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Click here to view Definitions of Aircraft Options

A
AC - Advisory circular.
A/C - Airconditioning Unit
ACARS - Airline communications and reporting system.
AD - Airworthiness Dirctive. Maintenance or modification ordered by FAA.
ADC - Air Data Computer
ADF - Automatic Direction Finder
ADI - Attitude direction indicator
ADS - Automatic dependent surveillance.
AES - Aircraft Earth station.
AFCS - Automatic flight control system.
AFD - Adaptive flight displays.
AFDS - Autopilot flight director system.
AFIS - Automated flight information system (AlliedSignal)
AHRS - Attitude-heading reference system.
AI - Altitude indicator
aileron - A small hinged portion of an airplane's wing, used to make an airplane roll, or turn around its long axis.
air data - Values cmputed from pitot, static and temperature measurements, usually by means of a digital computer; ARINC 575 defines outputs.
airfoil - A surface, such as an airplane wing, shaped to produce more lift than resistance when driven through the air.
All-weather fighter - A radar-equipped jet fighter airplane which can operate at night or in the worst weather.
All-weather interceptor - A radar-equipped jet fighter airplane which can operate at night or in the worst weather.
AM - Amplitude modulation.
AME - Aviation Medical Examiner (U.S.)
AMLCD - Active-matrix liquid crystal display.
Annual - Mandatory inspection of airframe and powerpland that occurs every 12 months.
AOA - Angle-of-attack
AP - Auto Pilot
APR - Auxiliary Power Reserve
APU - Auxiliary power unit
ARINC - Aeronautical Radio, Inc. A nonprofit corporation owned by member airlines to define form, fit and function of avionics equipment and to provide radio communication services.
ARINC 419 - Digital information transfer characteristics as applied in ARINC 500-series equipment specifications.
ARINC 547 - Digital specification for ILS reference sensors.
ARINC 561 - Inertial navigation system specifications.
ARINC 568 - Inertial sensor DME reference specification.
ARINC 571 - Inertial sensor attitude-heading reference system specifications.
ARINC 575 - Digital air-data system specifications.
ARINC 700-series - All-digital equipment specifications for new-generation transport category aircraft.
ARINC 743 - All-digital specificaitons for FANS-1 compatibilty.
ASA - Autoland status annunciator.
ASCB - Avionics standard communication bus (Honeywell)
A/T - Auto throttle.
ATC - Air Traffic Control. The people in control towers (at airports that have them) to regulate takeoffs, landings, and planes moving through their general area.
ATI and ATR - ARINC from factors.
ATM - Air traffic management.
ATP - Airline Transport Pilot (the "highest" grade of pilot certificate)
Audio Panel - Electronic device used to switch between radios.
Autogyro - An aircraft equipped with a rotating wing, or rotor, to sustain itself in the air, and a propeller to move forward.
AUX Fuel - Auxiliary fuel tanks.
AWACS - Airborne Warning And Control System. An electronically very souped-up Boeing 707. [Pronounced ``AY-wax.'']

B
Barnstormer - A pilot who, in the early years of aviation, gave airplane rides to people and performed aerobatics for a fee.
Basic Operating Weight (BOW)
Empty weight typically equipped + unusable fuel and trapped liquids + 2 pilots (400 lbs.) + supplies.
BCD - Binary coded decimal.
Beam width - The included angle of a weather radar interrogation signal.
Bendix - Avionics mfgr.
BITE - Built-in test equipment.
Bleed Air - High pressure air ducted from engine to pressurize cabin and other uses.
Boeing -``The Boeing Company, with headquarters in Seattle, Washington, U.S., is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial airplanes and one of the nation's largest exporters. The company is a major U.S. government contractor, with capabilities in space systems, helicopters, military airplanes, missile systems, information and electronic systems and software products.''
Boots - Inflatable device on leading edge of wings and tail. Used to remove ice.
Bracing wire - A solid steel wire used to support the structure of an airplane's wings or fuselage.
BRG - Bearing.
BSU - Beam steering unit.

C
CAB - Civilian Aviation Board.
Cabin pressurization - A mechanism used to maintain air pressure in an airplane's sealed cabin at a level suitable for passengers.
Canard - An airplane designed to have its normal horizontal tail surface on the front rather than the rear of its fuselage.
Caster - To swivel or rotate slightly.
Category I (CAT I) - An ILS facility providing operation down to a 200 foot decision height and an RVR of not less than 2,400 feet.
Category II (CAT II) - An ILS facility providing operation down to a 100-foot decision height and an RVR of not less than 1,200 feet.
Category IIIa (CAT IIIa) - An ILS facility providing operation with no decision height to and along the surface of the runway with external visual reference during the final phase of landing and with an RVR of not less than 7000 feet.
Category IIIb (CAT IIIb) - An ILS facility providing operation with no decision height limit to and along the surface of the runway without reliance on external visual reference and, subsequently, taxiing with an external RVR of not less than 150 feet.
Category IIIc (CAT IIIc) - An ILS facility providing operation with no decision height limit to and alsont the surface of the runway and taxiways without reliance on external visual reference.
CAVU - Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited. Perfect flying weather -- no major clouds, no major haze.
CD-ROM - Compact disc read-only memory.
CDU - Control-display unit.
Centre-pod configuration - A type of airplane whose fairly short fuselage is not connected to the tail surfaces.
CESC - Cescom Maintenance Program.
CFI - Certified Flight Instructor.
CMOS - Complementary metal oxide semiconductor.
CMU - Communications management unit.
CNS - Communications, navigation and surveillance.
Coherent detection - A technique used in certain ADF receivers to improve useful range.
Collins - Avionics mfgr.
COM - Communications.
Comosite video - Analog VOR receiver output before processing.
CONT - Teledyne-Continental (engine mfgr.)
Contact digitizer - A mechanical device that converts analog information to digital codes by means of electrical contacts.
Cowling - A removable metal covering placed over and around an airplane's engine(s).
C/R - Counter-rotating propellers.
Cross-over exhaust - A mechanism through which the exhaust from one side of an inline engine is carried to the other.
CRT - Cathode ray tube.
CSDB - Commercial standard data bus.
CVR - Cockpic Voice Recorder. Device that records crew conversations. Used in accident investigations.
CW - Continuous wave. A radio carrier broadcast that does not have modulation.
Cycles - Pertaining to turbine engines. Cycle begins with starting, continues through full-power, and ends with shutdown.

D
DA - Drift angle.
DADC - Digital air-data computer.
dB - Decibel.
DG - Directional gyro.
DGPS - Differential global positioning system. LA- prefix refers to local area DGPS; WA- prefix refers to wide-area DGPS signal retransmission schemes.
Digitizer - Any electronic device capable of converting information to a digital format; usually refers to encoding devices that convert sensed altitude into a transponder code.
DME - Distance Measuring Equipment.
DP - Deal Pending.
DR - Ded (deduced) reckoning.
drms - Distance root mean squared.
DTK - Desired track.
DTU - Data transfer unit.
Duplex - Separate channels for transmitting and receiving.

E
EAROM - Electrically alterable read-only memory, a type of digital memory device.
EEPROM - Electrically erasable programmable read-only-memory.
EEVIP - Early Extended Validation Integration Program. An FAA program, first implemented for the Boeing 777, to give ``out-of-the-box'' ETOPS clearance to a new plane, rather than waiting for a couple of years of domestic service experience.
EFIS - Electronic Flight Instrument System
EGT - Exhaust gas temperature indicator.
EICAS - Engine indicating and crew alerting system.
Elevator - A small control surface hinged to the rear of the horizontal stabilizer and used to tilt an airplane up or down.
encal - Encoding Altimeter
Encoder - Displays aircraft's altitiude on ground-based radar screens.
Engine cowl - A removable metal covering placed over and around an airplane's engine.
EROS - Brand Name for Oxygen Mask
ETOPS - Extended Twin-engine operations. FAA designation of over-ocean flights far from possible emergency landing strips, in which the possibility of engine failure in a twin-engine plane represents a heightened risk. ETOPS certification is not normally given to a new passenger aircraft until it has been in regular domestic service for at least a year.

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