Aviation Legal Terms

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Above sea level (ASL): Distance of the aircraft above the average sea level.

Absolute: A standard, fixed reference, as opposed to moving reference.

Acceleration East: Aircraft acceleration in true east direction.

Acceleration North: Aircraft acceleration in true north direction.

Acceleration: Rate of change of velocity, either scalar or vector.

Accelerometer: An inertial device for measuring acceleration, usually in three orthogonal axes; accelerometers usually consist of a mass, spring, and damper; accelerometers are usually included in inertial sensors, such as AHRS and INS.

Accept: Granted the ability to proceed with a position update usually by an operator.

Accuracy: Measure of exactness, possibly expressed in percent.

Acquire: To begin reception of useful data

Activate: To begin performing a mission objective, such as flying along a radial of a radio station; usually refers to a mode of radio navigation, such flying along that radial after capturing that radial.

ADC: Air data computer.

ADDR: Air data dead reckoning.

ADF: Automatic Direction Finding.

Administrator: The Federal Aviation Administrator or any person to whom he has delegated his authority in the matter concerned.

Advisory: A signal to indicate safe or normal configuration, condition of performance, operation of essential equipment, or to attract attention and impart information for routine action purposes.

AFCS: Automatic flight control system.

Affidavit: A written statement under oath.

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AGL: Above ground level.

AGR Slant Range: Straight-line distance from the aircraft to a point on the ground.

AGR: Air-ground ranging.

Agreement: Mutual assent between two or more parties; normally leads to a contract; may be verbal or written.

AHOV: Approach to hover.

AHRS: Attitude Heading Reference System.

Aiding: A process by which one or more sensors provide data to another sensor to produce results better than any single sensor; aiding occurs at the data source level or at the physical device level, depending upon specific implementation of the device and the data source (choice of implementation is transparent above the data source); aiding is automatically controlled by software without input from an operator; a basic control to a data source from navigation, radio navigation, or other devices.

Aileron: A control surface on fixed-wing aircraft, usually mounted on the aft edge of wings, which controls roll, and is controlled by the wheel.

Air Carrier: A person who undertakes directly by lease, or other arrangement, to engage in air transportation.

Air Commerce: Interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce or the transportation of mail by aircraft or any operation or navigation of aircraft within the limits of any Federal airway or any operation or navigation of aircraft which directly affects, or which may endanger safety in, interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce.

Air Data Computer (ADC): A primary navigation data source used in Aviation. A navigation sensor based on atmospheric data sensors; usually measures static pressure, dynamic pressure, and outside air temperature; sometimes computes other atmospheric data, such as indicated airspeed, Mach number, calibrated airspeed, as a guidance mode, ADC is least accurate of the listed modes and is used only as a last resort.

Air Data Dead Reckoning: Dead reckoning navigation based on simple instruments as source (barometric altimeter, magnetic compass, airspeed indicator, known wind conditions); sometimes called dead reckoning.

Air Taxi: An aircraft operator who conducts operations for hire or compensation in accordance with FAR Part 135 in an aircraft with 30 or fewer passenger seats and a payload capacity of 7,500 or less. An air taxi operates

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on an on demand basis and does not meet the "flight scheduled" qualifications of a commuter.

Air Traffic Clearance: An authorization by air traffic control, for the purpose of preventing collision between known aircraft, for an aircraft to proceed under specified traffic conditions within controlled airspace.

Air Traffic Control: A service operated by appropriate authority to promote the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic.

Air Traffic Control: Standard aviation term used for the team of people that direct the planes, develop flight patterns and stress the alleviation of aviation accidents.

Air Traffic: Aircraft operating in the air or on an airport surface, exclusive of loading ramps and parking areas.

Air Transportation: Interstate, overseas, or foreign air transportation or the transportation of mail by aircraft.

Aircraft Engine: An engine that is used or intended to be used for propelling aircraft. It includes turbosuperchargers, appurtenances, and accessories necessary for its functioning, but does not include propellers.

Aircraft: A craft that flies in the air; either has fixed or rotary wings.

Aircraft: A device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air.

Airframe: The fuselage, booms, nacelles, cowlings, fairings, airfoil surfaces (including rotors but excluding propellers and rotating airfoils of engines), and landing gear of an aircraft and their accessories and controls.

Air-Ground Ranging: Straight-line distance from the aircraft to a point on the ground.

Air-Mass Flight Path Angle: Angle in vertical plane of earthspeed vector and groundspeed vector; occasional is used as the definition for flight path angle.

Airplane: An engine-driven fixed-wing aircraft heavier than air, which is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings.

Airport: An area of 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.

Airship: An engine-driven lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered.

Airy: A standard model for computing earth data.

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Alert Area: An alert area is established to inform pilots of a specific area wherein a high volume of pilot training or an unusual type of aeronautical activity is conducted.

Alignment: A basic control to a data source from controls and displays to align a device. Alignment may also be referred to as a procedure to align physical devices, usually navigation sensors, so that they provide the most accurate results possible.

Alternate Airport: An airport at which an aircraft may land if a landing at the intended airport becomes inadvisable.

Altimeter: A device to measure altitude, either barometric altitude or radar altitude

ALTINTVAL: Altitude integral input.

Altitude Engine: A reciprocating aircraft engine having a rated takeoff power that is producible from sea level to an established higher altitude.

Altitude Error Scale Factor: A guidance control law parameter, generated by the vertical guidance modes; varies control authority of vertical guidance.

Altitude Error: A basic output from guidance to flight director, indicating the difference between actual altitude and desired altitude.

Altitude Integral Gain: A guidance control law parameter, generated by the vertical guidance modes; varies control authority of the altitude integral in vertical guidance, to reduce steady-state errors in altitude situations.

Altitude Integral Input: A guidance control law parameter, generated by the vertical guidance modes; a reference altitude for reducing steady-state errors in altitude situation.

Altitude Integral Limit: A guidance control law parameter, generated by the vertical guidance modes; limits the magnitude of altitude integral.

Altitude: Height, usually with respect to the terrain below (radar altitude, feet above closest dirt) or fixed earth reference (barometric altitude, feet above mean sea level).

Angle of Attack: The difference between pitch and the air-referenced flight path angle; the angle between the aircraft center line and the airspeed vector in the vertical plane, positive when the nose is up.

Angular Acceleration: Rate of change of angular velocity, either scalar or vector, often with subscripts such as XYZ to denote the coordinate frame; time derivative of angular position; time integral of angular acceleration.

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Angular Position: Amount of rotation about an axis, either scalar or vector, often with subscripts such as XYZ to denote the coordinate frame; time integral of angular velocity.

Angular Velocity: Rate of change of rotation about an axis, either scalar or vector, often with subscripts such as XYZ to denote the coordinate frame; time derivative of angular position; time integral of angular acceleration.

Annunciator: Any one of warning, caution, or advisory; synonyms with alert.

Answer: Pleading filed by the defendant that responds to a complaint, petition, or motion.

Aperiodic: A process that executes based on events rather than a fixed rate, it is not synchronized to other processes of interest.

Appeal: A request to the higher court for review of the lower court’s decision and to request a reversal of the judgment.

Appliance: Any instrument, mechanism, equipment, part, apparatus, appurtenance, or accessory, including communications equipment, that is used or intended to be used in operating or controlling an aircraft in flight, is installed in or attached to the aircraft, and is not part of an airframe, engine, or propeller.

Approach (APPR): To fly towards a point; a basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance, longitudinal guidance, and vertical guidance to a point at an operator selected groundspeed and radar altitude.

Approach to Hover (AHOV): Hover approach of a rotary wing aircraft.

Arbitration: The procedure by which a dispute may be resolved by a person who is not a judge. Arbitration is often used to limit legal costs to both parties.

Arbitrator: A person who conducts an arbitration.

Area Navigation: A method of navigation that permits aircraft operations on any desired course within the coverage of station-referenced navigation signals or within the limits of self-contained system capability.

Arm: To strive for a mission objective, such as flying toward a radial of a radio station; usually refers to a mode of radio navigation, such as striving to reach a specific radial of a radio station prior to flying along that radial.

ASL: Above sea level.

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Assumption of Risk: A doctrine that states if the plaintiff has knowingly accepted the danger of doing something, recovery from the defendant in an action brought for negligence will be barred.

Astronomical Latitude: Latitude measured with respect to vector of apparent gravity;

ATC: Air Traffic Control.

Atmospheric Data: Environmental data related to the atmosphere at some point of interest.

Attitude Heading Reference System: Combines information from a Magnetic Heading Sensor with self-contained aircraft acceleration data to provide attitude, heading, position, body inertial velocity, and body inertial acceleration. Typically a low-accuracy, self-contained navigation source using strap-down accelerometers.

Attitude: The primary aircraft angles in the state vector; pitch, roll, and yaw.

Australian National: A standard model for computing earth data.

Automatic Direction Finding: A basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance to a radio station.

Automatic Flight Control System: An automated system for controlling the primary flight controls, often with built-in functions for guidance and flight direction and sometimes radio navigation. Many flight control systems accept flight director inputs so that its radio navigation, guidance, and flight director can be bypassed.

Autopilot: A mode of an automatic flight control system which controls primary flight controls to meet specific mission objectives, such as maintain a heading or altitude.

Averaging Filter: A filter for combining multiple data sources, usually of the same type, by adding with weighted averages.

Aviation Trust Fund: A federal reserve of tax monies levied on airline tickets and operations and set aside to improve the U.S. air transportation system.

AVM: Avionics monitor.

Axis: One direction in an orthogonal reference frame.

Azimuth: An angle in the horizontal plane, usually measured with respect to body coordinates.

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BALT SEL: Barometric altitude select.

Band-Pass Filter: A filter that allows frequencies between two cutoff frequencies to pass while attenuating frequencies outside the cutoff frequencies; a band-pass filter can be constructed as the composition of a low-pass filter and a high-pass filter.

Bank Angle: The angle between the horizontal plans and the right wing in the lateral plane, positive when the right wing is down.

Barometric Altitude Select: A basic guidance mode, providing vertical guidance to an operator selected barometric altitude.

Barometric Altitude: Height with respect to fixed earth reference (above mean sea level).

Barometric Pressure: Height with respect to fixed earth reference (barometric altitude, feet above mean sea level).

BC: Bus Controller.

Bench Trial: A trial without a jury. The judge rules on facts and evidence presented to him.

Bessel 1841: A standard model for computing earth data.

Bias: An offset applied to a measurement for error correction.

BIS: Built-in simulation

Black Out Dates: Not available. Dates on which tickets or certain fares are not available. Blackout dates usually coincide with holidays and peak travel seasons.

Body Coordinates: Coordinates referenced to the body of the aircraft.

Body: The aircraft, usually referring to a coordinate system.

Boresight Angle: The angle between the center line of a sensor and aircraft center line, either by design or by misalignment.

Boresighting: A basic control to a data source from controls and displays to boresight a device. Also, known as a procedure to align the center line of physical devices, usually update sensors, so that they provide the most accurate results possible; a basic control to a data source from controls and displays; commonly required by FLIR, MMR; boresight procedures commonly

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result in correction factors to be downloaded from the host processor to the device; during boresighting, the device is usually not available.

BPF: Band-pass filter.

BRG: Bearing.

Bucket Shop: A consolidator; any retail outlet dealing in discounted airfares.

Built-in simulation: Function in avionics software that simulates sensors, aircraft, and pilot, to exercise avionics software (including navigation, radio navigation, guidance and flight director). BIS is often used by a development team to check basic operation following installation of new software or patches. BIS is seldom used by aircraft flight crews or maintenance crews.

Burden of Proof: The obligation of one party in a suit to prove all the requirements necessary to show entitlement to recovery. If the burden is not met, the party with the burden will lose the issue or the case.

Bus Controller: A term used to define the role of a device on a MIL-STD-1553 bus as being maste

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Calibrated Airspeed: Indicated airspeed corrected for instrumentation errors, but not for air density.

Calibration: A basic control to a data source from controls and displays for calibrating a device. Calibration is also a procedure used to adjust physical devices so that they provide the most accurate results possible. Calibration procedures commonly result in correction factors to be downloaded from the host processor of the device; during calibration, the device is usually not available.

Cant Angle: Angle of nacelle mounting.

Capture Criterion: A test case used to determine if an armed objective has been captured. In avionics, an aircraft might have an objective to fly to a radial of a radio station, then to fly along it. While en route, the objective is armed, meaning that the crew and software are attempting to reach the radial. The radial is captured and the objective is met when the capture criteria is met. An objective can have multiple criteria. Capture criterion are often used with radio navigation to determine a transition from armed to active.

Capture: To attain an objective, such as reaching a radial of a radio station.

CAS: Calibrated airspeed.

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Casualty: A loss of property due to fire, storm shipwreck or other casualty, which is allowable as a deduction in computing taxable income.

Category as defined by the FAA:(1) As used with respect to the certification, ratings, privileges, and limitations of airmen, means a broad classification of aircraft. Examples include: airplane; rotorcraft; glider; and lighter-than-air; and (2) As used with respect to the certification of aircraft, means a grouping of aircraft based upon intended use or operating limitations. Examples include: transport, normal, utility, acrobatic, limited, restricted, and provisional. "Category A," with respect to transport category rotorcraft, means multiengine rotorcraft designed with engine and system isolation features specified in Part 29 and utilizing scheduled takeoff and landing operations under a critical engine failure concept which assures adequate designated surface area and adequate performance capability for continued safe flight in the event of engine failure. "Category B," with respect to transport category rotorcraft, means single-engine or multiengine rotorcraft which do not fully meet all Category A standards. Category B rotorcraft have no guaranteed stay-up ability in the event of engine failure and unscheduled landing is assumed. "Category II operations", with respect to the operation of aircraft, means a straight-in ILS approach to the runway of an airport under a Category II ILS instrument approach procedure issued by the Administrator or other appropriate authority. "Category III operations," with respect to the operation of aircraft, means an ILS approach to, and landing on, the runway of an airport using a Category III ILS instrument approach procedure issued by the Administrator or other appropriate authority. Category IIIa operations, an ILS approach and landing with no decision height (DH), or a DH below 100 feet (30 meters), and controlling runway visual range not less than 700 feet (200 meters). Category IIIb operations, an ILS approach and landing with no DH, or with a DH below 50 feet (15 meters), and controlling runway visual range less than 700 feet (200 meters), but not less than 150 feet (50 meters). Category IIIc operations, an ILS approach and landing with no DH and no runway visual range limitation.”

Cause of Action: The plaintiff’s legal claim against the defendant. There is often more than one cause of action in a lawsuit.

Caution: A signal which alerts the operator to an impending dangerous condition requiring attention, but not necessarily immediate action; more critical than an advisory but less critical than a warning.

CCLIM: Course cut limit.

Ceiling: The height above the earth's surface of the lowest layer of clouds or obscuring phenomena that is reported as broken, overcast, or obscuration.

CEP: Circular error probability.

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Certified Travel Counselor: One who has passed a series of rigorous tests of professional competency administered by the Institute of Certified Travel Agents.

Channel: A number that maps to a frequency.

Circular Error Probability (CEP): A probability that a percentage of two-dimension measurements will lie within a circle of given radius, with the circle centered at truth or mean of the measurements.

Civil Law: That part of the law which governs relationships between people where there is no criminal activity involved.

Clarke 1866 and Clarke 1880: Standard models for computing earth data.

Class: (1) As used with respect to the certification, ratings, privileges, and limitations of airmen, means a classification of aircraft within a category having similar operating characteristics. Examples include: single engine; multiengine; land; water; gyroplane; helicopter; airship; and free balloon; and (2) As used with respect to the certification of aircraft, means a broad grouping of aircraft having similar characteristics of propulsion, flight, or landing. Examples include: airplane; rotorcraft; glider; balloon; landplane; and seaplane.

Co-Defendant: A defendant joined together with one or more other defendants in the same case.

Collective Cue: A vertical flight director cue for rotary-wing aircraft, primarily to control altitude, by changing power.

Collective: A flight control operated by moving up or down with hand in rotary-wing aircraft, primarily to control lift (altitude); controls the collective or total pitch of the rotors on a rotary-wing aircraft.

Commanded: Controls given to a device.

Commercial Airline: An airline that carriers passengers.

Commercial Operator: A person who, for compensation or hire, engages in the carriage by aircraft in air commerce of persons or property, other than as an air carrier or foreign air carrier or under the authority of Part 375 of this title. Where it is doubtful that an operation is for "compensation or hire", the test applied is whether the carriage by air is merely incidental to the person's other business or is, in itself, a major enterprise for profit.

Common Law: Body of law that has grown based on the decisions of courts long ago. It originated in England and has since passed to the United States. It is always changing to reflect the current needs society.

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Communications: How well equipment is communicating.

Commuter: An air carrier operator operating under 14 CFR 135 (Code of Federal Regulations) that carries passengers on at least five round trips per week on at least one route between two or more points according to its published flight schedules that specify the times, day of the week, and places between which these flights are performed. The aircraft that a commuter operates has 30 or fewer passenger seats and a payload capability of 7,500 or less.

Comparative Negligence: A defense to negligence used when it is believed that the plaintiff’s negligence contributed to his or her injuries. Based on the amount of negligence by each party, the amount of damages is adjusted accordingly.

Complaint: A pretrial document filed in a court by one party against another that states a grievance, called a “cause of action.”

Complementary Filter: A filter in which the complement of the filter is desired, giving the effect of a high-pass filter by implementing a low-pass filter; a filter for combining multiple data sources, usually of different types, by adding filtered values, where the sum of the filters in the frequency domain is unity; a Kalman filter with fixed gains. Complementary filters are often designed in the frequency domain in way that that the filters determined at build time such that the cutoff frequency of the LFP is equal to that of the HPF. This provides the advantages of DNS's long-term accuracy and INS's short-term accuracy, while filtering DNS's high-frequency noise and INS's slow drift.

Computer Cycle: In a periodic, cyclical computer system, the most basic, fastest timing loop.

Contingency Fee Agreement: An agreement between an attorney and their client, which allows the attorney to be paid only if the client prevails in a lawsuit and collects monetary damages. The lawyer then receives a percentage of the damages, generally 1/3 of the award.

Continuous Time: Time which can have any point expressed as a real quantity without regard for any specific interval or processing rate.

Continuous-Time Equation: A mathematical relationship to describe a function of time; expressed in terms of continuous time.

Contributory Negligence: A defense to negligence, which points out that the plaintiff’s negligence contributed to his or her injuries. Contributory negligence is an absolute bar to the plaintiff’s recovery against the defendant.

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Control Law: The mathematical definition of a system used to control or to change the dynamic response of a system.

Control Surface: An airfoil attached to an aircraft that is moved to control the attitude of the aircraft; an surface to control flight of an aircraft indirectly, such as a swashplate to control pitch of rotor blades.

Controlled Altitude (CTALT): A guidance control law parameter, generated by the vertical guidance modes; altitude that is being controlled.

Controlled speed (CTS): A guidance control law parameter, generated by the longitudinal guidance modes; speed that is being controlled.

Coriolis Acceleration: Tangential acceleration caused by motion on a radial on a rotating surface. In aviation, it is acceleration in the earth's longitudinal direction caused by changing latitude, usually computed from system state data.

Corrected Altitude: Measured pressure altitude corrected for instrumentation errors.

Counterclaim: A demand by the defendant against the plaintiff asserting an independent cause of action in the same lawsuit.

Coupled: Describes operation of flight director in which automatic flight control system causes flight controls to follow commands from flight director or errors from guidance.

Course Cut Limit (CCLIM): A guidance control law parameter, generated by the lateral guidance modes; limits the intercept angle of the flight path with a desired course, typically 45degrees.

Course: Towards a point specified initially.

Creeping Line Search: A pattern of equally spaced parallel lines followed for searching the ground from an aircraft.

Critical Altitude: The maximum altitude at which, in standard atmosphere, it is possible to maintain, at a specified rotational speed, a specified power or a specified manifold pressure. Unless otherwise stated, the critical altitude is the maximum altitude at which it is possible to maintain, at the maximum continuous rotational speed, one of the following: (1) The maximum continuous power, in the case of engines for which this power rating is the same at sea level and at the rated altitude. (2) The maximum continuous rated manifold pressure, in the case of engines, the maximum continuous power of which is governed by a constant manifold pressure.

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Cross Examination: Questioning the witness who has been presented by the opposition at trail or a deposition.

Cross Track: Perpendicular to the course.

Cross-track Deviation Gain: A guidance control law parameter, generated by the lateral guidance modes; relative weighting of cross-track deviation in the lateral control law.

Cross-track Deviation: A guidance control law parameter, generated by the lateral guidance modes; distance from the aircraft to a desired course measured along a perpendicular to the course.

CTS: Controlled speed.

Cue: An indicator to an operator for control placement, tells the operator where to place controls; synonyms with command.

Cutoff Frequency: The frequency at which the gain of a filter is at an edge of a band, usually taken to be when gain is 0.5, or -3.01dB; the frequency at which the output of a filter is half the power of the input.

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Damages: The sum of money awarded to the injured party in a personal injury lawsuit.

Damped Frequency: The frequency of oscillation of an under-damped second order filter.

Damping Ratio: Control parameter for a second order filter.

Data Source Object: Software that receives data from a physical device, translates the data into standard units, maintains equipment status, and provides a common interface for each variation of a particular device.

Data Transfer System: A device for transferring data which includes avionics; it is similar to a diskette drive.

Dead Reckoning: A method of navigation based on basic information (barometric altitude, magnetic heading, airspeed, wind conditions) from best available source; sometimes short for air data dead reckoning.

Default Judgment: A judgment issued when the defendant offers no defense by not responding to the complaint. A judge may issue a judgment without the necessity of a trial.

Defendant: The person against whom a claim is brought.

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Denied-Boarding Compensation: Payment given passengers who have been bumped from a flight, cruise, or land-tour. Compensation may be in the form of a free trip, money, or accommodations.

Deponent: The person who testifies at a deposition.

Deposition: A pretrial discovery device in which one party verbally answers questions from the other party.

Derivative: Rate of change, usually with respect to time.

Derived: Calculated values for which no direct measurement exists.

Desired Path: A trajectory in space determined by guidance to meet the current mission objectives.

Desired Speed: A guidance control law parameter generated by the longitudinal guidance modes.

Deviation: A different plan or path from what was initially desired.

Device: A piece of equipment or a subsystem; synonyms with physical device, unit.

Difference Equation: A mathematical relationship to model a discrete function, expressed in terms of other values in the sequence. Difference equations are usually derived from differential equations.

Differential Equation: A mathematical relationship to model a continuous function, expressed in terms of derivatives. Initial conditions are usually given or implied. In avionics, differential equations are commonly used by systems engineers to model avionics systems. The systems engineer usually converts differential equations to difference equations for specification and implementation in software. In avionics, a differential equation usually models continuous-time phenomenon in terms of time derivatives.

Digital Map Generator: Digital equipment that produces map video, and sometimes contains TRN; uses Digital Terrain Elevation Data and Digitized Feature Analysis Data; displays reconstructed digital map data, aeronautical charts and/or photographs. The digital map data can be annotated with natural and man-made features as well as threats.

Direct Flight: Any flight between two places that carries a single flight number. Unlike a nonstop, a direct flight will make one or more stops between two places. The passenger may have to change planes or even change airlines. This is a change in meaning. In the past, direct flights made stops but required no change of plane.

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Discovery: Methods and procedures by which information is made available to each party prior to trial. Discovery may include depositions, interrogations, requests for production of documents, and demands for independent medical examinations.

Discrete Time: Time divided into quantized intervals; in avionics, time is usually divided into equal intervals to create a periodic process.

Discrete-Time Equation: A mathematical relationship to describe a function of time, expressed in terms of discrete time.

Distance Measuring Equipment: Equipment for measuring distance, usually from an aircraft to a ground station; usually part of a Tactical Air Navigation System.

Docket: A summary system kept by the clerk’s office which contains a record of all pleadings, court orders and other important activities in a case.

Domestic Airline: An air carrier that provides service within its own country. Also called a domestic carrier.

Doppler Navigation System: A navigation for measuring velocity by radiating and determining frequency shift.

Doppler: A technique for measuring velocity by radiating and determining frequency shift.

DPLR: Doppler navigation system.

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Earth Coordinates: Coordinates referenced to the earth.

Elevation: An angle in the vertical plane through a longitudinal axis; height above mean sea level, usually references terrain.

Elevator: A control surface on fixed-wing aircraft, usually mounted on the aft edge of stabilizers, which controls pitch, and is controlled by the yoke.

Emotional Distress: Mental anguish.

Equipment Status: Operational status of a piece of equipment consisting of a status indicator and status words.

Equitable Remedies: Remedies that do not include monetary settlements. Examples include injunctions and restraining orders.

Error: Difference between desired and measured data.

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Estimated: Data that is the result of filtering two or more signals.

Evidence: The body of law concerning the manner of presentation of information to a judge or jury in a trial.

Excess Baggage: Luggage that exceeds the allowed limits for weight, size, or number of pieces. Carriers usually charge extra for excess baggage, and in some cases, may have to ship it later rather than with the passenger.

Excursion Fare: A special-price fare that comes with restrictions, such as advance purchase requirements and a minimum stay. Excursion Fares are usually a round-trip fares.

Exhibit: Any piece of physical evidence used at a trial.

Expanding Square Search: A pattern of progressively larger squares (referred to as a “square spiral”) followed for searching the ground from an aircraft.

Expert: A witness who may give an opinion in court based on the particular competence of that witness.

Feeder Airline: An air carrier that services a local market and "feeds" traffic to the national and international carriers.

Filter: A device used to alter a signal.

Fireproof: (1) With respect to materials and parts used to confine fire in a designated fire zone, means the capacity to withstand at least as well as steel in dimensions appropriate for the purpose for which they are used, the heat produced when there is a severe fire of extended duration in that zone; and(2) With respect to other materials and parts, means the capacity to withstand the heat associated with fire at least as well as steel in dimensions appropriate for the purpose for which they are used.

Fire Resistant: (1) With respect to sheet or structural members means the capacity to withstand the heat associated with fire at least as well as aluminum alloy in dimensions appropriate for the purpose for which they are used; and (2) With respect to fluid-carrying lines, fluid system parts, wiring, air ducts, fittings, and power plant controls, means the capacity to perform the intended functions under the heat and other conditions likely to occur when there is a fire at the place concerned.

Final Judgment: The written ruling on a lawsuit by the judge who presided at trial. This completes the case unless it is appealed to a higher court. Also called a final decree or final decision.

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Flight Control System: A primary or automatic flight control system.

Flight Controls: Controls placed in a cockpit, which are used specifically for flying an aircraft. The primary flight controls are the wheel, yoke, cyclic, pedals, throttle, and collective. Secondary flight controls are flight controls that are not primary and include the flaps, slats, stabilizer, and landing gear.

Flight Director: A system, usually in the form of software, which generates stick position cues from state errors. There are typically three cues: the pitch, roll, and throttle for fixed-wing and longitudinal cyclic, lateral cyclic, and collective for rotary wing.

Flight Time: (1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing; or (2) For a glider without self-launch capability, pilot time that commences when the glider is towed for the purpose of flight and ends when the glider comes to rest after landing.

Flight Plan: A predetermined route, possibly including guidance modes, communications, and mission objectives, used by guidance and mission management for planning. Included in a flight plan may be navigation reference points, waypoints, and mode commands for navigation, radio navigation, guidance, and flight direction.

Fly Over: A position that a pilot takes when he is flying directly over a known point.

Foreign Air Commerce: The carriage by aircraft of persons or property for compensation or hire, or the carriage of mail by aircraft, or the operation or navigation of aircraft in the conduct or furtherance of a business or vocation, in commerce between a place in the United States and any place outside thereof; whether such commerce moves wholly by aircraft or partly by aircraft and partly by other forms of transportation.

Forward-Looking Infrared: Sensor equipment used to supplement AGR, extend the aircraft visual search capability and provide position information for guidance and navigation update capability. Imagery derived from the FLIR sensor is displayed in the cockpit. FLIR pointing can be controlled manually using a tracking handle or automatically by the Mission Computer. FLIR converts a heat image into a video image and determines azimuth, elevation, and sometimes range of a point.

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Garnishment: A proceeding whereby a debtor’s money, or other property, which is under the control of another is given to a third person to whom the debtor owes a debt.

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Gateway City: 1. A city that serves as a departure or arrival for international flights. 2. A city that serves as an airline's entry or departure point to or from a country.

General Aviation: That portion of civil aviation which encompasses all facets of aviation except air carriers holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Civil Aeronautics Board and large aircraft commercial operators.

Global Positioning System: A navigation sensor based on satellites. A Global Positioning System (GPS) provides highly accurate navigation data such as position, velocity, and time reference. GPS is often aided by other systems like the weather alerts provided by Doppler data. GPS is accurate with four or more properly oriented satellites. Accuracy is degraded with improperly placed satellites or fewer than four satellites visible. GPS-INS is the most accurate of modes listed, with day/night and all weather capability.

Gravitational Acceleration: Acceleration caused by the force of gravity.

Gravity: Force exerted by gravity. Gravity sometimes includes the effects of the earth's rotation; gravity is often treated as a constant, but for greater accuracy gravity is a function of latitude, altitude, and actually the phase of the moon.

Gross Negligence: Failure to use even the slightest amount of care in a way that shows recklessness or willful disregard for the safety of others.

Groundspeed Select: A basic guidance mode, providing longitudinal guidance to an operator selected groundspeed.

Groundspeed: The speed over the ground.

Ground Visibility: Prevailing horizontal visibility near the earth's surface as reported by the United States National Weather Service or an accredited observer.

Guidance Control Law Parameter: One of several parameters for the guidance control laws, generated by individual guidance modes.

- H -

Heading Error: A basic output from guidance to a flight director, indicating the difference between actual heading and desired heading.

Heading Select: A basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance to an operator selected heading.

High Season: The season of the year when travel to an area peaks and rates are at their highest.

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Hover Hold: A basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance and longitudinal guidance to maintain an operator selected north velocity and east velocity; if the selected velocities are zero, then a position is held.

Hysteresis: A function in which the algorithm for computing output changes at defined events or thresholds, such that output follows one path as input increases and another path as input decreases.

Hearing: A proceeding usually without a jury.

- I -

Impaneling: Selecting a jury from the list of potential jurors.

Impeach: Attacking the credibility of a witness.

Inertial Navigation System: An Inertial Navigation System (INS) is a self-contained navigation system. It consists of gyroscopes and accelerometers to provide attitude, heading, position, attitude, body/inertial velocity, and acceleration information.

Initialization: A basic control to a data source from controls and displays for initializing a device. Initiated by power-on, operator, driver, or MC; during initialization, the device is usually not available; Also, a procedure to reset physical devices to a known state.

Injunction: A court order requiring a person to do, or to refrain from doing, a particular thing.

Instrument Landing System: Equipment determining glideslope, localizer (bearing), and distance (marker beacon) to a runway; ILS provides precision aiding for landing; ILS is usually part of a VOR station. A basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance, longitudinal guidance, and vertical guidance to approach a runway for landing; in ILS back course, vertical guidance is not provided.

Instrumentation: Hardware to measure and to monitor a system.

Integrate: To combine multiple systems.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress: Intentionally causing severe emotional distress by extreme or outrageous conduct.

Interline Agreements: Contractual or formal agreements between airlines governing such matters as ticketing, baggage transfers, and so forth.

International: A standard model for computing earth data.

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Interpolate: Function to determine intermediate values from two or more values in a table; usually linear but can be a higher order; endpoints are either extrapolated or limited.

Interrogation: A request of data.

Interrogatories: A written set of questions sent from one party to the other during the discovery process.

- J -

Judgment: A court's decision.

Judgment Nothwithstanding The Verdict: An order by the trial judge entering a judgment in a manner contradictory to the jury’s verdict. This is granted only when the verdict is unreasonable and unsupportable.

Jurisdiction: The power of a court to act in particular case.

Jury: The panel of people who decide the facts in a lawsuit.

- L -

Latitude: Position on earth, north or south of the equator.

Leg: A single segment of an itinerary.

Longitude: Position on earth, east or west of the prime meridian.

Longitudinal Guidance: Calculations for the longitudinal axis of the guidance modes. The control law longitudinal axis input data are: Reference Acceleration, Reference Acceleration Gain, Desired Velocity, Velocity Error Scale Factor. The major output from Longitudinal Guidance is the speed error for the selected longitudinal guidance mode.

Loss Damage Wavier (LDW): Daily insurance that covers theft and vandalism of a rented car in addition to damage caused by accident.

Loss of Consortium: Damages awarded to a family member (usually a spouse) for loss of companionship.

Low Frequency Automatic Direction Finding: Equipment that determines bearing to a radio station on a low frequency band, usually the standard AM band.

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- M -

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Major Repair: A repair (1) hat, if improperly done, might appreciably affect weight, balance, structural strength, performance, power plant operation, flight characteristics, or other qualities affecting airworthiness; or (2) that is not done according to accepted practices or cannot be done by elementary operations.

Marker Beacon: Part of Instrument Landing System that signals crew members of distance to runway, consisting of three markers: inner, middle, and outer.

Mental Anguish: Mental suffering. In some cases, damages may be awarded for mental anguish even though no physical injury is present.

Mission Objectives: Goals to be accomplished during a specific mission, including flight plan, NRPs, legs, and a plan on how to accomplish these objectives; plan includes, usually on a leg-by-leg basis, navigation modes, radio navigation modes, guidance modes, flight director modes, data source control information such as frequencies.

Motion: An application to the court requesting an order or rule in favor of the applicant.

Multi-Mode Radar: A Multi-Mode Radar is used for Terrain Following (TF) and Terrain Avoidance (TA), Ground Mapping (GM) and Air-to Ground Ranging (AGR). The TF mode supplies commands which are processed and displayed as climb/dive commands on the flight director display and E-squared video used by the operators in anticipating near term TF commands. When in TA or GM modes, the operator is provided with a Plan Position Indicator (PPI) display. The AGR mode allows the operators to determine the range to a designated target, which can be used for position updates.

- N -

Navigation aid: A device or process to help with navigation, such as a VOR station or a position update.

Navigation Reference Point: A point, usually fixed in earth coordinates but possibly moving; also, a basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance to an NRP, either by course or by direct point.

Navigation: A system, usually software, in which the primary purpose is to generate position relative to a coordinate frame, usually fixed earth frame, such as latitude and longitude or UTM.

Negligence: Failure to exercise reasonable care to avoid injuring others or their property. Negligence includes both actions and failure to act.

Noise: Part of received data that is undesired, consisting of random sinusoidal terms added to a signal.

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Non-Refundable: No money is returned should the trip be cancelled. The amount of the ticket, minus a service fee, may be applied to another trip in many cases.

Normalizer: Function to restrict input to a specific range; normalized variables often present problems for filters and other functions at their discontinuities.

Nuisance: An unreasonable or unlawful use of one’s real estate that results in injures to another or interferes with another person’s use of his real property.

- O -

Occupational Disease: An illness resulting from long-term employment in a particular type of work, such as those employees exposed to asbestos, who later develop cancer.

Opinion: An explanation written by the judge explaining his decision.

Ordinance: A law passed by a local or municipal government.

Original Jurisdiction: The first court to which a legal dispute is referred.

Outside Air Temperature: The temperature just outside the aircraft.

Override: To alter selection made automatically by software contained in the aircraft.

Overrule: In a trial, to overrule means to reject an objection.

- P -

Pedal: A flight control operated by pushing with feet, primarily to control yaw via the rudder in fixed-wing aircraft or thrust to tail rotor in rotary-wing aircraft; pedals are automatically controlled in modern aircraft.

Peremptory Challenge: A challenge to a particular juror that requires no reason. Normally an attorney has a limited number of these challenges.

Personnel Locating System: A basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance to a PLS transmitter from range and bearing inputs. This equipment determines range and bearing to a personnel with a PLS transmitter; also provides range and bearing to locate ground personnel. Coded continuous or periodic interrogations of the portable ground radios are used to provide the information.

Petition: A formal request that the court take some action; a complaint.

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Pilot In Command: The person who has final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight; and has been designated as pilot in command before or during the flight; and holds the appropriate category, class, and type rating, if appropriate, for the conduct of the flight.

Plaintiff: The party bringing the case against another.

Pleading: The process of making formal, written statements by the litigants. All papers filed with the court are collectively referred to as “pleadings.”

Position Update: To cause navigation sensors, devices, or algorithms to reset position to value known to be more accurate due to inaccuracies and drift in the devices and algorithms.

Position: Location, usually in fixed earth coordinates such latitude and longitude; location, either scalar or vector, often with subscripts such as ENU or XYZ to denote source or coordinate frame.

Precedent: The value that a completed case has on deciding future cases.

Precision: Measure of exactness, possibly expressed in number of digits, for example, computed to the nearest millimeter.

Preventive Maintenance: Simple or minor preservation operations and the replacement of small standard parts not involving complex assembly operations.

Primary Flight Control System: The most basic part of the flight controls operated by a pilot, including wheel (fixed wing), yoke (fixed wing), cyclic (rotary wing), pedals (fixed wing and rotary wing), throttle (fixed wing), and collective (rotary wing).

Pro Se: On one’s own behalf; not using an attorney.

Process Serving: The method by which a defendant in a lawsuit is notified that a plaintiff has filed a suit against him.

Product Liability: A type of strict liability in which the manufacturer or seller is strictly liable for injuries caused by defective products.

Punitive Damages: Damages given for the purpose of punishing the defendant.

- R -

Radial Error Probability: A probability that a percentage of one-dimension measurements will lie on a radial (line) of given length, with the origin centered at truth or mean of the measurements; used to specify test cases

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for measurement errors of sensors of one dimension, such as vertical velocity.

Radio Navigation: Navigation relative to radio station, providing, for example, of relative bearing, range, lateral deviation, and glideslope. Examples include VOR, TACAN, and PLS. Radio navigation differs from other navigation in that the transmitter signals often dropout for a long period of time, like minutes. This can occur because of natural obstructions, or because the transmitter was shut down intentionally. In hostile territory, a PLS can locate a downed pilot, who would be foolhardy to be continuously transmitting, but would transmit infrequently with small bursts of data. The Radio- Navigation system accommodates this phenomenon by simulating range and bearing to the fixed site when it is not transmitting. After reacquiring a mobile transmitter, the mobile station's position is re-determined. The navigation component supports wash-out filters on output data.

Real time: Time in a computational process which runs at the same rate as a physical process.

Reasonable Care: The standard of care in negligence cases; the duty to act reasonably so as to avoid harming others.

Reasonableness: A test to determine if data is reasonable, for example, radar altitude must be positive and two devices should return similar data within known limits of each other.

Remand: The decision of an appellate court to send a case back to the trial court with instructions on how to correctly decide the case; often used with the term “reversed.” Reversed means that the appellate court overturned the trial court’s decision.

Remedies: Relief that the plaintiff receives from the defendant in a lawsuit. Often this will include monetary damages or equitable relief (i.e. injunctions).

Respondent: The party that won at trail.

Rudder: A control surface on fixed-wing aircraft, usually mounted at aft end of the fuselage sticking up (like a dorsal fin), that controls yaw (heading), and is controlled by the pedals.

- S -

Seaplane: A water-based aircraft with a boat-hull fuselage, often amphibious. The term is also used generically to define a similar Flying Boat and a pontoon Floatplane.

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Search pattern: Basic guidance mode; provides lateral steering guidance to fly an expanding square search pattern, creeping line search pattern, or sector search pattern.

Sensor: A device that measures, receives, or generates data, for example, an INS, a FLIR, a map.

Service of Process: Providing a formal notice to the defendant that orders him to appear in court to answer plaintiff’s allegations.

Speed: Scalar velocity.

S-plane: Continuous complex frequency plane; S-plane is used in control systems engineering in the design of control laws.

Stabilizer: A control surface, usually mounted at aft end of the fuselage parallel to the wings, that provides pitch stability, some aircraft have an adjustable stabilizer.

Statute of Limitations: The time period within which a plaintiff must file his action against the defendant. This time frame varies by state. In North Carolina, the statute of limitations is three years.

Strict Liability: The defendant is liable to the plaintiff regardless of fault.Subpoena: A form issued by the court requiring someone to appear in court and/or bring documents. (Also referred to as a “Summons.”)

- T -

Tachometer: A device for measuring angular velocity.

Tactical Air Navigation: A basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance to a TACAN station; equipment that determines range and bearing to a radio station with a TACAN transmitter.

Terrain following (TF): A basic guidance mode, providing vertical guidance to maintain an operator selected radar altitude above the terrain. Flight such that the aircraft tries to maintain a constant height above the terrain, usually in the range of 100-1,000 ft; uses a g-command from the Multi-Mode Radar to generate a flight director cue. This controls the aircraft flight path so that the set clearance altitude is achieved over major high points in the terrain with zero flight path angle.

Terrain Referenced Navigation (TRN): A navigation mode based on comparison of barometric altitude and radar altitude with a map; Kalman filters correlate the terrain data and the altitudes. TRN combines INS with map references. It is most accurate over rough terrain; however it does not give accurate data while over flat areas or water.

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Terrain: The contour of the earth.

Third Party Litigation: When a lawsuit is brought against a defendant and that defendant wants to add another party to the suit, the original defendant may file a “third party complaint” which results in a third party litigation or lawsuit.

Throttle: A flight control operated by moving fore or aft with hands, primarily to control thrust (speed) in fixed-wing aircraft.

Thrust: Force, created by engines and rotors, acting in the direction of the engine.

Time constant: Constant for a first-order filter determining time at which the output of the filter reaches nearly 0.6321 percent of a step input.

Tort: A civil wrong; a wrongful injury to a person’s property. There are three types of torts: intentional, negligence and strict liability.

Total pressure: A measure of barometric pressure in the moving air.

Track (TRK): A basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance to an operator selected ground track.

Transmitter: A device that transmits.

True airspeed (TAS): Airspeed corrected for instrumentation errors and air density.

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- U -

U/V ADF: UHF/VHF Automatic Direction Finding.

UHF/VHF Automatic Direction Finding (U/V ADF): An Automatic Direction Finder that determines relative bearing to a transmitter to which it is tuned, in either the UHF band or VHF band.

Update: A process by which position is reset with a known better position; updates occur at the data source level or at the physical device level, depending upon specific implementation of the device and the data source (choice of implementation is transparent above the data source); all updates are operator initiated, but the new position may be derived from other sources such as FLIR, MMR, or radio navigation.

UTM: Universal Transverse Mercator.

- V -

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Velocity: Rate of change of location, either scalar or vector, often with subscripts such as ENU or XYZ to denote the coordinate frame; time derivative of position; time integral of acceleration.

Venue: The place of trial.

Verdict: The decision of the case reached by the jury.

Vertical cue: A cue to control altitude.

Vertical guidance: Calculations for the vertical axis, rather than the longitudinal axis. The control law vertical axis input data are: Desired Altitude, Altitude Integral, Altitude Integral Gain, Altitude Integral Limit, Altitude Error Scale Factor, Magnitude limit for delta altitudes. The major output from Vertical Guidance is the altitude error for the selected vertical guidance mode.

Vertical velocity: Aircraft velocity in earth vertical direction.

Vertical: Reference to earth radial, for example, vertical velocity is velocity along earth radial.

Vicarious Liability: The liability of one person for the torts of another.

- W -

Warning: A signal which alerts the operator to a dangerous condition requiring immediate action; an instruction that is more critical than an advisory or a caution. May also indicate potential failure is eminent soon.

Waypoint Approach: To approach a waypoint.

Waypoint: A point on the ground, predefined as a point of interest for the flight; a basic guidance mode, providing lateral guidance to a waypoint.

WCA: Warning- Caution- Advisory

Weight on Wheels (WOW): Indication of whether the aircraft has weight on its wheels, meaning airborne or on the ground; weight on wheels can be detected by a sensor on the wheels, computed from other state data or a combination of all data received.

Wheel: A flight control operated by turning with hands in fixed-wing aircraft, primarily to control roll (heading) via the ailerons; the wheel is connected to yoke.

Witness: One who testifies at a trial or a deposition.

Wrap test: A test to send data to a device having it sent back unaltered.

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- Y -

Yield Management: The practice of adjusting prices up and down in response to demand in order to control yield. The process is usually computerized.

Yoke: A flight control operated by pushing and pulling with hands in fixed-wing aircraft, primarily to control pitch or altitude with the elevators. The yoke is mounted on a column between the operator's legs, positioned much like a steering wheel in a car. Yoke control is achieved by pushing and pulling the wheel to move the column.

Yoke Cue: A vertical flight director cue for fixed-wing aircraft, primarily to control altitude, by changing pitch.

Z transform: A mathematical relationship to model a discrete function in the complex frequency domain (Z-plane); Z transforms are commonly used by systems engineers to describe avionics systems.

Ref: http://www.consultwebs.com/legal_glossaries/aviation_accident/aviation_legal_glossary.html

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