Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Articles related to aviation include:
Aviation accidents and incidents – Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL) – ADF – Accessory drive – Advance airfield – Advanced air mobility – Advanced technology engine – Adverse yaw – Aerial ramming – Aerial reconnaissance – Aerobatics – Aerodrome – Aerodrome mapping database (AMDB) – Aerodynamics – Aerofoil – Aerodrome beacon – Aeronautical Information Manual (AIM) – Aeronautical chart – Aeronautical Message Handling System – Aeronautical phraseology – Aeronautics – Aerospace – Aerospace engineering – Afterburner – Agile Combat Employment (ACE) – Aileron – Air charter – Air defense identification zone (ADIZ) – Air freight terminal – Air traffic flow management – Air-augmented rocket – Airband – Airbase – Airborne collision avoidance system – Air combat maneuvering (ACM) – Aircraft canopy – Aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) – Aircraft maintenance technician (AMT) – Aircraft registration – Aircraft – Aircraft catapult – Aircraft engine controls – Aircraft fairing – Aircraft lavatory – Aircraft marshalling – Aircraft noise – Aircraft ordnance – Aircraft periscope – Air data boom – Airfoil – Airline transport pilot license – Airline – Airliner – Airmiss – Air navigation – Air observation post – Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD) – Airpark – Airport - Airports Commission – Aviation safety – Air route – Airship – Airshow – Airspace classes – Airspeed – Airspeed indicator – Air-start system – Air traffic control – Air traffic controllers' strike of 1981 – Air-to-ground communication – Air turborocket – Altimeter – Altiport – Altitude – Angel Flight – Angle of attack – Angle of incidence – Anhedral – Anti-collision light – Anti-torque pedals (helicopter rudder pedals) – Arresting gear – Aspect ratio (wing) – Assisted take-off – Astrodome – Attitude indicator – Autoflare – Autoland – Automatic Carrier Landing System (ACLS) – Automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast – Automatic terminal information service (ATIS) – Autorotation (helicopter) – Autorotation (fixed-wing aircraft) – Autopilot – Autothrottle – Aviation – Aviation archaeology – Aviation communication – Aviation history – Aviation light signals – Aviation medical examiner (AME) – Aviation parts tag – Aviation safety – Aviation system – Aviator – Aviator call sign – Avionics – Auxiliary power unit
Balloon (aircraft) – Basic fighter maneuvers (BFM) – Bird strike – Blast pad – Blimp – Blown flap – Blue ice – Bolter – Boundary layer – Brevity code – Brodie landing system – Bubble canopy – §Bypass ratio
Canard – Carrier onboard delivery (COD) – Catapult hook – Centre of gravity (CG) – Chine – Chord – Chosen instrument – Circuit (airfield) – Circulation control wing (CCW) – Civil Air Patrol (US Air Force Auxiliary) – Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – Clear-air turbulence – Cloaking device – Cockpit – Cockpit voice recorder – Coefficient of lift – Coefficient of moment – Collective – Commercial pilot license – Common-use self-service (CUSS) – Compass – Compression lift – Compressor stall – Constant speed drive (CSD) – Contour flying – Controlled airspace – CVFR – Convergent Exhaust Nozzle Control (CENC) – Convertiplane – Cowling – Crab landing – Crash position indicator – Cross control – CTAF – Cyclic
Deep stall – Delta wing – Dihedral – Dilbert Dunker – Distance measuring equipment (DME) – Distributed propulsion – Downwash – Drag – Drag-reducing aerospike – Drop zone – Dual control – Ducted fan – Dutch roll
Elevator – Elevon – Emergency locator beacon – Emergency locator transmitter ELT – Empennage (tail section) – Enhanced flight vision system (EFVS/EVS) – Escape pod – ETOPS – Exhaust mixer – Experimental aircraft – External vision system (XVS) – Eurocontrol (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation) – Empty weight – Environmental and climate impacts of aviation – Exint pod
Fail-safe – Federal Aviation Administration (FAA – US authority) – Ferri scoop – Fixed-base operator – Flame damper – Flame holder – Flameout – Flap – Flight – Flight computer – Flight control surfaces – Flight data recorder – Flight deck – Flight envelope protection – Flight helmet – Flight information region – Flight instruments – Flight length – Flight level – Flight management system (FMS) – Flight plan – Flight planning – Flight simulator – Flight training – Flight time – Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) – Fly-by-wire (FBW) – Flying – Flying car – Flying families – Fly-in – Flying Platform – Flying wing – Folding wing – Form drag - From the Ground Up (book) – Formation light - Flight information service – Fuel control unit – Fuel dumping
Geared turbofan – General aviation – g-LOC – G-suit – Glass cockpit – Glide path – Glider aircraft – Glider (sailplane) – Glider pilot certificate – Glider snatch pick-up – Gliding – Gluhareff Pressure Jet – Go around – GPS – Great-circle distance – Ground Air Emergency Code – Ground carriage – Ground effect – Ground support equipment – Gust lock – Gyrodyne – Gyro gunsight
Hard deck – Hard landing – Hardstand – Heading indicator – Head-up display (HUD) – Hold (aviation) – History of aviation – Helicopter – Helicopter flight controls – Helocast – Horseshoe vortex – Hush kit – Hypermobility – Hypersonic flight
ICAO spelling alphabet – Inertia coupling – Inertial Navigation System – Infrared (IR) – Infrared search and track (IRST) – Infrared signature – Instrument flight rules (IFR) – Instrument landing system (ILS) – Instrument rating – Indicated airspeed – Inlet cone – Intake/Inlet blank – Intake ramp – International Air Transport Association (IATA) – International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – Integrated drive generator (IDG) – Integrated engine pressure ratio (IEPR) – Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) – International Fighter Pilots Academy (IFPA) - Instrument meteorological conditions – Ion-propelled aircraft
Jet Airliner – Jet blast deflector (JBD) – Jet engine – Jetliner – Jet wash – Jetway – Joint-use airport – Joystick
Landing – Landing gear – Landing gear extender – Landing lights – Landing mirror – Landing signal officer – Landing T – Landing zone – Laser induced cavitation – Laser supported detonation wave – Lateral control system (LCS) – Leading-edge extension (LEVCON) – Lift (force) – Lift-induced drag – Light-sport aircraft – Low-altitude parachute-extraction system – Lower Airspace Radar Service (LARS)
Machmeter – Mach tuck – Magnetic chip detector – Maintenance – METAR – Meteorology – Maintenance, repair and overhaul – Minimum interval takeoff (MITO) – Mobility – Mobile Air Traffic Control Tower (Mobile ATC/MATC) – Mobile Electric Power Plant (MEPP) – Moving map display (MMD) – Multi-function display (MFD)
NACA duct – Nacelle – Nanolight – Nautical airmile – Naval air station – Naval outlying landing field – Naval aviation (NAV-AV) – Navigation - Navigation light – No-fly zone – Non-directional beacon (NDB) – Non-towered airport – Night aviation regulations in the US – NOTAM
Oleo strut – Operational Readiness Platform (ORP) – Oshkosh Airshow – Overhead join
Parts departing aircraft – Performance and weather minima – Performance envelope – Personal air vehicle – Phugoid – Pilot controlled lighting – Pilot direction indicator (PDI) – Pilot licenses – Pilot licensing and certification – Pilot reports (PIREPS) – Pilot’s Projected Display Indicator (PPDI) – Plane guard – Plasma cavitator leading edge – Powered lift – Precision approach path indicator – Precooled jet engine – Private pilot license – Prone pilot – Propeller – Propelling nozzle – Propfan – Propulsion-controlled aircraft (PCA) – Pulsejet – Pushback (aviation)
Quick access recorder – QFE – QNH – Q code – QTOL
Radar – Radar intercept officer – Radio beacon – Radar blip – Radar cross-section – Radar gunsight – Radar lock-on – Radar warning receiver – Ram air turbine – Ramjet – Reaction engine – Reaction propulsion – Ready room – Rearward visibility panels – Reciprocating engines – Red square – Reduced take-off and landing (RTOL) – Relaxed stability – Remove before flight tag – RIAT – Roadable aircraft – Rocket turbine engine – Rogallo wing – Rotating detonation engine – Route structure – Rudder – Ruddervator – Rule of three (aviation) – Runway – Run-up (aviation)
Satellite airfield – Scramjet – Seaplane base – Second line – Sectional chart – Self-sealing fuel tank – Shock diamond – Shcramjet – Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) – Signal square – Spatial disorientation – Spar – Spin (flight) – Spoiler (aeronautics) – Spy basket – Slats – Slip landing – Soft deck – specific fuel consumption (propeller engines) – Specific fuel consumption (jet engines) – Sport pilot certificate – Stabilator – Stagger – Stall – Standard day – Stealth aircraft – Stick shaker – STOLport – Sto-wing – Strike package – Student pilot certificate – Supercruise – Supermaneuverability – Supine cockpit – Swedish Civil Aviation Administration – Swing-wing – Synthetic cockpit – Synthetic vision system (SVS)
T-tail – Tactical Camera System (TCS) – Tabletop runway – Tactical beacon (TACBE) – Tailess aircraft – Tailhook – Takeoff – Takeoff/go-around switch – Target blip – Taxiing – Taxiway – Terrain-following radar (TFR) – Ten-code – Terminal area chart – Thrust vectoring – Track while scan – Traffic pattern indicator – Transatlantic flight – Trim tab – True airspeed – Turbine engine – Turn and bank indicator
Uncontrolled airport (see Non-towered airport) – Uncontrolled airspace – Underground hangar – Urban Air Mobility
V speeds – V-tail – Valveless pulsejet – Variable cycle engine – Venturi effect – Versatile Digital Analyzer (VERDAN) – Vertical situation display (VSD) – Vertical speed indicator – Vertical stabilizer (fin) – Very light jet (VLJ) – Visual approach slope indicator (VASI) – Visual flight rules (VFR) – VNE – VOR VHF omni-range (type of navigational beacon) - Visual meteorological conditions
War emergency power – Wave off – Waverider – Waypoint – Wayport – Wheel chock – Wide-body aircraft – Wind shear – Wind tunnel – Wing – Wingman – Wingtip vortices – Wingbox – Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle – Winglet – World aeronautical chart
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, in a few cases, direct downward thrust from its engines. Common examples of aircraft include airplanes, helicopters, airships, gliders, paramotors, and hot air balloons.
Avionics are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitted to aircraft to perform individual functions. These can be as simple as a searchlight for a police helicopter or as complicated as the tactical system for an airborne early warning platform.
In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR).
A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft, and ornithopters. The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily rigid; kites, hang gliders, variable-sweep wing aircraft, and airplanes that use wing morphing are all classified as fixed wing.
Flight instruments are the instruments in the cockpit of an aircraft that provide the pilot with data about the flight situation of that aircraft, such as altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, heading and much more other crucial information in flight. They improve safety by allowing the pilot to fly the aircraft in level flight, and make turns, without a reference outside the aircraft such as the horizon. Visual flight rules (VFR) require an airspeed indicator, an altimeter, and a compass or other suitable magnetic direction indicator. Instrument flight rules (IFR) additionally require a gyroscopic pitch-bank, direction and rate of turn indicator, plus a slip-skid indicator, adjustable altimeter, and a clock. Flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) require radio navigation instruments for precise takeoffs and landings.
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere or through the vacuum of outer space. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift associated with gliding or propulsive thrust, aerostatically using buoyancy, or by ballistic movement.
Air Canada Flight 143, commonly known as the Gimli Glider, was a Canadian scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on Saturday, July 23, 1983, at an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 m), midway through the flight. The flight crew successfully glided the Boeing 767 to an emergency landing at a former Royal Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba, which had been converted to a racetrack, Gimli Motorsports Park. It resulted in no serious injuries to passengers or persons on the ground, and only minor damage to the aircraft. The aircraft was repaired and remained in service until its retirement in 2008. This unusual aviation accident earned the aircraft the nickname "Gimli Glider."
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle.
Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown"a or "splashdown" as well. A normal aircraft flight would include several parts of flight including taxi, takeoff, climb, cruise, descent and landing.
The airspeed indicator (ASI) or airspeed gauge is a flight instrument indicating the airspeed of an aircraft in kilometres per hour (km/h), knots, miles per hour (MPH) and/or metres per second (m/s). The recommendation by ICAO is to use km/h, however knots (kt) is currently the most used unit. The ASI measures the pressure differential between static pressure from the static port, and total pressure from the pitot tube. This difference in pressure is registered with the ASI pointer on the face of the instrument.
The basic principles of air navigation are identical to general navigation, which includes the process of planning, recording, and controlling the movement of a craft from one place to another.
A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features an array of electronic (digital) flight instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, rather than traditional analog dials and gauges. While a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mechanical gauges to display information, a glass cockpit uses several multi-function displays and a primary flight display driven by flight management systems, that can be adjusted to show flight information as needed. This simplifies aircraft operation and navigation and allows pilots to focus only on the most pertinent information. They are also popular with airline companies as they usually eliminate the need for a flight engineer, saving costs. In recent years the technology has also become widely available in small aircraft.
Indicated airspeed (IAS) is the airspeed of an aircraft as measured by its pitot-static system and displayed by the airspeed indicator (ASI). This is the pilots' primary airspeed reference.
Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of aircraft and aviation infrastructure. The aviation industry is subject to significant regulation and oversight.
An airplane or aeroplane, informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.
The Garmin G1000 is an electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) typically composed of two display units, one serving as a primary flight display, and one as a multi-function display. Manufactured by Garmin Aviation, it serves as a replacement for most conventional flight instruments and avionics. Introduced in June 2004, the system has since become one of the most popular integrated glass cockpit solutions for general aviation and business aircraft.
In aeronautics, the rate of climb (RoC) is an aircraft's vertical speed, that is the positive or negative rate of altitude change with respect to time. In most ICAO member countries, even in otherwise metric countries, this is usually expressed in feet per minute (ft/min); elsewhere, it is commonly expressed in metres per second (m/s). The RoC in an aircraft is indicated with a vertical speed indicator (VSI) or instantaneous vertical speed indicator (IVSI).
An aeronautical chart is a map designed to assist in the navigation of aircraft, much as nautical charts do for watercraft, or a roadmap does for drivers. Using these charts and other tools, pilots are able to determine their position, safe altitude, best route to a destination, navigation aids along the way, alternative landing areas in case of an in-flight emergency, and other useful information such as radio frequencies and airspace boundaries. There are charts for all land masses on Earth, and long-distance charts for trans-oceanic travel.
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding. This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplanes are aerodynamically streamlined and so can fly a significant distance forward for a small decrease in altitude.
On June 28, 1998, United Airlines Flight 863, a Boeing 747-400 flying United's regularly scheduled transpacific service from San Francisco International Airport to Sydney Airport was forced to shut down one of its right-wing engines and nearly collided with San Bruno Mountain while recovering from the engine failure. The aircraft was able to dump fuel over the Pacific Ocean and return to San Francisco for an overweight landing, but the occurrence prompted United Airlines to change pilot training requirements.