For Newbies

Steyr

Inspired by Goodshape's post about codes in the inflight service topic perhaps this could be stickied about codes and abbreviations?

For instance Irish Airport Codes are as follows:

Abbeyshrule - (EIAB)
Connemara - (EICA)
Ballyboy - (EIMH)
Bantry - (EIBN)
Belmullet - (EIBT)
Birr - (EIBR)
Clonbullogue - (EICL)
Coonagh - (EICN)
Cork - (EICK)
Donegal - (EIDL)
Dublin - (EIDW)
Erinagh- (EIER)
Galway - (EICM)
Hacketstown - (EIHN)
Inisheer - (EIIR)
Inishmaan - (EIMN)
Inishmore - (EIIM)
Kerry - (EIKY)
Kilkenny - (EIKK)
Kilrush - (EIKH)
Knock - (EIKN)
Moyne - (EIMY)
Newcastle - (EINC)
Rathcoole - (EIRT)
Shannon - (EINN)
Sligo - (EISG)
Trevet - (EITT)
Trim - (EITM)
Waterford - (EIWF)
Weston Airport - (EIWT)

Source:http://www.flyinginirelandmagazine.com/main/content/view/16/40/

Feel free to add to this whatever is relevant in getting newbies up to speed?

Steyr

Also some regualr terms we use that other might not know about?

AGL: In aviation, an altitude is said to be above ground level (AGL) when it is measured with respect to the underlying ground surface.

Aerodrome: An aerodrome is a term for any location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve cargo or passengers or neither.

Backtrack: is an airport ground procedure which involves the use of the runway to be used for take-off as a taxiway. The term is used whenever an aircraft uses any portion of the runway as a taxiway and taxis in the opposite direction from which it will take off. The procedure is commonly used at smaller airports and private strips which may not have separate paved taxiways parallel to the runway.

Any more people want to add?

ImDave

I'll throw in my two cents worth:

Aircraft Registrations: (just a small selection!)

EI - Ireland
G- UK
OO - Belgium
N - USA
D - Germany
EC - Spain
VH - Australia
F - France
CS - Portugal

Speeds:

IAS - Indicated Air Speed - What the spedo tells you in the cockpit
TAS - True Air Speed - Speed of the aircraft when wind is factored in
GS - Ground Speed

Also, ATC Calls:
You will often hear: winds 260 degrees, 12 knots. This is written as 260/12. Basically means the wind is comming from a direction of 260*, at a speed of 12 knots.

QNH - Air Pressure in Hectopascals (in the EU, Millibars of mercury in the US)

Information Hotel (for example) - You will hear this constantly on ground and clearance frequencies when an aircraft is requesting start-up/IFR clearance. The letter is updated in the ATIS every 30 minutes normally, stating with Alpha. It is done just to prove to the controller that you have actually listened to the ATIS.

Terrontress

Can anyone explain to me the meanings of the various signs that are to be seen on the various taxiways in large airports?

Steyr

Terrontress wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me the meanings of the various signs that are to be seen on the various taxiways in large airports?

Such as?:)

electric69

Terrontress wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me the meanings of the various signs that are to be seen on the various taxiways in large airports?

Pending on the color of the letters and numbers, and the color of the background they are on, they are signs to identify taxiways and runways.

I presume thats what you are refering to?

electric69

EI-DAV wrote: »

QNH - Air Pressure in Hectopascals (in the EU, Millibars of mercury in the US)

Inches of mercury in the US. e.g 29.92 inches

EI-DAV wrote: »

The letter is updated in the ATIS every 30 minutes normally, stating with Alpha. It is done just to prove to the controller that you have actually listened to the ATIS.

ATIS information is updated upon receipt of any official weather, regardless of content change or reported values. Time has no factor. i.e you can have 2 different ATIS informations in the space of 2 minutes.

Steyr

Terrontress wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me the meanings of the various signs that are to be seen on the various taxiways in large airports?

Do you mean like the signs that would say "D1D2/24"? ?

If so, D1,D2 would be the names of the taxiways, and a number would be the number of one end of the Runway your going to. At Shannon if your going to Runway 06 you would use Taxiway Alpha and once your close enough to the end of the taxiway/start of the runway your about to turn onto you will see a sign saying <-06/24 thats basically saying to your left is the start of 06 and to the right is 24.

If your taxiing to a runway and happen to see a Runway or Taxiway with big yellow X X X X's every few meters that means that is disused.


. . . mean a stop bar


- - - -
- - - -
_____
_____

The above markings are standard for Runway Holding Position Markings.

Steyr

This gives you an idea




Also if you notice one letter is a different colour or shaded or whatever means your on that so if "A" ( Alpha ) is highlighted like above basically thats what taxiway your on. Also if you look at Taxiway "ALPHA" in figure 2 and 4, Taxiway "ALPHA" veers to the right and this is shown in the signs that if you wish to continue on ALPHA then you may do as the sign shows unless you are directed to change taxiway by Ground Control/Tower

Source:http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Taximarkings.png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Taximarkings.png&h=639&w=554&sz=32&hl=en&start=58&um=1&tbnid=VimXmbwQ536b3M:&tbnh=137&tbnw=119&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dairport%2Btaxiway%2Bpics%26start%3D40%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7RNWE%26sa%3DN

highlydebased

D1 is the first section of RWY24 at Shannon, its interesected with 13/31 hence the D1 and D2

RVSM- Reduced vertical serpation minima. For Ireland, south/east bound aircraft go at odd levels, West/north bound go even levels.

SID- standard instrument departure- like LIFFY2A, ABAGU1B, BOYNE1P, standard routing from the end of the runway to the said waypoint (LIFFY etc)

STAR- Standard terminal arrival routing- opposite of SID. routing from end of an airway EG, the UL9 at TIPUR, TIPUR1D is an arrival for 24 at Shannon. It routes onto the ILS, requiring no vectors. STARS into Dublin are non-terminating, they require vectors to ILS, as are alot of STARS. In Germany in particular they use transitions, which bring you from the end of the star to the ILS

ILS-instrument landing system. Localiser aligns with centreline, glideslope on the alt.

Steyr

Phonetic Alphabet

A ALPHA
B BRAVO
C CHARLIE
D DELTA
E ECHO
F FOXTROT
G GOLF
H HOTEL
I INDIA
J JULIET
K KILO
L LIMA
M MIKE
N NOVEMBER
O OSCAR
P PAPA
Q QUEBEC
R ROMEO
S SIERRA
T TANGO
U UNIFORM
V VICTOR
W WHISKEY
X XRAY
Y YANKEE
Z ZULU

Next time your on a flight look at the Aircrafts Registration, over a week ago i travelled on Ryanair to the UK ( Bristol ) her Registration was EI-CSO that is pronounced ECHO INDIA CHARLIE SIERRA OSCAR.

Alot of the time to avoid confusion and to get to the point most ATC ( Air Traffic Control ) will call the Aircraft by her last two or three letters so the above would be SIERRA OSCAR or CHARLIE SIERRA OSCAR

Steyr

ACARS-Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, this is a digital datalink system for transmission of small messages between aircraft and ground stations via radio or satellite.

ETOPS*-Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards, this rule/capability permits twin-engined commercial air transports to fly routes that, at some points, are farther than a distance of 60 minutes flying time from an emergency or diversion airport with one engine inoperative/off.

This rule allows twin-engined airliners—such as the Airbus A300, A310, A320, A330 and A350 families, and the Boeing 737, 757, 767, 777 and 787 and Tupolev Tu-204 —to fly long distance routes that were previously off-limits to twin-engined aircraft.

How do ya think mike O'leary got all those Boeings over here:) well done


Sometimes Aircraft/Engine manufacturers will write ETOPS either on the Fuselage of an Aircraft as seen here:
http://www.airlinersairlinersairliners.net/cvr_tns/China_Southern_777_ETOPS.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1303/531373755_764ca1f77a_o.jpg

Steyr

If you see a Boeing 737 and someone says its a "738" dont worry they are not being thick or arrogant they are pointing out that it is a Boeing 737-800 Series Aircraft its just shortening the numbers, a 744 would be a Boeing 747-400 etc etc.

VOR/DME: VOR, short for VHF Omni-directional Radio Range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. VORs broadcast a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier and data that allows the airborne receiving equipment to derive a magnetic bearing from the station to the aircraft.

DME, short for Distance Measuring Equipment, is a transponder-based radio navigation technology that measures distance by timing the propagation delay of VHF or UHF radio signals. Aircraft use DME to determine their distance from a land-based transponder by sending and receiving pulse pairs - two pulses of fixed duration and separation. The ground stations are typically collocated with VORs.

Steyr

RADAR- RAdio Detection And Ranging.

This is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain.

A radar system has a transmitter that emits microwaves that are reflected by the target and detected by a receiver, typically in the same location as the transmitter. Although the signal returned is usually very weak, the signal can be amplified. This enables radar to detect objects at ranges where other emissions, such as sound or visible light, would be too weak to detect. Radar is used in many contexts, including meteorological detection of precipitation, measuring ocean surface waves, air traffic control, police detection of speeding traffic, and by the military.

electric69

Steyr wrote: »

DME, short for Distance Measuring Equipment, is a transponder-based radio navigation technology that measures distance by timing the propagation delay of VHF or UHF radio signals.

UHF band and is a secondary radar system.
962 to 1213 MHz.

If you want to be picky!:P

Davidth88

In response to Steyr's airport codes , here are some of the more common IATA airport codes that you may see flying from Dublin ( I prefer these because they are the ones you see on your baggage tkts etc )

DUB ... Dublin
SNN ... Shannon
ORK ... Cork
LHR .... London Heathrow
LGW ... London Gatwick
STN .... London Stansted
LTN ... Luton ( no this is not London whatever FR may say )
LCY .... London City Airport ( Docklands )
CDG ... Paris Charles De Gaulle
FCO ... Rome ( Leonardo da Vinci )
AMS ... Amsterdam
JFK ... New York
SFO ... San Francisco
LIN ... Milan ( Linante )
BHX... Birmingham ( UK )
GLA ... Glasgow

Now these are just a sample that come off the top of my head , have a look at wikipedia for a full list, as you may see some of these are obvious some not so , usually because of historic reasons the airport could have been known as something different before it go it's current name, the obvious one in the list above is Rome that was known as Fiumicino until it was re-named sometime ( I think in the late 70's )

Steyr, I had to laugh when I saw your posting to call some of these places airports is a little funny , some are really only landing strips.

By the way is Rathcoole - (EIRT) the Civilian code for Casement ?

highlydebased

I suggest this thread should be renamed to "The A-Z of aviation" instead of "For newbies" lol

robinph

Terrontress wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me the meanings of the various signs that are to be seen on the various taxiways in large airports?

How about the specifics of CAT I or II or III then?

I think it's something to do with how good the ILS is on that runway to allow for bad weather landings, but I'm sure I've seen runways that have multiple ones listed which does not make sense to me. If III is better than II then why would a runway have a sign saying CAT II/ III on it rather than just CAT III?

Or maybe I just remembered it wrong and am now waffleing?

highlydebased

robinph wrote: »

How about the specifics of CAT I or II or III then?

I think it's something to do with how good the ILS is on that runway to allow for bad weather landings, but I'm sure I've seen runways that have multiple ones listed which does not make sense to me. If III is better than II then why would a runway have a sign saying CAT II/ III on it rather than just CAT III?

Or maybe I just remembered it wrong and am now waffleing?

Yes its to do with the weather. Any reasonably good day is Cat 1, even in dull irish weather.

CAT1 is the least accurate, while Cat III is the most accurate. For a Cat III approach to take place both the airport has to have it and aircraft/crew be certified. Only dublin has a CATIII, on runway 28. Shannon and Cork have up to Cat II on all runways.

Anyway, the minima are

Category I (CAT I):
Decision height not lower than 60 m (200 ft) and with either a visibility not less than 800 m or a runway visual range not less than 550 m.

Category II (CAT II):
Decision height lower than 60 m (200 ft), but not lower than 30 m (100 ft), and a runway visual range not less than 350 m.

Category IIIA (CAT IIIA):
a) a decision height lower than 30 m (100 ft) or no decision height; and
b) a runway visual range not less than 200 m.

Category IIIB (CAT IIIB):
a) a decision height lower than 15 m (50 ft) or no decision height; and
b) a runway visual range less than 200 m but not less than 50 m.

Category IIIC (CAT IIIC):
No decision height and no runway visual range limitations.

Davidth88

This should be a sticky of FAQ's or something

ImDave

electric69 wrote: »

Inches of mercury in the US. e.g 29.92 inches

Jes I was thinking millibars of mercury sounded wrong.

On the ATIS thing, I wasn't aware that it was updated when changes occur, because the METAR doesnt update when changes occur. Never heard it updating less than every half hour. Maybe I've just never noticed it.

Terrontress

Steyr wrote: »

Such as?:)

Also, what does "Caution Your Blast" mean? I saw it last week at LCY.

Steyr

Davidth88 wrote: »

Steyr, I had to laugh when I saw your posting to call some of these places airports is a little funny , some are really only landing strips.

By the way is Rathcoole - (EIRT) the Civilian code for Casement ?

They are all the Airports/Airfields/Strips in Ireland.

Rathcoole is also a Airstrip. Rathcoole is in Co. Cork. Grass Strip 09/27.

FlutterinBantam

Terrontress wrote: »

Also, what does "Caution Your Blast" mean? I saw it last week at LCY.

It means be careful with the throttles and avoid jet blast..ie blowing everything behind you to shíte,including passengers boarding another adjacent plane.

Usually happens in tight turning situations.

Ockham

Someone said earlier about the TAS being speed corrected for wind but it aint. TAS is the IAS corrected for temperature and altitiude. For an idea of how it works at a constant IAS as you increase in altitude your TAS increases. Bit more on speeds if your interested.

Calibrated Airspeed (CAS): IAS corrected for Instrument and position errors.

Equivalent Airspeed (EAS): CAS corrected for the effects of compressibility errors at higher speeds.

Mach Number: This is the speed of the aircraft related to the local speed of sound. Its purely a function of temperature. For example Mach 1 at +15 celsius is about 660 knots at -40 its about 595 knots.

Anyone gonna tackle the Q codes?

electric69

This is just going to turn into a spam thread.Im sure people are more than capable of asking questions if they need to. You dont see in the music forum for example, someone typing out every single genre of music that ever existed and every single band that ever existed. Im sure most of the regulars on here could write hundreds of page on aviation info if they wanted to. If there is something specific someone needs to ask, im sure they are more than capable than asking that question in a new thread, and then people can talk specifically about that topic, thus giving the person a lot more info that just a quick one line explanation like they are getting so far here. or maybe its just me?

tracker-man

i'm with you electric69...
Not to mention one poster contradicting another and so on...

highlydebased

Whatever about people explaining soemthing in their own words etc, but they copying and pasting of random info is a bit silly IMO

Ockham

Yup pretty strange to have a thread of random info i only threw in my 2 cents cos im studying this nonsense and happened to have a wizz-wheel in hand. God how i hate the crp-5.

*Kol*

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Whatever about people explaining soemthing in their own words etc, but they copying and pasting of random info is a bit silly IMO

Either way there is the possibility of duff gen being introduced int the thread. Just because it's copied from the net doesn't make it 100% accurate.

Mr Benevolent

Very few non-flyers seem to know the following and it might be helpful.

How Wings Work:

When the plane is moving fast enough, the wings create suction on top. The plane is literally 'sucked' into the air. A 'stall' is when there's not enough suction to sustain controlled flight. Stalling is easy to recover from. The 'flaps' you see at the back of the wings move down during takeoff and landing to allow the wings to create more suction at slow speed.

Easy eh?

(Yeah the above is oversimplified, but it's essentially true. I could go about alpha, airfoils and "1/2 rho vsquared S" but it'd only make it worse).