Terminology
The following is a collection of terms and their definitions that GRYFN's customers and UAS operators may encounter from the FAA or other organizations. All of these definitions come from United States government sources.
Many of these definitions are not UAS specific and thus you will need to provide your own best judgment to properly apply them to your circumstances.
Administrator: means the Federal Aviation Administrator or any person to whom he has delegated his authority in the matter concerned.
Air carrier: means a person who undertakes directly by lease, or other arrangement, to engage in air transportation.
Air commerce: means 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.
Aircraft: means a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air.
Aircraft engine: means 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.
Airframe: means 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.
Airplane: means an engine-driven fixed-wing aircraft heavier than air, that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against its wings.
Airport: means 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: means an engine-driven lighter-than-air aircraft that can be steered.
Air traffic: means aircraft operating in the air or on an airport surface, exclusive of loading ramps and parking areas.
Air traffic clearance: means 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: means a service operated by appropriate authority to promote the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic.
Air Traffic Service (ATS) route: is a specified route designated for channeling the flow of traffic as necessary for the provision of air traffic services. The term “ATS route” refers to a variety of airways, including jet routes, area navigation (RNAV) routes, and arrival and departure routes. An ATS route is defined by route specifications, which may include:
(1) An ATS route designator;
(2) The path to or from significant points;
(3) Distance between significant points;
(4) Reporting requirements; and
(5) The lowest safe altitude determined by the appropriate authority.
Air transportation: means interstate, overseas, or foreign air transportation or the transportation of mail by aircraft.
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.
Appliance: means 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.
Approved: unless used with reference to another person, means approved by the FAA or any person to whom the FAA has delegated its authority in the matter concerned, or approved under the provisions of a bilateral agreement between the United States and a foreign country or jurisdiction.
Area navigation (RNAV): is a method of navigation that permits aircraft operations on any desired flight path.
Area navigation (RNAV) route: is an ATS route based on RNAV that can be used by suitably equipped aircraft.
Armed Forces: means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, including their regular and reserve components and members serving without component status.
Balloon: means a lighter-than-air aircraft that is not engine driven, and that sustains flight through the use of either gas buoyancy or an airborne heater.
Calibrated airspeed: means the indicated airspeed of an aircraft, corrected for position and instrument error. Calibrated airspeed is equal to true airspeed in standard atmosphere at sea level.
Category:
(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.
Ceiling means the height above the earth's surface of the lowest layer of clouds or obscuring phenomena that is reported as “broken”, “overcast”, or “obscuration”, and not classified as “thin” or “partial”.
Civil aircraft: means aircraft other than public aircraft.
Civil Twilight: as the time that begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. Therefore, morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise. Evening civil twilight begins at sunset and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon. The FAA has an online tool to calculate sunrise, sunset, and civil twilight for any given location.
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.
Commercial operator: means 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.
Control station: means an interface used by the remote pilot to control the flight path of the small unmanned aircraft.
Controlled airspace: means an airspace of defined dimensions within which air traffic control service is provided to IFR flights and to VFR flights in accordance with the airspace classification.
Note: Controlled airspace is a generic term that covers Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class E airspace.
Corrective lenses: means spectacles or contact lenses.
Declaration of compliance: means a record submitted to the FAA that certifies the small unmanned aircraft conforms to the Category 2 or Category 3 requirements under subpart D of this part.
External load: means a load that is carried, or extends, outside of the aircraft fuselage.
External-load attaching means: means the structural components used to attach an external load to an aircraft, including external-load containers, the backup structure at the attachment points, and any quick-release device used to jettison the external load.
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 powerplant 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.
Flame resistant: means not susceptible to combustion to the point of propagating a flame, beyond safe limits, after the ignition source is removed.
Flammable: with respect to a fluid or gas, means susceptible to igniting readily or to exploding.
Flight plan: means specified information, relating to the intended flight of an aircraft, that is filed orally or in writing with air traffic control.
Instrument: means a device using an internal mechanism to show visually or aurally the attitude, altitude, or operation of an aircraft or aircraft part. It includes electronic devices for automatically controlling an aircraft in flight.
Interstate air commerce: means 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 any State of the United States, or the District of Columbia, and a place in any other State of the United States, or the District of Columbia; or between places in the same State of the United States through the airspace over any place outside thereof; or between places in the same territory or possession of the United States, or the District of Columbia.
Interstate air transportation: means the carriage by aircraft of persons or property as a common carrier for compensation or hire, or the carriage of mail by aircraft in commerce:
(1) Between a place in a State or the District of Columbia and another place in another State or the District of Columbia;
(2) Between places in the same State through the airspace over any place outside that State; or
(3) Between places in the same possession of the United States;
Whether that commerce moves wholly by aircraft of partly by aircraft and partly by other forms of transportation.
Intrastate air transportation: means the carriage of persons or property as a common carrier for compensation or hire, by turbojet-powered aircraft capable of carrying thirty or more persons, wholly within the same State of the United States.
Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) provides:
Drone pilots with access to controlled airspace at or below 400 feet.
Awareness of where pilots can and cannot fly.
Air Traffic Professionals with visibility into where and when drones will operate.
Load factor: means the ratio of a specified load to the total weight of the aircraft. The specified load is expressed in terms of any of the following: aerodynamic forces, inertia forces, or ground or water reactions.
Long-range communication system (LRCS): A system that uses satellite relay, data link, high frequency, or another approved communication system which extends beyond line of sight.
Long-range navigation system (LRNS): An electronic navigation unit that is approved for use under instrument flight rules as a primary means of navigation, and has at least one source of navigational input, such as inertial navigation system or global positioning system.
Maintenance: means inspection, overhaul, repair, preservation, and the replacement of parts, but excludes preventive maintenance.
Major alteration: means an alteration not listed in the aircraft, aircraft engine, or propeller specifications—
(1) That might appreciably affect weight, balance, structural strength, performance, powerplant 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.
Major repair: means a repair:
(1) That, if improperly done, might appreciably affect weight, balance, structural strength, performance, powerplant 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.
Medical certificate: means acceptable evidence of physical fitness on a form prescribed by the Administrator.
Military operations area: A military operations area (MOA) is airspace established outside Class A airspace to separate or segregate certain nonhazardous military activities from IFR Traffic and to identify for VFR traffic where theses activities are conducted.
Minor alteration: means an alteration other than a major alteration.
Minor repair: means a repair other than a major repair.
National defense airspace: means airspace established by a regulation prescribed, or an order issued under, 49 U.S.C. 40103(b)(3).
Navigable airspace: means airspace at and above the minimum flight altitudes prescribed by or under this chapter, including airspace needed for safe takeoff and landing.
Night: means the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the Air Almanac, converted to local time.
Operate: with respect to aircraft, means use, cause to use or authorize to use aircraft, for the purpose (except as provided in § 91.13 of this chapter) of air navigation including the piloting of aircraft, with or without the right of legal control (as owner, lessee, or otherwise).
Operational control: with respect to a flight, means the exercise of authority over initiating, conducting or terminating a flight.
Parachute: means a device used or intended to be used to retard the fall of a body or object through the air.
Person: means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or governmental entity. It includes a trustee, receiver, assignee, or similar representative of any of them.
Pilot in command means the person who:
(1) Has final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight;
(2) Has been designated as pilot in command before or during the flight; and
(3) Holds the appropriate category, class, and type rating, if appropriate, for the conduct of the flight.
Powered parachute: means a powered aircraft comprised of a flexible or semi-rigid wing connected to a fuselage so that the wing is not in position for flight until the aircraft is in motion. The fuselage of a powered parachute contains the aircraft engine, a seat for each occupant and is attached to the aircraft's landing gear.
Preventive maintenance: means simple or minor preservation operations and the replacement of small standard parts not involving complex assembly operations.
Prohibited area: A prohibited area is airspace designated under part 73 within which no person may operate an aircraft without the permission of the using agency.
Propeller: means a device for propelling an aircraft that has blades on an engine-driven shaft and that, when rotated, produces by its action on the air, a thrust approximately perpendicular to its plane of rotation. It includes control components normally supplied by its manufacturer, but does not include main and auxiliary rotors or rotating airfoils of engines.
Rating: means a statement that, as a part of a certificate, sets forth special conditions, privileges, or limitations.
Remote ID: is the ability of a drone in flight to provide identification and location information that can be received by other parties through a broadcast signal.
Remote pilot in command:
(a) A remote pilot in command must be designated before or during the flight of the small unmanned aircraft.
(b) The remote pilot in command is directly responsible for and is the final authority as to the operation of the small unmanned aircraft system.
(c) The remote pilot in command must ensure that the small unmanned aircraft will pose no undue hazard to other people, other aircraft, or other property in the event of a loss of control of the small unmanned aircraft for any reason.
(d) The remote pilot in command must ensure that the small UAS operation complies with all applicable regulations of this chapter.
(e) The remote pilot in command must have the ability to direct the small unmanned aircraft to ensure compliance with the applicable provisions of this chapter.
Restricted area: A restricted area is airspace designated under Part 73 within which the flight of aircraft, while not wholly prohibited, is subject to restriction.
Small unmanned aircraft: means an unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds on takeoff, including everything that is on board or otherwise attached to the aircraft.
Small unmanned aircraft system (small UAS): means a small unmanned aircraft and its associated elements (including communication links and the components that control the small unmanned aircraft) that are required for the safe and efficient operation of the small unmanned aircraft in the national airspace system.
The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST): provides education and testing on important safety and regulatory information. If you fly your drone recreationally under the Exception for Recreational Flyers, you must pass the test before you fly.
Unmanned aircraft: means an aircraft operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft.
Visual observer: means a person who is designated by the remote pilot in command to assist the remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small UAS to see and avoid other air traffic or objects aloft or on the ground.
Waiver: means an official document issued by the FAA which approves certain operations of aircraft outside the limitations of a regulation. You may request to fly specific drone operations not allowed under part 107 by requesting an operational waiver. These waivers allow drone pilots to deviate from certain rules under part 107 by demonstrating they can still fly safely using alternative methods.