The Aviation Glossary for Student Pilots
Flight training has its own language, and most of it gets thrown at you in the first three lessons with no translation. This is the translation. Every term you will actually hear at a flight school, in plain English, written by the instructors who teach it.
Nobody expects you to know any of this on day one
Every student pilot has the same experience in the first week: an instructor says something completely ordinary like squawk VFR and stay below the shelf, and you nod as though that meant anything. It is not a sign you are behind. Aviation compresses a lot of meaning into very few words because radio time is expensive, and the vocabulary is learned the same way any vocabulary is — by hearing it used.
This page exists so you can look things up without pretending. It is organised by subject rather than strictly alphabetically, because terms make more sense next to their neighbours. If you are looking for one specific word, use your browser's find function.
Certificates, ratings and endorsements
What you can earn, in order
Aviation distinguishes between a certificate (the licence itself), a rating (an addition that expands what you may do) and an endorsement (a logbook signature from an instructor permitting something specific). People say licence in conversation; the FAA says certificate.
- Student Pilot Certificate — the first certificate, free through the FAA's IACRA system. Required before you fly solo, not before you start lessons.
- Sport Pilot Certificate — a lower-hour certificate (20 hours minimum) limited to light-sport aircraft, daytime VFR, and one passenger. No FAA medical required if you hold a valid US driver's licence.
- Recreational Pilot Certificate — a rarely used middle tier between sport and private. Most people skip it.
- Private Pilot Certificate (PPL) — the standard licence. 40 hours minimum under FAR 61.109; national average is 60–75. Lets you carry passengers, fly at night, and go anywhere, but not for hire.
- Instrument Rating (IR) — added to a private certificate. Permits flight in cloud and low visibility by sole reference to instruments. Widely considered the rating that makes you a genuinely competent pilot.
- Commercial Pilot Certificate (CPL) — 250 hours total time under Part 61. Permits flying for compensation or hire.
- Multi-Engine Rating (ME / AMEL) — added to private or commercial. Permits flying aircraft with more than one engine. No minimum hour requirement, just proficiency — typically 10–15 hours.
- Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) — permits teaching. The standard route to building hours toward an airline job while being paid.
- CFII — a flight instructor authorised to teach instrument flying. MEI — authorised to teach in multi-engine aircraft.
- ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) — the highest certificate. 1,500 hours in most cases; reduced to 1,000–1,250 for graduates of certain approved programs (an R-ATP).
- Type Rating — required for aircraft over 12,500 lb or turbojet-powered. This is what airline pilots mean when they say they are 'typed on the 737'.
- High-Performance Endorsement — required for aircraft with engines over 200 horsepower.
- Complex Endorsement — required for aircraft with retractable gear, flaps and a controllable-pitch propeller.
- Tailwheel Endorsement — required for conventional-gear aircraft, where the third wheel is at the back.
- Flight Review (BFR) — every certificated pilot must complete one every 24 calendar months to stay legal. One hour ground, one hour flight.
Medical certificates
Issued by an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME), not an ordinary doctor. Applied for through MedXpress, the FAA's online system, before the appointment.
- First Class Medical — required for airline transport pilots. Most stringent standards.
- Second Class Medical — required to exercise commercial privileges.
- Third Class Medical — what a private pilot needs. Valid 60 months if you are under 40, 24 months if you are over. Typically $100–$175.
- BasicMed — an alternative to the third-class medical for certain private operations, using a state-licensed physician and an online course. Requires you to have held a valid FAA medical at some point since July 2006.
- Special Issuance — a medical granted with conditions, for pilots with a disqualifying condition that is nonetheless being managed. More conditions are approvable than most people assume.
Regulations, schools and paperwork
The regulations you will actually hear cited
The FARs (Federal Aviation Regulations) live in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Instructors cite them constantly and by number.
- Part 61 — the certification rules for pilots and instructors. Also the name given to flexible, non-syllabus-bound flight schools. Most US flight training happens here.
- Part 91 — general operating and flight rules. Governs almost everything a private pilot does.
- Part 141 — FAA-approved flight schools operating a fixed, inspected syllabus. Slightly lower hour minimums, considerably less scheduling flexibility.
- Part 135 — commuter and on-demand charter operations. What you need to fly paying passengers on a scenic tour.
- Part 121 — scheduled airline operations.
- Part 107 — commercial drone operations. A separate certificate entirely.
- FAR 61.109 — the specific rule setting the 40-hour private pilot minimum.
- FAR 91.409(b) — requires aircraft used for instruction for hire to have a 100-hour inspection in addition to the annual. Privately owned aircraft need only the annual. This is why a training fleet is inspected more often than most private aeroplanes.
- ACS (Airman Certification Standards) — the document defining exactly what you must demonstrate on your checkride, to what tolerance. Not secret. Read it early.
- IACRA — the FAA's online application system for certificates.
- TSA / AFSP — the Alien Flight Student Program. Non-US citizens must be approved through it before beginning training toward a certificate.
- M-1 Visa — the vocational student visa most international flight students hold.
Van Nuys is Class D under the LAX Class B shelf
The vocabulary below stops being abstract about ten minutes into your first lesson, because you will hear all of it on the radio at one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. Students trained here learn radio discipline quickly because there is no alternative.
Airspace, airports and navigation
Classes of airspace
US airspace is layered like an upside-down wedding cake around busy airports. Van Nuys sits in Class D beneath the Class B shelf belonging to LAX — which is exactly why students trained here learn radio discipline quickly.
- Class A — 18,000 ft and above. Instrument flight rules only.
- Class B — the busiest airports (LAX). Explicit ATC clearance required to enter.
- Class C — moderately busy airports with radar service. Two-way radio contact required.
- Class D — airports with an operating control tower, such as Van Nuys (KVNY). Two-way radio contact required.
- Class E — controlled airspace that is not A, B, C or D.
- Class G — uncontrolled airspace. No ATC service.
- TFR (Temporary Flight Restriction) — temporary no-fly area, often for wildfires, sporting events or VIP movements. Common in Los Angeles.
- MOA (Military Operations Area) — airspace where military training occurs.
- Practice Area — the block of airspace a school uses for manoeuvres. Ours run north over the Santa Clarita valley and west toward the coast.
Airports and ground
- KVNY — Van Nuys Airport. One of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. The K prefix is the ICAO identifier convention for the contiguous US.
- ATIS — Automatic Terminal Information Service. A recorded loop of current weather and runway information you listen to before calling the tower. Each update gets a letter: 'information Bravo'.
- Ground / Tower / Clearance Delivery — the three controllers you will speak to at a towered field, in that order on departure.
- Run-up — the engine checks performed in a designated area before taxiing to the runway.
- FBO (Fixed Base Operator) — the business on the field providing fuel, parking and services.
- Taxiway / Hold Short Line — the yellow markings you must not cross without a clearance. Crossing one without permission is a runway incursion and it is taken very seriously.
- Pattern (Traffic Pattern) — the rectangular circuit flown around a runway: upwind, crosswind, downwind, base, final.
- Go-around — abandoning a landing and climbing away to try again. A sign of good judgement, never of failure.
Weather, instruments and how the aeroplane works
Weather
- METAR — a coded current weather observation for an airport.
- TAF — Terminal Aerodrome Forecast. The forecast version of a METAR.
- Ceiling — the height of the lowest broken or overcast cloud layer.
- Marine Layer — the low coastal stratus that rolls into the LA basin on summer mornings and burns off by mid-morning. The single most common reason a Los Angeles lesson gets delayed rather than cancelled.
- Density Altitude — pressure altitude corrected for temperature. On a hot day at Van Nuys the aircraft performs as though the airport were thousands of feet higher. It is the number behind a surprising share of accidents.
- Crosswind — wind across the runway rather than along it. Every certificate requires demonstrated crosswind landings.
- Santa Ana Winds — strong, dry offshore winds that produce excellent visibility and demanding mechanical turbulence over the LA basin.
Instruments and cockpit
- Six Pack — the traditional arrangement of six analogue flight instruments: airspeed, attitude, altimeter, turn coordinator, heading, vertical speed.
- Glass Cockpit — digital displays replacing the six pack. Garmin G1000 and similar.
- Steam Gauges — affectionate slang for the traditional analogue instruments.
- PFD / MFD — primary flight display; multi-function display.
- Attitude Indicator — shows the aircraft's pitch and bank relative to the horizon. Your lifeline in cloud.
- Altimeter Setting — the local barometric pressure you dial in so the altimeter reads correctly. Given in the ATIS.
- Transponder — the box that replies to radar with your identity and altitude.
- Foggles / Hood — view-limiting devices worn to simulate instrument conditions in clear weather.
Aircraft and flying
- Angle of Attack — the angle between the wing and the oncoming air. Exceed the critical angle and the wing stalls, regardless of speed or attitude.
- Stall — loss of lift caused by exceeding the critical angle of attack. Not an engine failure. Practised deliberately and repeatedly in training.
- Spin — an aggravated stall with rotation. Spin awareness is required for instructor candidates.
- Slip — a cross-controlled manoeuvre used to lose altitude quickly or to land in a crosswind.
- Trim — the control that relieves pressure on the yoke so the aircraft holds an attitude by itself.
- Flaps — devices that increase lift and drag, allowing steeper, slower approaches.
- Wet Rate / Dry Rate — an hourly aircraft rate with fuel included, or without. Always ask which one you are being quoted.
- Hobbs / Tach Time — two different ways of measuring how long an aircraft has run. Hobbs runs in real time; tach time runs slower at low power. This determines what you are billed.
- Glide Ratio — how far an aircraft travels forward per unit of altitude lost with the engine off. A typical trainer manages about 9:1 — roughly five miles from 3,000 feet.
- CAPS — the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, a whole-aircraft parachute fitted to Cirrus aircraft.
- Preflight — the walkaround inspection before every flight. Non-negotiable and never rushed.
- Cross-Country — a flight to an airport more than 50 nautical miles from the departure point. Required for certification.
- Solo — flying alone. First solo typically happens between 15 and 25 hours and is the day you will remember.
- Checkride — the FAA practical test, conducted by a DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner). An oral exam followed by a flight. Budget $800–$1,000.
- Logbook — the record of every hour you fly. Your discovery flight is the first entry.
- Currency vs Proficiency — currency is the legal minimum that keeps you allowed to fly; proficiency is actually being good at it. They are not the same, and good pilots keep the second well ahead of the first.
Where the vocabulary lives
The airspace, the panel and the simulator that every term on this page eventually points at.
Keep reading
The fastest way to learn the language is to use it
An hour in the aircraft will teach you more vocabulary than an evening on this page. You fly it, your instructor talks you through the radio calls, and it goes in a logbook as real instruction. Call (818) 290-8249 or book online.
Questions students ask about the vocabulary
They are the same thing. The FAA issues 'certificates' and that is the correct legal term in the United States; most of the world and most conversation says 'licence'. Nobody will correct you either way.
A rating is added to your certificate by the FAA after a checkride — an instrument rating or a multi-engine rating, for example. An endorsement is a signature an instructor writes in your logbook permitting a specific activity, such as flying a high-performance or tailwheel aircraft. Ratings require a test; endorsements require an instructor to be satisfied you are competent.
Visual Flight Rules — flying by looking out of the window, in weather good enough to see and avoid other aircraft and terrain. It requires specific minimum visibility and distance from cloud. The alternative is IFR, Instrument Flight Rules, which requires an instrument rating and permits flight in cloud under air traffic control.
An hourly aircraft rate with fuel included. A dry rate excludes fuel, which you then buy separately. Our published rental rates — $269 an hour for a Cessna 162 or Piper Warrior, up to $649 for a Cirrus SR22 Turbo or Piper Seminole — are wet. When comparing schools, always confirm which you are being quoted, because the difference is substantial.
Set your transponder to code 1200, the standard code for VFR flight in the United States. Air traffic control assigns you a discrete four-digit code when you are receiving radar service; 1200 is what you use otherwise. 7700 is the emergency code, 7600 signals lost communications and 7500 signals a hijacking.
No. You will absorb almost all of it in the first twenty hours simply by using it. This page exists so you can look things up in the evening without feeling behind. Every pilot flying today started out not knowing any of it.