Glossary Part I Acronyms/Data Terminology AC -- Air Carrier. AFSS -- Automated Flight Service Station. AIFSS -- Automated International Flight Service Station. ARTCC -- Air Route Traffic Control Center. AT -- Air Taxi. ATCT -- Airport Traffic Control Tower. Centers -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) CERAP -- ARTCC/TRACON. CY -- Calendar Year. Departures -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: IFR Departures. Domestic -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Domestic. DVFR -- Defense Visual Flight Rules. FAA -- Federal Aviation Administration. FSS -- Flight Service Station. FY -- Fiscal Year. GA -- General Aviation. IFR -- Instrument Flight Rules. Instrument Operations Only -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Instrument Operations. Instrument Operations Summary -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Instrument Operations. IFSS -- International Flight Service Station.
Itinerant -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Airport Operations. Local -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Airport Operations. MIL -- Military. NOTAMS -- Notices to Airmen. Oceanics -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Oceanics. Overflights -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Instrument Operations. Overs -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: IFR Overs. Primary -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Instrument Operations. Primary Facilities Only -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Instrument Operations. Secondary -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Instrument Operations. Stage III/TCA Only -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Instrument Operations. TAFS -- Total Automated Flight Services. TIBS -- Telephone Information Briefing Service. Total Handled -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: IFR Aircraft Handled. Towers -- see Glossary, Part II, Definitions: Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT). TRACON -- Terminal Radar Approach Control. VFR -- Visual Flight Rules. Glossary Part II Defintions Air Carrier (AC) -- an aircraft with seating capacity of more than 60 seats or a maximum payload capacity of more than 18,000 pounds carrying passengers or cargo for hire or compensation. This includes US and foreign flagged carriers.. Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) -- a facility established to provide air traffic control service to aircraft operating on an IFR flight plan within controlled
airspace and principally during the en route phase of flight. When equipment capabilities and controller workload permit, certain advisory/assistance service may be provided to VFR aircraft. Air Taxi (AT) -- aircraft designed to have a maximum seating capacity of 60 seats or less or a maximum payload capacity of 18,000.pounds or less carrying passengers or cargo for hire or compensation. Air Traffic -- aircraft operating in the air or on airport surfaces, exclusive of loading ramps and parking areas. Aircraft Contacted -- aircraft with which the flight service stations have established radio communications contact. One count is made for each en route landing or departing aircraft contacted by a flight service station regardless of the number of contacts made with an individual aircraft during the same flight. A flight contacting five FSSs would be counted as five aircraft contacted. Aircraft Handled -- see IFR Aircraft Handled. Airport -- an area on land or water that is used or intended to be used for the landing and takeoff of aircraft and includes its buildings and facilities, if any. Airport Advisory Service -- a service provided by flight service stations at airports not served by a control tower. This service consists of providing information to arriving and departing aircraft concerning wind direction/speed-favored runway, altimeter setting, pertinent known traffic/field conditions, airport taxi routes/traffic patterns, and authorized instrument approach procedures. This information is advisory in nature and does not constitute an ATC clearance. Airport Operations -- the number of arrivals and departures from the airport at which the airport traffic control tower is located. There are two types of operations: local and itinerant. 1. Local operations are performed by aircraft which: (a) operate in the local traffic pattern or within sight of the airport; (b) are known to be departing for, or arriving from, flight in local practice areas located within a 20-mile radius of the airport; (c) execute simulated instrument approaches or low passes at the airport. 2. Itinerant operations are all aircraft operations other than local operations.
Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) -- A terminal facility which, through the use of air/ground communications, visual signaling, and other devices, provides air traffic control services to airborne aircraft operating in the vicinity of an airport and to aircraft operating on the movement area. FAA-contracted -- are low activity VFR ATCTs providing air traffic control services for a municipality or subdivision thereof while under contract to the FAA. The municipality has the option of using its own employees or subcontracting for these services. FAA facilities -- are ATCTs providing anywhere from full radar approach control services to low activity VFR air traffic control services. These towered airports are staffed by FAA air traffic controllers. Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) -- see Flight Service Station. Automated International Flight Service Station (AIFSS) -- see International Flight Service Station. Calendar Year -- begins January 1 of a given year and ends December 31of the same year. Center Radar Approach Control (CERAP) -- an air traffic facility which combines the functions of an ARTCC with a TRACON facility. Defense Visual Flight Rules (DVFR) -- Rules applicable to flights within an Air Defense Identification Zone conducted under the visual flight rules in Federal Air Regulation, Part 91. Domestic -- en route IFR departures or overs which occur over land. Fiscal Year -- begins October 1 of previous calendar year and ends September 30 of the current calendar year. Flight Plans Originated -- the first flight service station which receives a flight plan, a Special VFR clearance request, or a flight plan en route change, as long as it is not relayed by means of an automated installation or if the en route change does not impact the original route or destination. It does include an activated prefiled flight plan. Flight Service Station (FSS) -- air traffic service facilities which provide preflight pilot briefings and en route communications with VFR flights, assist lost IFR/DVFR & VFR aircraft, assist aircraft having emergencies, relay air traffic control clearances, originate, classify, and disseminate NOTAMS, broadcast aviation weather and national airspace system information, receive and close flight plans, monitor radio navigational aids, notify search & rescue units of missing VFR aircraft and operate the national weather teletypewriter
systems. In addition, at selected locations, FSSs take weather observations, issue airport advisories, administer airmen written examinations, and advise Customs & Immigration of transborder flights. General Aviation (GA) -- takeoffs and landings of all civil aircraft, except those classified as air carriers or air taxis. IFR Aircraft Handled -- the number of ARTCC en route IFR departures multiplied by two, plus the number of en route IFR overs. This formula assumes that the number of departures (acceptances, extensions, and organizations of IFR flight plans) is equal to the number of arrivals (IFR flight plans closed). IFR Departures -- an en route IFR flight which originates in an ARTCC s area and enters that center s airspace. IFR Overs -- an en route IFR flight that originates outside the ARTCC s area and passes through the area without landing. Instrument Approaches -- approach made to an airport by an aircraft with an IFR flight plan: 1. when visibility is less than 3 miles or ceiling is at or below the minimum initial approach altitude. 2. where no weather reporting service is available at nontower satellite airports, the following criteria, in descending order, is used to determine valid instrument approaches: (a) a pilot report, (b) if the flight has not canceled its IFR flight plan prior to reaching the initial approach fix, (c) the official weather as reported for any airport located within 30 miles of the airport to which the approach is made. Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) -- rules governing the procedures for conducting instrument flight. Instrument Operations -- arrivals or departures of an aircraft in accordance with an IFR flight plan {Instruments Operations only} or special VFR procedures {Stage III/TCA Operations only} or an operation where IFR separation between aircraft is provided by a
terminal control facility. {The Instrument Operations Summary selection combines the Instrument Operations with the Stage III/TCA.} There are three kinds of instrument operations: 1. Primary Instrument Operations: departures or arrivals at the primary airport which is normally the airport at which the approach control facility is located. 2. Secondary Instrument Operations: arrivals and departures at all the secondary airports combined. 3. Overflights: operations in which an aircraft transits the area without intent to land. NOTE: {The selection of Only Primary Facilities will exclude the data from terminals which do not provide full radar service.} International Flight Service Station (IFSS) -- a central operations facility in the flight advisory system, manned and equipped to control aeronautical point-to-point telecommunications, and air/ground telecommunications with pilots operating over international territory or waters, providing flight plan following, weather information, search and rescue action, and other flight assistance operations. Itinerant -- see Airport Operations. Local -- see Airport Operations. Military -- all classes of military takeoffs and landings at FAA and FAA-contracted facilities. Notices to Airmen (NOTAMS) -- a notice containing information (not known sufficiently in advance to publicize by other means) concerning the establishment, condition, or change in any component (facility, service or procedure of, or hazard in the national airspace system) the timely knowledge of which is essential to personnel concerned with flight operations. Oceanics -- en route IFR departures or overs which occur over the ocean. Overflights -- a terminal IFR flight that originates outside the TRACON s/rapcon s/radar ATCT s area and passes through the area without landing. For en route (ARTCC) overflights, see IFR OVERS. Overs -- See IFR OVERS.
Pilot Briefs -- a service provided by all types of flight service stations to assist pilots in flight planning. Briefing items may include weather information, NOTAMS, military activities, flow control information, and other items as requested. Radio Contacts -- the initial radio call-up to a flight service station by en route aircraft, which includes a complete interchange of information and a termination of the contact. Telephone Information Briefing Service (TIBS) -- a continuous telephone recording of meteorological and/or aeronautical information. Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) -- an FAA air traffic control facility using radar and air/ground communications to provide approach control services to aircraft arriving, departing, or transiting the airspace controlled by the facility. Service may be provided to both civil and military airports. Total Automated Flight Services (TAFS) -- is the sum of TFS, plus TIBS, plus NOTAMS. Total Flight Services (TFS) -- is the sum of flight plans originated and pilots briefs multiplied by two, plus the number of aircraft contacted. Visual Flight Rules -- rules that govern the procedures to conducting flight under visual conditions. The term is also used in the US to indicate weather conditions that are equal to or greater than minimum VFR requirements. In addition, it is used by pilots and controllers to indicate type of flight plan.