5/19/22
Pilot/Controller Glossary
side of the runway, and have an effective visual range
of about 5 miles during the day and up to 20 miles at
night. PAPIs radiate a directional pattern of high
intensity red and white focused light beams which
indicate that the pilot is “on path” if the pilot sees an
equal number of white lights and red lights, with
white to the left of the red; “above path” if the pilot
sees more white than red lights; and “below path” if
the pilot sees more red than white lights.
i.
Boundary Lights
−
Lights defining the perimeter
of an airport or landing area.
(Refer to AIM.)
AIRPORT MARKING AIDS
−
Markings used on
runway and taxiway surfaces to identify a specific
runway, a runway threshold, a centerline, a hold line,
etc. A runway should be marked in accordance with
its present usage such as:
a.
Visual.
b.
Nonprecision instrument.
c.
Precision instrument.
(Refer to AIM.)
AIRPORT REFERENCE POINT (ARP)
−
The
approximate geometric center of all usable runway
surfaces.
AIRPORT RESERVATION OFFICE
−
Office
responsible for monitoring the operation of slot
controlled airports. It receives and processes requests
for unscheduled operations at slot controlled airports.
AIRPORT ROTATING BEACON
−
A visual
NAVAID operated at many airports. At civil airports,
alternating white and green flashes indicate the
location of the airport. At military airports, the
beacons flash alternately white and green, but are
differentiated from civil beacons by dualpeaked (two
quick) white flashes between the green flashes.
(See INSTRUMENT FLIGHT RULES.)
(See SPECIAL VFR OPERATIONS.)
(See ICAO term AERODROME BEACON.)
(Refer to AIM.)
AIRPORT SURFACE DETECTION EQUIPMENT
(ASDE)
−
Surveillance equipment specifically de-
signed to detect aircraft, vehicular traffic, and other
objects, on the surface of an airport, and to present the
image on a tower display. Used to augment visual
observation by tower personnel of aircraft and/or
vehicular movements on runways and taxiways.
There are three ASDE systems deployed in the NAS:
a.
ASDE
−
3
−
a Surface Movement Radar.
b.
ASDE
−
X
−
a system that uses an X
−
band
Surface Movement Radar, multilateration, and
ADS
−
B.
c.
Airport Surface Surveillance Capability
(ASSC)
−
A system that uses Surface Movement
Radar, multilateration, and ADS
−
B.
AIRPORT SURVEILLANCE RADAR
−
Approach
control radar used to detect and display an aircraft’s
position in the terminal area. ASR provides range and
azimuth information but does not provide elevation
data. Coverage of the ASR can extend up to 60 miles.
AIRPORT TAXI CHARTS
−
(See AERONAUTICAL CHART.)
AIRPORT TRAFFIC CONTROL SERVICE
−
A
service provided by a control tower for aircraft
operating on the movement area and in the vicinity of
an airport.
(See MOVEMENT AREA.)
(See TOWER.)
(See ICAO term AERODROME CONTROL
SERVICE.)
AIRPORT TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER
−
(See TOWER.)
AIRSPACE CONFLICT
−
Predicted conflict of an
aircraft and active Special Activity Airspace (SAA).
AIRSPACE FLOW PROGRAM (AFP)
−
AFP is a
Traffic Management (TM) process administered by
the Air Traffic Control System Command Center
(ATCSCC) where aircraft are assigned an Expect
Departure Clearance Time (EDCT) in order to
manage capacity and demand for a specific area of the
National Airspace System (NAS). The purpose of the
program is to mitigate the effects of en route
constraints. It is a flexible program and may be
implemented in various forms depending upon the
needs of the air traffic system.
AIRSPACE HIERARCHY
−
Within the airspace
classes, there is a hierarchy and, in the event of an
overlap of airspace: Class A preempts Class B, Class
B preempts Class C, Class C preempts Class D, Class
D preempts Class E, and Class E preempts Class G.
AIRSPEED
−
The speed of an aircraft relative to its
surrounding air mass. The unqualified term
“airspeed” means one of the following:
a.
Indicated Airspeed
−
The speed shown on the
aircraft airspeed indicator. This is the speed used in
PCG A
−
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