Pilot/Controller Glossary 

11/3/22 

RANDOM ALTITUDE

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 An altitude inappropriate 

for direction of flight and/or not in accordance with 
FAA Order JO 7110.65, paragraph 4

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5

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1, VER-

TICAL SEPARATION MINIMA. 

RANDOM ROUTE

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 Any route not established or 

charted/published or not otherwise available to all 
users. 

RC

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(See ROAD RECONNAISSANCE.) 

RCAG

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(See REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS 

AIR/GROUND FACILITY.) 

RCC

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(See RESCUE COORDINATION CENTER.) 

RCO

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(See REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS OUTLET.) 

RCR

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(See RUNWAY CONDITION READING.) 

READ BACK

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 Repeat my message back to me. 

RECEIVER AUTONOMOUS INTEGRITY MON-
ITORING (RAIM)

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 A technique whereby a civil 

GNSS receiver/processor determines the integrity of 
the GNSS navigation signals without reference to 
sensors or non-DoD integrity systems other than the 
receiver itself. This determination is achieved by a 
consistency check among redundant pseudorange 
measurements. 

RECEIVING CONTROLLER

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 A controller/facility 

receiving control of an aircraft from another 
controller/facility. 

RECEIVING FACILITY

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(See RECEIVING CONTROLLER.) 

RECONFORMANCE

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 The automated process of 

bringing an aircraft’s Current Plan Trajectory into 
conformance with its track. 

REDUCE SPEED TO (SPEED)

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(See SPEED ADJUSTMENT.) 

REFINED HAZARD AREA (RHA)

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 Used by ATC. 

Airspace that is defined and distributed after a failure 
of a launch or reentry operation to provide a more 
concise depiction of the hazard location than a 
Contingency Hazard Area. 

(See AIRCRAFT HAZARD AREA.) 
(See CONTINGENCY HAZARD AREA.) 
(See TRANSITIONAL HAZARD AREA.) 

REDUCED VERTICAL SEPARATION MINI-
MUM (RVSM) AIRSPACE

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 RVSM airspace is 

defined as any airspace between FL 290 and FL 410 
inclusive, where eligible aircraft are separated 
vertically by 1,000 feet. Authorization guidance for 
operations in this airspace is provided in Advisory 
Circular AC 91

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85. 

REIL

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(See RUNWAY END IDENTIFIER LIGHTS.) 

RELEASE TIME

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 A departure time restriction 

issued to a pilot by ATC (either directly or through an 
authorized relay) when necessary to separate a 
departing aircraft from other traffic. 

(See ICAO term RELEASE TIME.) 

RELEASE TIME [ICAO]

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 Time prior to which an 

aircraft should be given further clearance or prior to 
which it should not proceed in case of radio failure. 

REMOTE AIRPORT INFORMATION SERVICE 
(RAIS)

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 A temporary service provided by facilities, 

which are not located on the landing airport, but have 
communication capability and automated weather 
reporting available to the pilot at the landing airport. 

REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS AIR/GROUND 
FACILITY

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 An unmanned VHF/UHF transmitter/ 

receiver facility which is used to expand ARTCC 
air/ground communications coverage and to facilitate 
direct contact between pilots and controllers. RCAG 
facilities are sometimes not equipped with emergen-
cy frequencies 121.5 MHz and 243.0 MHz. 

(Refer to AIM.) 

REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS OUTLET 
(RCO)

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 An unmanned communications facility 

remotely controlled by air traffic personnel. RCOs 
serve FSSs. Remote Transmitter/Receivers (RTR) 
serve terminal ATC facilities. An RCO or RTR may 
be UHF or VHF and will extend the communication 
range of the air traffic facility. There are several 
classes of RCOs and RTRs. The class is determined 
by the number of transmitters or receivers. Classes A 
through G are used primarily for air/ground purposes. 
RCO and RTR class O facilities  are nonprotected 
outlets subject to undetected and prolonged outages. 
RCO (O’s) and RTR (O’s) were established for the 
express purpose of providing ground-to-ground 
communications between air traffic control special-
ists and pilots located at a satellite airport for 
delivering en route clearances, issuing departure 
authorizations, and acknowledging instrument flight 
rules cancellations or departure/landing times. As a 

PCG R

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