February — Page 24, Lesson 28

I want to walk you through a set of aviation abbreviations and definitions that you'll see in communications and flight planning. These are the standard shorthand used in messages, charts, and radio exchanges, so you need to know them cold. Let's start with weather and visibility terms. FG stands for Fog. FZ means Freezing, so FZDZ is Freezing Drizzle, FZRA is Freezing Rain, and FZFG is Freezing Fog — that's fog where the water droplets are supercooled and freeze on contact. FU is Smoke, GR is Hail, and GS can mean either Ground Speed or Small hail and/or snow pellets — context tells you which. HZ isn't listed here, but you'll see it elsewhere. Now for airspace and service providers. FIR — that's Flight Information Region, the large airspace volume where a country provides flight information and alerting services. FIC is the Flight Information Centre, the unit that provides that service. FIS is Flight Information Service itself — the actual service of giving information useful for safe flight. FISA is Automated Flight Information Service, where the broadcast is recorded or computer-generated rather than given by a human controller. FSS is Flight Service Station, another type of advisory facility. FMS is Flight Management System — the onboard computer that manages navigation and performance. FMU is Flow Management Unit, and FMP is Flow Management Position — these are the people and units that manage traffic flow to prevent overload. Let's move to flight plan and route terms. FPL is Filed Flight Plan — and it's also a message type designator, meaning when you see FPL in a message header, it's a filed flight plan message. FPR is Flight Plan Route. FR is Fuel Remaining — critical information you'd pass in a position report or emergency call. FLT is Flight, and FLY is Fly or Flying. Altitude and level terms: FL is Flight Level — that's a pressure altitude expressed in hundreds of feet, like FL350 means 35,000 feet on the standard pressure setting. FLAS is Flight Level Allocation Scheme, the system that assigns cruising levels based on direction of flight. FT is Feet, the dimensional unit. FPM is Feet Per Minute, used for rate of climb or descent. Approach and landing terms: FNA is Final Approach. FSL is Full Stop Landing — a landing that comes to a complete stop, not a touch-and-go. FLD is Field, meaning an aerodrome or landing area. GRASS is Grass Landing Area, and GRVL is Gravel. Gauge — this one is specific: it indicates distance between two rows of runway lights, so it's a way of describing runway width or light spacing. Navigation and system terms: GNSS is Global Navigation Satellite System — the umbrella term for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, etc. GEO means Geographic or True, as in true north versus magnetic. GCA is Ground Controlled Approach System or Ground Controlled Approach — a radar-based approach where a controller gives you azimuth and elevation instructions. GP is Glide Path, the vertical guidance path to the runway. Communication terms: G/A is Ground-to-Air, G/A/G is Ground-to-Air and Air-to-Ground — both directions. FREQ is Frequency. FM is From, and FM ... with a time means From (followed by time weather change is forecast to begin) — you'll see this in TAFs. FLW is Follow(s) or Following. FLG is Flashing. FLR is Flares. FLUC is Fluctuating, Fluctuation, or Fluctuated. FLTCK is Flight Check — a calibration flight for navaids. FRNG is Firing, as in military firing ranges. FRONT with a dagger means Front (Relating to Weather). FRQ is Frequent. FST is First. FTT is Flight Technical Tolerance — the allowable deviation in navigation performance. Time and general: FRI is Friday. GEN is General or Generally. GES is Ground Earth Station — the ground terminal for satellite communications. GLD is Glider. GND is Ground. GNDCK is Ground Check. GVS is Gas Venting Site — a location where gas is released, relevant for avoiding hazardous areas. Finally, meteorological data: GRID means Processed meteorological data in the form of grid point values (in aeronautical meteorological code) — this is how numerical weather models output data at specific latitude/longitude grid points. FOQNH is Forecast Regional QNH — the forecast barometric pressure setting for a region. And GAT is General Air Traffic — all traffic that isn't state aircraft or military operating under special rules. That figure shows how VHF frequencies and channel spacing work — we'll come back to that when we talk about radio tuning. For now, just know these abbreviations are your vocabulary for every flight plan, weather report, and radio call you'll make.