FIRE ON HIGH
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Several folks have asked about all the aviation and military terms and acronyms used in Fire On High, so I decided to add a glossary. Here you’ll find the definitions for all the words you wondered about, so enjoy, learn, and if you have any ideas about other terms that I need to include, let me know!
A2 – military issue leather or nylon shell flight jacket. Many times a pilot’s most treasured possession, because every wrinkle or stain is a reminder of an adventure.
AAA – Also called triple A, it means Anti-Aircraft Artillery. Those are the guns on the ground that try to shoot an aircraft down.
AAF – Army Air Field
AAM – Air to Air Missile. What the fighters shoot at each other with unless guns are used.
AGB - Air-To-Ground, could be missile or bomb.
AB – Air Base
ADF – Automatic Direction Finder.
AFB – Air Force Base.
Afterburner – A device in the back of high-performance jet engines that injects fuel into the hot exhaust. The resulting explosive burn greatly increases the thrust the engine creates, but uses very large amounts of fuel. Even modern fighters like the F-15 and F-16 can only carry enough fuel to go at maximum afterburner for a few minutes. The T-38 can only fly at full afterburner for about a minute, so discipline and fuel usage awareness are paramount to the military pilot.
Airspace – An area of sky around or above a given point.
Airspeed – the speed of an aircraft through the air surrounding it.
Airspeed Indicator – the gage or device in an aircraft instrument panel that shows the aircraft’s airspeed.
Aileron – small control surface on the wing of an aircraft that controls the roll axis movement.
Altimeter – Gage in an aircraft that shows the aircraft’s altitude, or height above the ground. There are two types, a barometric altimeter, that shows altitude based on air pressure, and a radar altimeter that used radar to measure height.
ALS – Aircrew Life Support
Approach – The part of a flight where the pilot sets the aircraft up to land.
Approach Control – The ATC entity that control aircraft approaching an airfield for a landing.
ATC – Air Traffic Control. – generic term for whichever facility is in charge of controlling aircraft movement through any given area. Usually meaning either a Control Tower at an airfield, an Approach or Departure Control around an airfield, or an Air Traffic Control Center that controls the airspace above 18, 000 feet.
AWACS – Airborne Warning And Control System, In the USAF, a modified Boeing 707 with a large rotating “saucer” radar antenna that is used to direct aircraft in an air battle.
Bank – Rotating the aircraft on its longitudinal, or roll axis, or in English, moving the wings up or down to make a turn smoother or look at the ground better out the side of the aircraft. This movement is controlled buy moveable sections on the wings called Ailerons.
Base – 1) Military base. 2) Aviation term, base is the part of the flight pattern around an airfield flown before turning toward the runway for final approach.
Bearing – the direction something is in relation to the one observing it. Usually expressed in a compass point direction.
Bogey – Pilot slang for an unknown aircraft, probably hostile.
BOQ – Bachelor Officer’s Quarters. Housing, usually apartment-style, for single officers or those assigned away fro their families.
CRT – Cathode Ray Tube, technical term for a small TV screen in an instrument display.
Chaff – strips of foil or other reflective material, fired from the back of an aircraft to defend against radar-guided missiles.
Center – ATC entity that controls aircraft above 18,000 feet.
CO – Commanding Officer.
XO – Executive Officer. Second in Command of a particular unit.
DME – Distance Measuring Equipment, tells the pilot direction and distance to a specified navigation beacon.
Departure Control – The ATC entity that control aircraft departing an airfield.
Downwind – Aviation term. The part of the flight pattern around an airfield when the aircraft is flying parallel to the runway in the opposite direction to the one the pilot intends to land in. Typically done between a half-mile and two miles away from the runway.
Elevator – Control surface on the tail of an aircraft that controls the pitch, of nose up or down, axis. Also, some aircraft have a stabilator, which means the whole horizontal tail wing moves.
ETA - Estimated Time of Arrival
ETD – Estimated Time of Departure
FAC – Forward Air Control, or Controller. A team of furs who find and designate targets to be attacked, can operate on the ground or in an aircraft.
Final – or Final Approach. The last segment of a flight, where the aircraft is lined up with the runway and is brought down for a landing.
Flaps - extendable sections of wing on the trailing edge of the main wings, used to create more lift and allow the aircraft to fly slower.
Flare – 1) a maneuver an aircraft does as it lands, consisting of raising the nose and allowing the aircraft to land on the main landing gear first. This maneuver slows the aircraft and makes the landing gentler. 2) A bright, hot charge of magnesium or phosphorus, used to either show a location, illuminate an area at night, or fired from the back of an aircraft to defend against heat-seeking missiles.
FL### - Aviation way of expressing altitudes 18,000 feet and higher. Said as “Flight Level number, number, number, where the numbers are the altitude in hundreds of feet, i.e. FL240 is an altitude of 24,000 feet above sea level.
Flightline – The portion of an airport, AFB, AAF, or AB where flight operations are conducted, other than the actual runway. It includes the aircraft parking ramps and taxiways. Burt most times not the hangar areas.
G – Force equal to gravity. As used in aviation, expresses the amount of force a maneuver exerts on the pilot. 1 G is one times the force of gravity, 5 G would be five times the force of gravity. If your arm weighs 10 pounds at 1G, then it would weigh 50 pounds at 5G. The G-force also tires to pull the blood from the head to the feet during positive G maneuvers, which can lead to blackout. The opposite is negative G, which pushes the blood into the brain and causes what is called “red-out” a loss of vision due to too much blood in the eyes.
G-Suit – A special garment that contains air bladders that squeeze the pilots legs and lower abdomen to prevent blood from being pulled away from the brain during high-G maneuvers. Wearing one allows a pilot to routinely withstand G-loads of up to 9 to 10 G’s.
Gear – As in Landing gear, the struts and wheels that support an aircraft when it’s on the ground.
Ground Control - ATC entity the controls movement of aircraft while they are on the ground, i.e the taxiways and parking ramps.
Ground Speed - Speed of an aircraft over the ground. Differs from Airspeed because the speed of the wind is added or subtracted.
HSI – Horizontal Situation Indicator. Gage or CRT on a panel that show graphically the aircrafts heading and direction, and the direction and distance to various navigational markers.
Heading – the direction of travel, usually expressed as a compass direction.
HUD – Heads-Up Display. A glass panel in front of the pilot, on top of the instrument panel, where vital fight data, attitude information, and targeting information is projected. This allows the pilot to keep his eyes up and looking outside the aircraft.
ILS – Instrument Landing System.
IMC or IFR – Instrument Meteorological Conditions, or Instrument Flight Rules. Both are terms for weather bad enough so that the pilot had to fly by instruments. Slang “In the soup.”
IFF – Identification Friend or Foe. A radio or radar transponder that allows pilots to tell which is which at a distance.
Kaht – Furry universe equivalent of a domestic housecat.
Kali – Furry universe equivalent of a domestic dog.
MFD – Multi Function Display. CRT in a glass cockpit that shows whatever information the pilot chooses.
NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The
NDB – Non-Directional Beacon. A radio transmitter used as a navigation reference point.
NOTAF – Notice To AirFurs. A notice put out by the FAA of a change in routine at an airfield, a change in status of a navigation route or marker, or an announcement of information of interest to a pilot.
OPFOR – Opposing FORce. In military parlance, another unit that plays the bad guys in an exercise.
PCS – Permanent Change of Station. When a military fur is assigned to a new duty station, as opposed to a temporary assignment.
PFD – Primary Flight Display. CRT in a glass cockpit that shows the primary flight data, i.e. altitude, attitude, airspeed.heading.
PPT -- Primary Pilot Training, the initial training Air Force pilots go through, comducted in the Cessna T-37 Tweety Bird, or Tweet subsonic trainer.
Pitch – Movement of the aircraft on its horizontal axis, or in English moving the nose up or down. This movement is controlled by the control surfaces small wings in the back of the aircraft, or the whole wing itself. That control is called either the elevator or stabilator.
RAMP – 1) the movable part on the side or back of an aircraft that opens and lowers to ease loading and unloading. 2) The area of an airfield set aside for parking aircraft, specifically the area designated for aircraft belonging to the same unit or company.
Roll – movement of an aircraft around its longitudinal axis, i.e. perform a barrel roll, roll out on target.
ROTC -- Either said as individual letters, or called "ROT-Cee" in milspeak parlance, it means Reserve Officer Training Corps. One of three ways to become an officer in the Air Force. When a young fur doesn't go throught the Academy, but attends a regular college, they can join ROTC and be comissioned as officers after they graduate. The 3rd way is to earn a college degree without joining ROTC, and then go through the 3-month Officer Cadidate School at Lackland AFB, TX. Officers that go through OCS are nicknamed "90-day Wonders." OCS is also the way enlisted furs who earn a degree can earn a comission as an officer.
Rudder – Control surface on the back of an aircraft’s vertical stabilizer, or “tail” that controls the yaw, or right and left movement of the aircraft.
Runway – the portion of an airfield that aircraft take off and land on.
RP – Rendezvous Point
SAM – Surface to Air Missile.
SAM Site – Location a SAM is launched from, or the radar used to guide a SAM to its target.
SP – Security Policefur. The guys in charge of base security.
Speed Brake – A part on the aircraft, either on the wings or back of the fuselage, that raises to slow the aircraft. Used mostly to prevent too much speed form building up when slow-flying or in a dive.
TPS – Test Pilot School.
Taxiway – Areas on an airfield that give access to the runways from the aircraft parking areas.
Thrust Reverser – A set of clamshell-like deflectors that deploy on the back of a jet engine to re-direct the engine thrust forward to slow the aircraft on the ground.
Tower – Control tower, a tower on an airfield that sits high enough so that controllers can see the whole field. Controls the runways and traffic within 5 Nautical Miles.
Transponder – a device carried on aircraft that responds with a signal when a radar beam hits it. ATC usually assigns each aircraft unique 4-digit code when the aircraft contacts them. This allows the Air Traffic Controller to easily spot each target on his scope. The transponder also relays the aircraft’s speed, heading, and altitude to the radar.
UPT -- Upgrade Pilot Training, the second phase of Air Force flight training, conducted in the T-38 Talon supersonic training aircraft, of which Alex's Stripes One is a modified version.
VMC or VFR – Visual Meteorological Conditions or Visual Flight Rules. Both are terms for weather conditions good enough so that the pilot can fly by sight because he can see the ground. Slang “Clear, blue, and 22.” Also “CAVU, Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited.”
VOQ – Visiting Officer’s Quarters. Hotel-style rooms for officers on temporary assignment or in transit.
VOR – VHF Omni-directional Range. A system of radio transmitters used in navigation, it lets a pilot know the direction to the transmitter. A VORTAC combines a VOR with a military TACAN, which is the military version of the same thing. Many VOR’s and VORTACs also have DME equipment (Distance Measuring Equipment) which lets the pilot them know the direction and distance to the transmitter, allowing single-point location fixes.
WSO -- Weapons System Officer or Wizzo , the guy in the back seat of a two-seat fighter that controls teh weapons systems, electronic warefare systems, and radar, leaving the pilot to concentrate on flying.
YAW – movement of an aircraft around its vertical axis. In English, changing the direction the nose is pointing. Movement around this axis is controlled by the rudder, a moveable surface on the back of the vertical tail.
Zulu – as applies to time, a short way of saying Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT. which is the time at zero degrees longitude at Greenwich,