ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) - Airborne radio receiver showing bearing of radio station from aircraft

AFTT - Airframe Total Time (Hours)

Airworthiness Certificate (C of A) - Documentation issued by the Governing Body announcing a condition that must be corrected for an aircraft to maintain its airworthiness status is mandatory

Airworthiness Directive (AD) - Regulatory notice issued be the Governing Body announcing a condition that must be corrected for an aircraft to maintain its airworthiness status is mandatory

Amphibious Floats - Floats containing retractable wheels, allowing an aircraft to operate on land and in water

Annual - Yearly mandatory inspection of aircraft and engine

APU - Auxiliary Power Unit

Autopilot (A/P) - Airborne device that controls aircrafts movement: 1 axis (ailerons) = roll; 2 axis (ailerons & elevator) = roll and pitch; 3 axis (ailerons, elevator & rudder) = roll, pitch & yaw.

BMR - Bearingless Main Rotor system

bts (Boots) - De-ice equipment on aircrafts wings & tail

C-spd prop (Constant-speed propeller) - Automatically changes pitch to maintain a given RPM setting

C/R - Counter-rotating propellers

CD (Course Deviation indicator) - Used to determine aircraft position relative to a navigation aid or to intercept any of the 360 compass radials that emanate from the navigation aid

Com - Airborne radio that transmits and/or receives voice communications

Comp - Engine cylinder compression, ideally 85% of new or above

Conv (Convention gear) - Landing gear comprised of 2 main wheels & a tailwheel

CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) - Airborne device that tapes and stores cockpit and radio communications

Cycles - On turbine engines, a cycle extends from start to full throttle to shutdown

DG (Directional Gyro) - Flight instrument proving directional reference

DH (Damage History) - Indicating aircraft has sustained damage in a mishap or wreck

DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) - Airborne instrument that measures distance of aircraft from radio facility

DPU (Data Processor Unit) - System which processes data which has been captured and encoded in a format recognizable by the data processing system

ECU - Environmental Control Unit

EFIS (Electronic Flight Instrument System) - Electronically depicted instrument(s) as opposed to providing a mechanical depiction

EGPWS - Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System

ELT (Emergency Locator Transmitter) - An emergency beacon that aids in locating an aircraft when activated.

Encoding (Enc alt or enc) - Airborne instrument used in conjunction with transponder to advise controller of aircrafts altitude

EVS (Enhanced Vision System) - Synthetic vision system that combines FLIIR and HUD devices

FD (Flight Director) - Airborne automated flight and navigation system utilizing autopilot coupled to command bars that direct pilot to operate the control surfaces

FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) - Infrared system that allows pilots to see in zero visibility

FMS (Flight Management System) - Component in most commercial aircraft to assist pilots in navigation, flight planning and aircraft control functions

FPM - Feet Per Minute

FPNM - Feet Per Nautical Mile

Fuel inj (Fuel injection) - Type engine as opposed to carburettor

Full de-ice - Anti-ice equipment installed on wings, tail, propellers and windshield

Full panel - Full complement of gyro-driven attitude instruments for instrument flight

g/s (Glideslope) - Airborne component of instrument landing system that indicates correct angle of descent to runway on an instrument approach

GPS (Global Position Satellite) - A navigation system in which a land or aircraft-based receiver decodes L-band radio signals transmitted from orbiting satellites to compute its latitude, longitude and altitude (3-dimensional)

GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) - Airborne device that warns flight crew of proximity to terrain

HSI (Horizontal Situation Indicator) - Aircraft instrument providing course direction data, normally operating with salved directional gyro

HSI (Hot Section Inspection) - Major periodic inspection of turbine engine at intervals recommended by the manufacturer

HUD (Head-Up Display) - A transparent display that presents data without obstructing the users view

IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) - Instruments allowing flight by instrument reference rather than outside visibility

ILS (Instrument Landing System) - Airborne equipment enabling pilot to descend aircraft for landing without visual reference to ground until just prior to touchdown.

INS (Inertial Navigation System) - Provides the position, velocity, orientation, and angular velocity of a vehicle by measuring the linear and angular accelerations applied to the system in an inertial reference frame.

IVS - Instantaneous Vertical Speed Indicator

Ldg light (Landing light) - Aircraft light(s) that illuminate runways & taxiways

LOC (Localizer ) - ILS component providing lateral guidance to runway centreline

MDH (Major Damage History) - Past/repaired aircraft damage normally listed in FAA records and aircraft logbooks

MEL (Minimum Equipment List) - List of equipment that the FAA requires to be aboard and working on an aircraft before flying

MFD (Multifunction Display) - Screen that can be used to display information to the pilot in numerous configurable ways

Mkr Bcn (Marker beacon) - Airborne component of ILS that locates transmitting equipment at fixed points along glide slope as position reference

MLI (Mid-Life Inspection) - See Hot section inspection

Mode C - The pulse format for an altitude information interrogation of an ATC RBS transponder

MSP (Maintenance Service Plan) - Garrett’s program of progressive engine maintenance, including coverage for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance

Nav (Navigation radio receiver) - Normally VOR

Nav-com - Navigation and communications radio receiver

Nexrad (Next Generation Weather Radar) - Network of 158 high-resolution Doppler radars

OAT (Outside Air Temperature) - Instrument showing air temperature outside cockpit

OBS (Omnibearing Selector) - A panel instrument that contains the control and circuits to select an omni bearing and determine TO-FROM indication

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer

oxy (Oxygen) - System providing oxygen for passengers & crew at higher altitudes

P&I (Aircrafts Paint and interior) - Seat upholstery, headliner, side panels

PBH (Power by the Hour) - Rolls-Royces program of progressive engine maintenance including coverage for both scheduled and un-scheduled maintenance

PC (Positive Control) - A single axis (roll) autopilot on Mooney aircraft

PET (Piper Electric Trim) - Pipes electrically operated elevator trim device

PND - Primary Navigation Display

Primary Panel - Basic flight instruments with no gyrodriven attitude instruments

Prop Jet - Aircraft with turbine engines incorporating a propeller, see Turboprop

Rad ALT (Radio Altimeter) - Altimeter that provides the distance between the aircraft and the ground

Rvcr (Receiver) - Aircrafts voice radio receiver

RDR - Radar

Retr gear (Retractable) - Wheels that retract into aircraft wings or fuselage

RMI (Radio Magnetic Indicator) - Aircraft navigational instrument that when coupled to compass, shows direction of and bearing to selected navigation aid

RNAV (Area navigation) - Airborne navigation and guidance system that uses VOR bearing and DME ranging to compute course and distance to a waypoint

ROC - Rate of Climb

ROD - Rate of Descent

RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum) - Reduction of standard separation between aircraft from levels FL290 and Fl410 from 2,000 feet to 1,000 feet

SB (Service Bulletin) - Manufacturers notification of mandatory modification or maintenance of its product

SL (Service Letter) - Manufactures notice of its service policies and/or procedures

SMOH (Since Major Overhaul) - Number of hours since major over haul of engines(2)

SN (Serial Number) - Aircrafts identification number assigned by manufacturer

STC (Supplemental Type Certificate) - Document issue dafter aircraft has been altered from original type certificate specifications

STP - Standard Temperature and Pressure

Strobe Lights - High-intensity flashing lights on aircraft

TAD - Terrain Awareness Display

TAS (True Airspeed) - The speed of an aircraft relative to the airmass in which it flies

TAWS (Terrain Awareness Warning System) - Uses digital elevation data and airplane instrumental values to predict if a likely future position of the aircraft intersects with the ground and warm the pilots

TBO (Time Between Overhaul) - Number of hours recommended by engine manufacturers as a maximum before the first overhaul and between major overhauls

TCAS (Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System) - Instrument that monitors the airspace around an aircraft independent of ATC and warns pilots of potential collision threats

Transponder - See xpdr

Tri-gear - Landing gear in tricycle configuration; nose wheel rather than tail wheel

turboch (Turbocharge) - Engine turbocharger(s) boosting manifold pressure

Turboprop - Turbine engine that dries a propeller

UHF - Ultra High Frequency

VFR (Visual Flight Rules) - Visibility and cloud clearance rules for flight with reference outside the cockpit

VOR (VHF Omni range receiver) - Airborne device that receives signal from VOR ground station and indicates deviation from course to or from that station

WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) - Navigation system that augments GPS to provide additional accuracy, integrity and availability necessary to enable users to rely on GPS for all phases of flight

Xpdr (Transponder) - Airborne device that allows Air Traffic Control radar to identify aircrafts location and follow its flight path; with encoder, aircrafts altitude is displayed on radar

YD (Yaw Damper) - Device used on many aircraft to damp the rolling and yawing oscillation due to Dutch roll mode