to cut across the defender's turn and catch up with the defender.


wet-leasing

The airline started wet-leasing its planes to carriers in Europe.

(aviation) The leasing of an airplane including crew, maintenance and insurance to another organisation, usually for a short period of time.


peak of eternal light

peak of eternal light (plural peaks of eternal light)

(space science) A mountain peak, on a solid, non-luminous celestial body, which experiences continuous or near-continuous illumination due to a combination of high altitude, very high latitude, and being on a celestial body with very low axial tilt.


crater of eternal darkness

crater of eternal darkness (plural craters of eternal darkness)

(space science) A crater or other depression, on a solid, non-luminous celestial body, the interior of which contains one or more points which lie in perpetual shadow due to a combination of high latitude and being on a celestial body with low axial tilt.


rolling takeoff

rolling takeoff (plural rolling takeoffs)

Correlation of the DFDR and CVR recordings disclosed that the flightcrew had set the flaps and stabilizer trim at 10° and about 5° aircraft noseup, respectively, for takeoff. A rolling takeoff was made, takeoff thrust was stabilized at 80 KIAS, and left rudder and right aileron were used to compensate for the right crosswind. The V₁ and V_R callouts were made about 2 sec after these speeds were recorded by the DFDR.

1979 December 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.11 Flight Recorders”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., DC-10-10, N110AA, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, May 25, 1979, archived from the original on 2022-08-17, page 4:

(aviation) A takeoff where the aircraft taxis into takeoff position and immediately starts to accelerate for takeoff, without stopping on the runway.


balloon tender

observation balloon
observation balloon#English

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to support operations of a balloon or dirigible, particularly observation balloon operations


balloon carrier

balloon carrier (plural balloon carriers)

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to support carry a balloon or dirigible, and support its operation; particularly observation balloon operations


airship tender

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to support operations of a blimp or dirigible.


airship carrier

airship carrier (plural airship carriers)

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to carry, deploy, and support the operations of a blimp or dirigible.


OSIRIS-REx

(astronomy, NASA) Initialism of Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission.


elephant walk

From elephant + walk. Coined in the United States Air Force during World War 2, in reference to the appearance of large numbers of taxiing heavy bombers.

(US, military aviation) The taxiing of multiple aircraft in close formation before a mass take-off.


heavy bomber

(military aviation) A large, long-range bomber, capable of carrying a heavy payload.


Schnellbomber

/ˈʃnɛlˌbɑmɚ/

Unadapted borrowing from German Schnellbomber, from schnell (“fast”) + Bomber (“bomber”).

ubor

(military aviation, historical) A type of German World War 2 bomber designed to outrun fighters as part of its defensive capability.


RSVM

(aviation) Initialism of reduced vertical separation minima (practice of reducing vertical separation when flying).


AWOS

(aviation) Acronym of automated weather observing system.


sUAS

To maximize the fidelity of the CFD wind simulation described in section 1.10.3, NTSB investigators conducted a mapping mission using an sUAS to obtain the imagery necessary to produce an accurate, photogrammetric 3-D model of the hangar, other buildings, and terrain near the area where the airplane was parked.

2019 February 14, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.13 Effective New Investigation Techniques”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Runway Overrun During Rejected Takeoff, Ameristar Air Cargo, Inc., dba Ameristar Charters, flight 9363, Boeing MD-83, N786TW, Ypsilanti, Michigan, March 8, 2017, archived from the original on 2022-07-02, page 46:

(aviation) Initialism of small unmanned aircraft system.


oblique wing

(aviation) A variable geometry wing concept, where the wing is designed to rotate on center pivot, so that one tip is swept forward while the opposite tip is swept aft.


oblique shock

(aerodynamics) A shock wave that, unlike a normal shock, is inclined with respect to the incident upstream flow direction.


ram air turbine

en-noun

ram air turbine (plural ram air turbines)

(aviation) A small wind turbine mounted on an aircraft and used to generate electrical or hydraulic power from the force of air moving past the aircraft.


power dive

(aeronautics) A steep dive in an aircraft accelerated by an engine delivering thrust at or near full power.


power-egg

(aeronautics) A complete unitized modular engine installation, consisting of engine and all ancillary equipment, which can be swapped between suitably designed equipment.


payload specialist

payload specialist (plural payload specialists)

(astronautics) an astronaut selected and trained for specific space flights, usually responsible for handling complex equipment onboard and conducting experiments and researches


precount

(aerospace) The period and procedures taken before a countdown.


XLR

(aviation) Initialism of extra long range.


VFR direct

(aviation) While flying under visual flight rules, finding one's own route without formal reliance on navigation aids, defined fixes, or the like.


T/D

The pilots landed at the airport after reaching their T/D

(aviation) Initialism of top of descent.


aircoach

Aircoaches are big money-makers for the five or six airlines that use them. They do a near-capacity business on midnight runs for passengers who don't mind the night-flying and who like the lower prices.

1949, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, volume 3, number 9, page 4:

Does Eastern Airlines, for instance, put the same number of seats in their aircoaches that you do, in the same type aircraft?

1956, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Civil Air Policy, page 415:

(aviation) An airliner offering relatively cheap but cramped passenger flights.

an Ireland-based company providing express coach services to airports


airstop

(aviation) A designated landing site for helicopters.


mass driver

(astronautics) A proposed kind of electromagnetic catapult that could be used for space launches without the need for a rocket.


tailskid

(aviation) A piece of metal or wood used, like a tailwheel, to support the tail of an aircraft on the ground.


AEW&C

(US, aviation, military) Initialism of airborne early warning and control.


static port

(aviation) A port on the side or belly of an airplane, used to measure the ambient air pressure for determination of altitude.


line abreast

(nautical, military, aviation, of ships or aircraft) Arranged or proceeding side-by-side.


truck beam

[A Boeing 777 main landing gear assembly] comprises a shock strut, at the top of which is the MLG trunnion; at the lower end is a truck beam with three axles and six wheels. The truck beam rotates in pitch about a pivot at the base of the shock strut and a truck position actuator tilts the truck when the aircraft is airborne.

2010 February 9, Air Accidents Investigation Branch, “1.6.13 Landing gear”, in Report on the accident to Boeing 777-236ER, G-YMMM, at London Heathrow Airport on 17 January 2008, archived from the original on 2022-04-12, page 28:

(aviation) A fore-and-aft horizontal beam at the lower end of the gear strut of a multi-axle landing gear bogie, upon which are mounted the multiple axles of the bogie.


Shkadov thruster

Shkadov thruster (plural Shkadov thrusters)

Named after Soviet engineer Dr. Leonid Shkadov, who first proposed it.

named-after

(astronautics, space science) A hypothetical megastructure consisting of a gargantuan statite used to redirect the radiation pressure of a star, generating a net thrust which slowly accelerates the whole system in the direction of the statite.


CMCA

cruise missile carrier aircraft
cruise missile carrier aircraft#English

(military, aviation) Initialism of cruise missile carrier aircraft (“a cargoplane loaded with cruise missiles, that are dropped out the rear cargo door to launch while airborne”).


MIPCC

mass injection and pre-compressor cooling technology#English

(aviation) Initialism of mass injection and pre-compressor cooling technology, a type of water injection cooling for jet engines.


arsenal plane

(military, aviation) A cargoplane filled with munitions, that are deployed when airborne by dropping them out the rear door, and having the weapons perform any necessary targetting and maneuvering by themselves.


wild weasel

Genericization of the codename Wild Weasel of the first aircraft tasked with the anti-SAM role in the USAF during the Vietnam War. From the dancing of weasels in the wild and their behavior of hunting snakes, contrasted with the maneuvering of the wild weasel aircraft and their hunting of SAMs.

surface-to-air missile
surface-to-air missile

anti-radiation missile
anti-radiation missile

(US, military, aviation) An attack airplane specialized for attacking anti-aircraft defenses (AADs), typically surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites and radar control stations, typically with anti-radiation missiles (ARMs).


combat air patrol

en-noun

combat air patrol (plural combat air patrols)

(military, aviation) A patrolling force of fighter aircraft tasked with covering and screening a friendly asset (such as an aircraft carrier or a flight of bombers) in order to defend it from incoming hostile aircraft.


air denial

(military, aviation) A situation in aerial warfare wherein one's air force is significantly outmatched in the air by an enemy air force, but is nevertheless able to contest control of the air and prevent the enemy from achieving air supremacy.

(military, aviation) The strategies used by the weaker air force in this situation.


lockpin

The pulling force exerted by the arms will then cause the spring-loaded lockpin retract collar to contact two fiberglass catches in the receptacle.

1970, US Bureau of Naval Personnel, Aviation Structural Mechanic E 1 & C., page 270:

The lockpin housing contains a bushing for the parking lockpin mechanism and a bonded nylon strap.

1989, US Department of the Army, Aviation Unit and Intermediate Maintenance Manual, page 3-54:

These safety lockpins, when engaged, prevent the main locking pins from disengaging, regardless of hydraulic pressure.

2008, US Navy, Grumman F6F Hellcat Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions, →ISBN, page 16:

(chiefly aviation) A pin used to lock a mechanism and prevent it from moving.


piddle pack

(aviation, aerospace) A urine collection device used as a toilet by the crew of an aircraft or spacecraft.


innage

(aeronautics) The amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tanks of an aircraft following a flight.


bringback

en-adj

bringback (comparative more bringback, superlative most bringback)

more bringback (comparative)
most bringback (superlative)

(military, aviation) Pertaining to return payload weight for aircraft from aircraft carriers.


alternate aerodrome

en-noun

alternate aerodrome (plural alternate aerodromes)

alternate aerodromes (plural)
alternate airport (alternative US)
alternate airfield (alternative)

If an emergency landing is made elsewhere than at an international aerodrome or a designated alternate aerodrome, the pilot in command shall report the landing as promptly as possible by telephone or most convenient means to the nearest Customs office.

1979 January, “Regulations Concerning Airport Use”, in United States of America Aeronautical Information Publication:

An aircraft operated in IFR flight shall carry an amount of fuel that is sufficient to allow the aircraft [...] where an alternate aerodrome is specified in the flight plan or flight itinerary, to fly and execute an approach and a missed approach at the destination aerodrome, to fly and land at the alternate aerodrome and then to fly for a period of 45 minutes [...]

2022, A. J. D. Fafard, “Pre-flight and Fuel Requirements”, in Canadian Air Law for Pilots:

(aviation) An aerodrome to which a flight may proceed if landing at the intended destination becomes impossible or inadvisable.


downpointer

During one session , the subject used a canopy-mounted downpointer to estimate position in space relative to the ground, and in the other session the subject used a joystick-controlled, inside-out, aircraft attitude indicator.

1989, Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine, page 492:

(aviation) An indicator that points toward the ground.


exhaust velocity

exhaust velocity (plural exhaust velocities)

The lighter the molecules, the higher will be the exhaust velocity; and we already know from the rocket equation that the exhaust velocity is the most important measure of an engine's performance.

2004, Martin J. L. Turner, Expedition Mars, Springer Science & Business, →ISBN, page 134:

(aeronautics) The speed with which the exhaust gases leave the rocket engine.


super light

(aviation) An aircraft classification above light and below submid.

(aviation) An aircraft fitting that class


TIS-B

(aviation) Abbreviation of broadcast traffic information system.


ADS-R

automatic dependent surveillance - rebroadcast#English

(aviation) rebroadcast ADS: Initialism of automatic dependent surveillance - rebroadcast (“rebroadcasting of ADS automated transmission of GPS location information from an aircraft via an ADS station”).


HAF

(military, aviation) Abbreviation of Hellenic Air Force The air force of Greece.

(military, aviation) Abbreviation of Honduran Air Force The air force of Honduras.

Headquarters, Air Force
w:Headquarters, United States Air Force

(US, military, aviation) Abbreviation of Headquarters, Air Force (United States Air Force Headquarters) The general staff bureau of the United States Air Force.


UHB

UHB (countable and uncountable, plural UHBs)

(aviation) Abbreviation of ultrahigh bypass jet engine (“propfan”).


PLAAF

People's Liberation Army Air Force
w:People's Liberation Army Air Force

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China#English

(aviation, military) Abbreviation of People's Liberation Army Air Force The national air force of the People's Republic of China.


Black Tulip

Black Tulips (plural)
black tulip (alternative)

black+tulip. Calque of Russian Чёрный тюльпан (Čórnyj tjulʹpan). From the use of the aircraft as a means to repatriate corpses of fallen soldiers. From the use of black tulips and other flowers to border obituaries. Originating as a nickname used by Soviet aircrews of the repatriation transport missions during the Afghan War, and popularized by Alexander Rezenbaum in a popular Soviet song, before migrating into English.

calque

Чёрный тюльпан

(military, aviation) Synonym of Antonov An-12 (“Soviet-era turboprop cargoplane”).


FLI

en-noun

FLI (countable and uncountable, plural FLIs)

(aviation) Initialism of first limit indicator.


AFTS

(astronautics) Initialism of autonomous/automated/automatic flight termination system. A self-activating self-destruct system found on rockets


AFSS

(astronautics) Initialism of autonomous/automated/automatic flight safety system. A self-activating self-destruct system found on rockets


course-correct

en-verb

course-correct (third-person singular simple present course-corrects, present participle course-correcting, simple past and past participle course-corrected)

course-corrects (present singular third-person)
course-correcting (participle present)
course-corrected (participle past)
course-corrected (past)

A back-formation from course correction.

(transitive, aviation, nautical) To alter the current course of an aircraft or other vessel to ensure it is directed towards the intended destination.


chiefie

And did you know the Chiefie said that one of our kites went in the drink last night?

Avoiding the Taceval man's gaze the 'chiefie' winked and pulled a face.

2017, Richard Pike, Phantom Boys, volume 2:


Frise aileron

Developed by Leslie George Frise (1897–1979) of the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

(aviation) A kind of aileron that pivots on an offset hinge when pressure is applied to the control wheel or control stick, so as to project the leading edge of the aileron into the airflow and generate drag.