ACAS
Acronym of airborne collision avoidance system.
Aviation maintenance
479 entries in this trade.
advance angle
In helicopters, the mechanically fixed angle between the main rotor blades' pitch control horns and the swashplate when the blades are not leading or lagging.
aerial
adjectiveAviation maintenance
Pertaining to a vehicle which travels through the air; airborne; relating to or conducted by means of aircraft.
aerobatics
The practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights.
aerobraking
The use of atmospheric drag to reduce the velocity of a spacecraft, especially so as to establish a stable orbit and to reduce fuel consumption.
aerocapture
A form of aerobraking in which a spacecraft uses atmospheric drag to decelerate from a hyperbolic trajectory into a closed orbit, eliminating the need for a large orbital-insertion burn and requiring only small correction burns to raise the spacecraft's periapsis out of the atmosphere.
air corridor
A predefined route, or series of routes, in which a commercial or military aircraft must fly.
air hostess
A female flight attendant; a stewardess.
air-to-air
adjectiveAviation maintenance
With the participants being two or more aircraft in flight.
airbrake
A movable control surface that extends to increase drag without affecting lift (unlike a spoiler); a device that provides aerodynamic braking.
airbreathing
adjectiveAviation maintenance
Using the air from the atmosphere for combustion
Airbus
A European multinational commercial aircraft manufacturer.
aircraft station
A radio station broadcast from an aircraft.
airfield
An open field designated for the taking off and landing of aircraft, but which, unlike an airport, does not necessarily have terminals or paved runways.
airship
A lighter-than-air aircraft that can be propelled forward through the air as well as steered.
airspeed
The speed of an aircraft relative to the air through which it is flying.
airspeed indicator
An instrument that displays an aircraft's current airspeed.
alien reproduction vehicle
A purported advanced craft theorized to be built by humans using technology that mimics or is inspired by supposed extraterrestrial vehicles.
Alma
Nonstandard form of ALMA, acronym of Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
alpha hinge
On rotorcraft, a hinge perpendicular to the plane of rotor rotation about which the blades trail or lag.
anhedral
the downward slope of an aircraft’s wing
anteorbital
adjectiveAviation maintenance
Referring to the period before orbit is achieved.
Apollo
A United States space program, and the vehicles it created, used for human travel to the moon.
approach
The way an aircraft comes in to land at an airport.
apron
The paved area of an airport, especially the area where aircraft park away from a terminal.
area rule
A rule stating that an airplane designed with the same cross-sectional area distribution in the longitudinal direction as the Sears-Haack body generates the same wave drag as this body, largely independent of the actual shape; used in aerodynamics to reduce drag, typically by narrowing the fuselage at the wing roots.
Artemis
A United States space program, and the associated vehicles, used for human travel to the Moon in the 2020s. (See Artemis program on Wikipedia.)
artificial horizon
An instrument that displays the pitch and roll of an aircraft in flight by comparing its attitude to a gyroscopically-maintained indication of the flat horizon line.
astrionics
The science dealing with the application of electronics to astronautics.
Atlas
An SM-65, an early ICBM, soon developed into a long-lived orbital launch vehicle series.
ATO
Acronym of assisted take-off.
avionic
adjectiveAviation maintenance
of, or relating to avionics (aviation electronics)
avionics
The science and technology of the development and use of electrical and electronic devices in aviation.
backout
A reversed countdown (i.e. ascending numbers) in response to problems leading up to a launch.
backtrack
To taxi down an active runway in the opposite direction to that being used for takeoff.
balloon
Of an aircraft: to plunge alternately up and down.
bandit
An aircraft identified as an enemy, but distinct from "hostile" or "threat" in that it is not immediately to be engaged.
batsman
An officer who used a pair of hand-held bats to signal to aircraft as they came in to land on the flight deck.
bingo
Just sufficient to return to base (or, alternatively, to divert to an alternative airfield). (also written Bingo or BINGO)
blabbermouth
A kind of foam-dispensing nozzle used in firefighting at airports.
black box
A flight recorder; the brightly colored cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders in an aircraft designed to aid in determining the cause of an accident.
black hole
A dangerous optical illusion that can occur on a nighttime approach with dark, featureless terrain between the aircraft and a brightly-lit runway, where the aircraft appears to the pilots to be higher up than it actually is, potentially triggering a premature or overly-steep descent and a crash short of the runway.
blimp
An airship constructed with a nonrigid lifting agent container.
blush
Of dope or varnish: to develop an undesirable white precipitate on the surface, due to being applied in humid conditions.
boilerplate
adjectiveAviation maintenance
Used to refer to a non-functional spacecraft used to test configuration and procedures.
bounce
To land hard and lift off again due to excess momentum.
buffet
The vibration of an aircraft when flying in or approaching a stall, caused by separation of airflow from the aircraft's wings.
bug
A manually positioned marker in flight instruments.
burn
The firing of a spacecraft's rockets in order to change its course.
buzz
To fly at high speed and at a very low altitude over (an area), as to make a surprise pass.
C3PO
Initialism of Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office.
cabin
The section of a passenger plane having the same class of service.
cabré
adjectiveAviation maintenance
With the nose up and the tail down.
CAM
Initialism of cockpit area microphone.
canard
A type of aircraft in which the primary horizontal control and stabilization surfaces are in front of the main wing.
cannula
A hose or tube that connects directly from an oxygen bottle or other source to the user's nose, commonly used by aircraft pilots or others needing direct oxygen breathing apparatus.
Canuck
The Avro Canada CF-100 fighter-interceptor aircraft, in use between 1952 and 1981.
CAPCOM
Clipping of capsule communicator; a NASA position, the liaison between an in-space crew and mission control.
capsule
A detachable part of a rocket or spacecraft (usually in the nose) containing the crew's living space.
captain
A rank qualifying an airline pilot to act as pilot in command of a two-pilot flight crew.