PILOT TALK

Here are a few of the terms you're likely to encounter during your training with Langa Air Academy.

Aerobatics: Flight that commonly involves barrel rolls, spins, and other high-performance maneuvers.

Aileron: A movable surface on the back of the wings that changes the roll of the airplane.

Airfoil: A curved body, such as a wing, that causes lift when air moves over it.

Air Transport Pilot: A pilot who has completed the Federal Aviation Administration's requirements for the Air Transport Pilot certificate, including a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight time and passing a knowledge exam and flight test.

Airworthy: The state of being capable of flight, usually referring to an airplane's mechanical condition.

Avionics: The radios and navigation instruments.

Check Ride: The "driver's test" a pilot takes in the airplane to earn a certificate or rating. Also known as the Practical Test.

Commercial Pilot: A pilot who has completed the Federal Aviation Administration's requirements for the commercial certificate, including a minimum of 250 hours of flight time and passing a knowledge exam and flight test.

Currency: Meeting the legal requirements to exercise the pilot certificate. Usually, it requires a certain number of hours of flight time over a given period of time.

Dead Reckoning: A method of navigation that requires a pilot to fly a certain direction for a certain time at a certain speed to reach a destination a known distance away.

Elevators: Moveable sections of the tail that pitch the nose up or down.

Federal Aviation Administration: The division of the U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates aviation, including pilot certification and aircraft operations.

Flaps: The movable section of the wing that increases lift and drag and allows for slower, steeper descents during landing.

Flight computer: A manual slide rule or electronic calculator used to determine wind correction, fuel consumption, airspeed, and other performance calculations during flight planning.

Flight Review: A review of flying skills and aviation knowledge conducted by a flight instructor every two years.

Flight Training Center: A training facility used by corporate, charter, and airline pilots to learn to fly sophisticated aircraft in elaborate, high-tech simulators that realistically replicate flight.

Global Positioning System (GPS): An array of stationary satellites that allows users to locate their exact position on the earth.

Horizontal stabilizers: The horizontal sections of the tail that include the elevators.

Instrument flight: A flight solely by reference to the cockpit instruments during low visibility or bad weather.

Instrument weather conditions: Weather that includes reduced visibility and cloud ceilings that require a pilot to fly by reference to his or her cockpit instruments.

Knowledge exam: The written test on theoretical material required by pilots, such as regulations, aerodynamics, and weather.

Logbook: A register book that lists a pilot's flight time, instructor endorsements, and completed training topics.

Main Gear: The landing gear underneath the fuselage of the aircraft; usually under the cockpit.

Medical Certificate: A legal document issued by an aviation doctor stating a pilot is physically fit to fly. A valid medical certificate is required to be in the possession of the pilot during all flights, and it serves as a student pilot certificate while the holder is training.

Multiengine Aircraft: An aircraft with two or more engines.

Non-towered Airport: An airport without air traffic control; pilots fly into and out of these airport using standard operating procedures to avoid one another.

Nose Gear: The landing gear nearest the nose of the aircraft in a tricycle-gear airplane.

Part 61: A section of aviation regulations describing pilot training at flight schools, including subject matter and flight-time minimums. Most flight schools train their students according to Part 61.

Part 141: A section of aviation regulations describing training at flight academies, such as universities. Because of the intensive, structured nature of these training programs, their students are permitted lower minimum flight-time requirements than those at Part 61 schools; the material covered, though, is identical, since all student pilots must meet the performance criteria published in the Practical Test Standards.

Pilotage: Navigating by reference to a map and visible landmarks.

Pitch: The up and down movement of the aircraft's nose about the center of gravity.

Practical Exam: The "driver's test" a new pilot takes in the airplane to earn a pilot certificate. Also known as a "check ride."

Practical Test Standards: The guidelines published by the Federal Aviation Administration outlining the minimum pilot performance on practical exams.

Private Pilot: A pilot who has completed the Federal Aviation Administration's requirements for the private certificate, including a minimum of 40 hours of flight time and passing a knowledge exam and flight test.

Recurrent Training: Annual or semi-annual training used to refresh a pilot's knowledge and skills in a variety of flight situations, including in-flight emergencies.

Regional Airline: A commuter airline.

Roll: The rotation of the airplane around its nose-to-tail axis.

Rudder: Section of the tail that moves the nose to the left or right. Rudder pedals: Foot pedals in the cockpit that control the rudder, brakes, and steering of the aircraft.

Sailplane: An airplane that flies without assistance of an engine. Also known as a glider.

Stability: The ability of an aircraft to return to level flight on its own after the controls are moved.

Tailwheel Airplane: An airplane with a small wheel underneath the tail of the aircraft, and two larger wheels under the wings. Also called "conventional gear" aircraft.

Type Rating: A rating to a pilot's certificate that states he or she is able to fly a particular type of sophisticated or large aircraft, such as a Cessna Citation X business jet.

Unimproved Airport: An airport with runways made of grass, dirt, or gravel, instead of concrete or asphalt.

Vertical Stabilizers: The upright portion of the aircraft's "tail."

Visual Flight: A flight made by referencing the horizon and other outside landmarks.

Yaw: The level, "wagging" back-and-forth movement of the aircraft's nose about its center of gravity.