Closed field: An airport where all operations are prohibited because of adverse weather conditions. (The term also applies, of course, to airports that have shut down permanently.)
Cocked: A term applied to a large or sophisticated aircraft that has been prepared for flight with all checklist items completed up to “start engines,” or the equivalent. Generally, any aircraft prepared as far as possible for immediate use.
Command post: An especially equipped room, or site, that serves as a headquarters for a specific type of operation. Normally command posts are equipped with communications, display boards, and other facilities.
Cuban 8: A fairly difficult aerobatic maneuver which consists, roughly, of vertical figure 8’s. Cuban 8’s are notoriously prone to induce airsickness in passengers who elect to ride through them.
CW: Continous Wave, or Morse code-type, radio communications.
DEW Line: A series of Distant Early Warning radar stations stretched across the Arctic; there are DEW Line stations on the Greenland Ice Cap, but they are different from, and should not be confused with, BMEWS.
Ditch: To put a land-based aircraft down on water, obviously an emergency procedure only.
DME: Distance Measuring Equipment, an airborne electronic device that can read out the distance in nautical miles from an aircraft to a suitably-equipped (usually TACAN) radio station. A pilot’s dream come true.
Dope: A special compound used to coat aircraft fabric-covered surfaces.
Dorsaclass="underline" A long, extended fin on the top of an aircraft which leads into the vertical stabilizer.
Double drift: A navigational technique used to determine the strength and direction of the wind. By measuring the observed drift accurately on two different headings, the navigator can make a very close determination of the wind at the altitude at which his aircraft is flying.
Driftmeter: A device by means of which a navigator can determine the drift of an aircraft by sighting the ground or water underneath. Drift, per se, is the amount of sidewise motion induced by the prevailing wind.
Driftpins: Very substantial and heavy steel pins used to fasten the wings onto the main body structure of certain aircraft. They are slightly tapered and usually one to two inches in diameter.
Drink: Aviation slang for “refuel.”
Elevator: A movable surface (or a pair of surfaces) that controls the pitch of an aircraft. It is part of the tail assembly.
Elmendorf A United States Air Force base located near Anchorage, Alaska.
Empennage: The complete tail assembly of an aircraft.
Engine frame: The (usually welded) tube structure that serves as an engine mount on an aircraft. ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival.
FAA: Federal Aviation Agency.
Fairings: Fillets, usually between the wings and fuselage of an aircraft, installed to insure a smooth, minimum-friction flow of air over otherwise awkward areas.
Feather: To turn the blades of an inactive propeller edgewise to the wind to reduce drag and prevent windmilling.
Feathering button: The cockpit control which when depressed will feather a specific propeller.
Field-grade officer: A major or higher.
Fillet: A concave piece of metal used to streamline the meeting of two aircraft surfaces, such as the wing and the side of the fuselage.
Firebee: A pilotless target drone manufactured by Ryan.
Firewall: A solid panel which separates the cockpit from the nose-mounted engine in single-engined aircraft. If there is no nose-mounted engine, the term is still used.
Fittings: The integral parts used to fasten one piece of an aircraft’s structure to another.
Five-square: A code to indicate that communications are both loud and clear. The scale of values used is one to five, for both volume and clarity. Thus three-by-three would indicate marginal volume and also impaired clarity. Five-square is frequently used instead of five-by-five. The two values, of course, need not be the same; a signal could be very faint, but still clear.
Fix: A navigational term designating the exact location of an aircraft in flight at a specific time.
Flaps: Auxiliary wing panels which can be raised or lowered in flight. They are normally used to decrease speed and increase lift prior to landing. They are also used during takeoffs and whenever it may be necessary to slow an aircraft to minimum safe speed while in flight.
Flare: This word has two aeronautical meanings. Most commonly, when an aircraft is descending for a landing, just before or above the runway the pilot will raise the nose, slowing the descent to a minimum and putting the plane in a landing attitude. This is known as flaring. Expertly done, it produces a smooth and gentle landing. Flare also means a pyrotechnic signal light, as it does elsewhere.
Flight plan: A document filed by a pilot, or a responsible crew member, before departure. It supplies information concerning the pilot’s identity, intentions, destination, alternate choice of destination in case of adverse weather, and other data. (Under some circumstances a flight plan is not legally required for cross-country trips, but prudent pilots file them anyway.)
463L (Four-Six-Three L): An efficient, palletized, cargo-handling system used by the Air Transport Command. Fourteen-hundred hours: 2 P.M. See also Time.
Full bore: Wide open, i.e., a maximum effort.
Full feather: To turn an aircraft’s propeller blades until they are directly edgewise to the relative wind.
Fuselage: The main body of an aircraft, excluding the wings or rotors.
G’s: Multiples of the force of gravity induced by moderate-to-severe aircraft maneuvers. Two G’s means twice the normal force of gravity; at five G’s a normally 200-pound man would weigh 1,000 pounds. Astronauts and most test pilots regularly endure such stresses, and more.
GCA.: Ground Control Approach, a radar system by means of which a pilot on final approach to landing is given continuous information as to his exact position and distance from touchdown. This term has now been largely superseded by PAR (Precision Approach Radar).
Gear down: With landing gear extended. Also, the command by the aircraft commander to extend the wheels; normally it is done by either the copilot or the flight engineer.
Glide path: A precision approach path to an instrument runway. It is marked by two highly directional radio transmitters — the glide-slope indicator (GSI) and the localizer. The latter supplies right-left indications.
Glide slope: Specifically, the designated descent path onto an instrument runway. Also, the pitch, or angle, of that path.
Go-around: The procedure laid down for a pilot to follow if he approaches an airport but cannot complete his landing as planned. It is also known as a missed approach in instrument flying. The most common cause is inadequate visibility immediately prior to an intended landing.