Aviation Acronyms and Abbreviations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the acronyms and abbreviation. All trademarks or product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

- A -

A Autotuned NAVAID

A At or Above (constrained altitude)

AA American

AAATS Australian Advanced Air Traffic Services

AAC Aeronautical Administration Communication (a class of communication which supports administrative communication)

AAS Advanced Automation System (the end systems for all FAA air traffic control, located at the ARTCCs)

AATT Advanced Aviation Transportation Technology

ABM Abeam

A/C Aircraft

AC Air Canada

ACARS Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System

ACARS ARINC communications and address reporting system (digital communications system used primarily for aircraft-to-airline messages)

ACARS MU ACARS Management Unit

ACAS Airborne Collision and Avoidance System

ACF Area Control Facility

ACFS Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator (a generic "glass cockpit")

ACK Acknowledge

ACMS Aircraft Condition Monitoring System

ACT Active

ADC Air Data Computer

ADF Automatic Direction Finder

ADI Attitude Director lndicator

ADLP Aircraft Data Link Processor (the Mode S subnetwork function onboard the aircraft that implements the OSI network layer protocols)

ADMA Aviation Distributors and Manufactureres Association

ADS Automatic Dependent Surveillance

AECB Atomic Energy Control Board

AERA Automated Enroute ATC

AFCS Automatic Flight Control System

AFDS Autopilot Flight Director System (also A/P F/D)

AFS Automatic Flight System

AGATE Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments

AGL Above Ground Level

AHRS Attitude Heading Reference System

AIRS Advanced Infrared Sounder

A/l Anti-ice

AI Artificial Intelligence

AL Allegheny

Alert Indicator (visual or auditory) which provides information to the flightcrew in a timely manner about an event requiring pilot awareness.

ALPA Air Line Pilots Association

ALT Altitude

ALT Alternate

ALTN Alternate

ALT HOLD Altitude Hold Mode

AM Amplitude Modulation

AM Aeromexico

AMSS Aeronautical Mobile Satellite Service

ANA All Nippon Airways

AOA Angle-of-Attack

AOA Airport Operations Area

AOC Aeronautical Operation Control (communications which support safety and regularity of flight that normally take place between aircraft and the operator)

AOCS Attitude and Orbit Control System

AOM Aircraft Operating Manual

AOPA Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

A/P Autopilot

APA Allied Pilots Association

APC Aeronautical Passenger Communication (a class of communication which supports passenger communication)

APMS Automated Performance Measurement System

APPR Approach/Approach Mode

APR April

APRT Airport

APU Auxiliary Power Unit

AQP Advanced Qualification Program

ARAC Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee

ARINC Aeronautical Radio Incorporated

ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency

ARR Arrival

ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center

ARTS Automated Radar Terminal System

ASCII American Standard Code for Interface and Interchange

ASI Air Speed Indicator

ASR Airport Surveillance Radar

ASRS Aviation Safety Reporting System (aviation incident reporting system run by NASA for FAA)

AT At (an altitude)

A/T Autothrottle

ATA Air Transport Association

ATA Actual Time of Arrival

ATC Air Traffic Control (a generic term for a joint civil/military system for controlling traffic within a specific area)

ATCS Advanced Train Control Systems

ATCSCC Air Traffic Control System Command Center

ATHR Autothrust System

ATIS Automatic Terminal Information Service (recorded voice message that provides weather and airport services information)

ATM Air Transportation Management

ATN Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (the collection of ground subnetworks, air/ground subnetworks and airborne subnetworks interconnected by ATN routers that support computer-to-computer, internetwork communication and message transfer between host computers using the OSI ISO protocol architecture)

ATS Automatic Throttle System

ATSC Air Traffic Service Communications (Communications related to air traffic services. This includes ATC, aeronautical and meteorological information, position reporting and services related to safety and regularity of flight)

AUG August

AV Avianca

AVAIL Available

AVHRR Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer

AWACS Airborne Warning And Control System

AWAS Automated Weather Advisory Station

AWIPS Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System

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- B -

B At or Below (constrained altitude)

BALPA British Air Line Pilots Association

BASIS British Airways Safety Information System

BF MarkAir

BIT(E) Built-ln-Test (Equipment)

BRG Bearing

BRT Brightness

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- C -

C Centigrade

CAA Civil Aviation Authority (Great Britain)

CAB Civil Aeronautics Board

CAAC Civil Aviation Authority of China

CAS Calibrated (Computed) Air Speed

CASE Computer Aided Software Engineering

CAT Clear Air Turbulence

CAT Computer Aided Testing

CAT I Facility providing operation down to 200 feet decision height and runway visual range not less than 2600 feet.

CAT II Facility providing operation down to 100 feet decision height and runway visual range not less than 1200 feet.

CAT II a Facility providing operation with no decision height limit to and along the surface of the runway with external visual reference during final phase of landing and with a runway visual range not less than 700 feet.

CBT Computer Based Training

CDI Course Deviation Indicator

CDU Control display unit (pilots' interface to the FMS)

CDTI Cockpit Display of Traffic Information

CENA Centred' Études de la Navigation Aérienne (France)

CFIT Controlled Flight Into Terrain

CG Center of Gravity

CGS Centimeter-gram-second

Cl Cost Index

CI China Airlines

CIT Compressor Inlet Temperature

CLB Climb Detent of the Thrust Levers

CLR Clear

CMC Central Maintenance Computer

CNS Communications Navigations and Surveillance

CO Continetnal

COM Cockpit Operating Manual

CON Continuous

CO ROUTE Company Route (also CO RTE)

COTR Contracting Officer's Technical Representative

COTS Commercial Off The Shelf

CP Control Panel

CPCS Cabin Pressure Control System

CPDLC Controller Pilot Datalink Communications

CPU Central Processing Unit

CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

CRITTER Civil Rotorcraft IFR Terminal-Area Technology Enhancement Research

CRM Cockpit Resource Management

CRM Crew Research Management

CRS Course

CRT Cathode Ray Tube

CRZ Cruise

CSD Constant Speed Drive

CTA Controlled-Time of Arrival

CTA Control Area (ICAO Term)

CTAS Center TRACON Automation System

CTC Centralized Train Central

CTR Center

CTR Civil Tilt Rotor

CTRL Control

CVSRF Crew-Vehicle Simulation Research Facility (NASA Ames)

CWS Control Wheel Steering

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- D -

D Derated

DA Descent Advisor

DBS Direct Broadcast Satellite

DE-TO PR Derated Takeoff Engine Pressure Ratio

D-TO Nl Derated Takeoff Engine Fan Speed

DADC Digital Air Data Computer

DATALINK Digitized Information Transfer (air/ground)

DC Direct Current Electricity

D/D Drift Down

DEC December

DEC Digital Equipment Corporation

DECR Decrement

DEL Delete

DEP Departure

DES Descent

DEST Destination

DEV Deviation

DFDAU Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit

DFDR Digital Flight Data Recorder

DFGS/C Digital Flight Guidance System/Computer

DFW Dallas Fort Worth International Airport

DGPS Differential GPS

DH Decision Height

DIR Direct

DIR/INTC Direct Intercept

DIS Distance

DISCR Discrepancy

DIST Distance

DL Delta

DLP Data Link Processor (the FAA's ground automation system that supports the Mode S subnetwork (GDLP), internetwork (ATN router) and non-ATC data link application processes)

DLR German Aerospace Research Establishment

DME Distance Measuring Equipment (ground navigational aid that can provide display of distance to selected ground navigational radio transmitter)

DMU Data Management Unit

DNTKFX DownTrack Fix

DOT Department of Transportation

DOD Department of Defense

DRU Data Retrival Unit

DSPY Display (annunciation on CDU)

DTG Distance-to-go

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- E -

E East

EADI Electronic Attitude Director Indicator

EAS Equivalent Airspeed

ECAM Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor

ECON Economy (minimum cost speed schedule)

ECS Environmental Control System

E/D End-of-Descent

EDF Electricité de France

EEC Electronic Engine Control

EFC Expected Further Clearance

EFIS Electronic Flight Instrument System

EGT Exhaust Gas Temperature

EHSI Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator

EICAS Engine Indicating Crew Alerting System

EIU Electronic Interface Unit

ELT Emergency Locator Transmitter

EMP Electromagnetic Pulse

EMS Emergency Medical Services

ENG Engine

E/O Engine-Out

EPR Engine Pressure Ratio

EPROM Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

EST Estimated

ETA EstimatedTime of Arrival

ETX End of Transmission

EXEC Execute

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- F -

F Fahrenheit

FA Final Approach

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FADEC Full Authority Digital Engine Control

FAIL FMC Fail

Failure The inability of a system, subsytem, unit or part to perform within previously specified limits.

FAF Final Approach Fix

FANS Future Air Navigation Systems

FAR Federal Aviation Regulations (federal rules under which flight operations are conducted)

FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation

FAST Final Approach Spacing Tool

FBO Fixed Based Operator

FCC Flight Control Computer

FCU Flight Control Unit

F/D (FD) Flight Director

FDAMS Flight Data Acquisition and Management System

FDC Flight Data Company

FDR Flight Data Recorder

FEATS Future European Air Traffic System

FEB February

FF Fuel Flow

FGS/C Flight Guidance System/Computer

FIR Flight Information Region

Fix Position in space usually on aircraft's flight plan

FL Flight Level

FL 310 For example, FL310 is an altitude 31,000 ft. above sea level; used for altitudes above 18,000 ft

FLCH Flight Level Change

FLIDRAS Flight Data Replay and Analysis System

FLT Flight

FMA Flight Mode Annunciator: display on or near the PFDs of the current modes of autoflight system

FMC Flight Management Computer (also FMCS - FMC System)

FMGC Flight Management Guidance Computer

FMGS Flight Management Guidance System

FMS Flight Management System

FO First officer

FOQA Flight Operations Quality Assurance

FPA Flight Path Angle

FPA Focal Plane Array

FPM Feet Per Minute

FQIS Fuel Quantity Indicating System

FR From

FRA Flap Retraction Altitude

FRA Federal Railroad Administration

FREQ Frequency

FSF Flight Safety Foundation

FT Feet

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- G -

GA Go-Around

GA General Aviation

GAR Go-Around

GCA Ground-controlled Approach

GDLP Ground Data Link Processor (the Mode S subnetwork function within the ground system that implements the OSI network layer protocols)

GHz Gigahertz

GMT Greenwich MeanTime

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

GPS Global Positioning System

GPWS Ground Proximity Warning System (warns of inadequate separation from ground and excessive sink rate close to ground)

GRAF Ground Replay and Analysis Facility

GRP Geographical Reference Points

GS Glide Slope

GS Ground Speed

G/S Glideslope

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center

GW Gross Weight

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- H -

HAC Hughes Aircraft Co.

HAI Helicopter Association International

HBARO Barometric Altitude

HDG Heading

HDG SEL Heading Select

HDOT Inertial Vertical Speed

HE Altitude Error

HF High Frequency

Hl High

HIRS High-Resolution Infrared Sounder

Host Computer Facility located at the ARTCC which operates user application software, as well as certain peer network layer protocols required to communicate with adjacent ATN routers.

Host Processor "End system" as defined by ISO that includes the OSI upper layer protocols (i.e., transport layer and above) and application processes

HP Holding Pattern

HPRES Pressure Altitude

HSI Horizontal Situation Indicator

HUD Head-Up Display