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978 0 52119 165 4 - 2009 - Prelims - Printer File.qxd 04/05/2009 09:40 Page i
The Cambridge
Aerospace Dictionary
Second Edition
978 0 52119 165 4 - 2009 - Prelims - Printer File.qxd 04/05/2009 09:40 Page ii
978 0 52119 165 4 - 2009 - Prelims - Printer File.qxd 04/05/2009 09:40 Page iii
The Cambridge
Aerospace Dictionary
Second Edition
obe fra s
Bill Gunston, ,
e
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore,
São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521191654
© Bill Gunston 2004, 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
ISBN-13 978-0-511-63403-1 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-19165-4 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Information regarding prices, travel timetables, and other factual information
given in this work are correct at the time of first printing, but Cambridge
University Press does not guarantee the accuracy of such information thereafter.
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Foreword
Gathering terms for an aerospace dictionary is in this field they tend to predominate. Note:
harder than it looks. I recently studied a list of USA means US Army.
terms used by the US Air Force to describe the I have attempted to include a brief explana-
status of each of its component organizations. tion of aerospace materials, even if they are
They explained, ‘These actions are defined in known by a registered tradename. Also
ways that may seem arcane to the non- included are the names of many organizations,
specialist, but each term has a specific but, with a few exceptions, not armed forces,
meaning.’ The terms are: Activate, Active list, airlines, museums or flying clubs, and
Assign, Attach, Consolidate, Constitute, certainly not the names of manufacturers or
Designate, Disband, Disestablish, Establish, particular types of aircraft, though such
Establishment, Inactivate, Inactive list, acronyms as TSPJ – Tornado self-protection
Organize, Provisional organizations, Re-
jammer – are tempting. On the other hand,
designate, Re-establish, Relieve from active
there is a grey area in which a company
duty, and Unit. I read their meanings through
product appears to merit inclusion, an
several times and decided not to include any in
example being Zero Reader. I have had partic-
these pages.
ular trouble with the names of spacecraft and
In a previous edition I was criticised by a
their payloads, but this is a dictionary of avia-
reviewer for using words ‘which have no rele-
tion, not space flight.
vance to aerospace’. He cited as an example
Entries are in strict alphabetical order; thus
‘barrier pattern’, a term which BAe
MW50 appears in the place for MW-fifty. The
Manchester had asked me to define! My sole
exception is where an entry has a single alpha-
objective is to create a useful product. To this
betical character followed by a numeral. In
end I have included brief entries on such words
such cases it appears immediately after other
as ‘generic’, ‘oxygen’ and ‘gasoline’, which are
entries featuring that single character. With a
not aerospace terms. Incidentally, while
subject as complicated as aerospace, where
‘gasoline’ is clearly now a preferred spelling, I
one finds C, c, c1, c¯, c¯¯, (c), C* and a host of
have had to write quite an essay on ‘kerosene/
C+numeral entries, it is difficult to decide
kerosine’.
which sequence to adopt. Greek terms are
I once had to defend myself against an air
listed in Appendix 1, but some – such as Alpha
marshal who was offended by such rubbish (as
and Beta – merit a place in the body of the
he saw it) as ‘hardware’ and ‘software’. Today
dictionary.
the explosion of home computing has opened
On a lighter note, I read an article by Col.
up millions to such previously unfamiliar
language. Indeed, in recent years the number Art Bergman, USAF, explaining how to
of software terms has begun to get out of manage the temperamental F100 engine. I had
hand. The JSF programme alone involves no difficulty with his EECs, UFCs and Plaps,
more than 40 software acronyms, and I have but I was defeated by ‘The F100 needs a lot
omitted most of them. more TLC than the J79 . . .’ I asked several
Partly for this reason, this dictionary is certified F-15 drivers, and they were all mysti-
centred (centered) at least in mid-Atlantic, if fied. I called the 527th TFTS, then the
not further west, so we have ‘Petrol Gasoline’, European Aggressor outfit. A charming
the brief definition appearing under the latter. female voice instantly said, ‘Ever think of
Cross-references are italicised. I have used US tender loving care?’ On reflection, I put this
spellings wherever they are appropriate, and meaning in the dictionary. The criterion is
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Foreword
whether or not an aerospace person might be Direct, which the US Air Force tells me stands
confused without it. for Defense IEMATS REplacement Com-
One obvious problem area is at what point mand and Control Terminal, which would be
one should give up trying to include foreign fine were it not for the fact that IEMATS
terms. Some may think I have been over- stands for Improved Emergency MEssage
generous to our Gallic friends, while other Automated Transmission System. Roger
countries may think themselves harshly Bacon, the sage of Flight International, has
treated by being ignored. It is impossible to drawn attention to Boeing’s ‘no-tail advanced
say ‘Leave out all foreign terms and theater transport, tilt-wing super-short
acronyms’, because many have become part of takeoff and landing’, which creates the handy
the English language. Nobody would expect name NTATTTW/SSTOL. Clearly, we need
‘aileron’ to be omitted, and before long acronyms within acronyms.
‘Fenestron’ will probably be just as universally It is often difficult to decide when the name
accepted as ‘fenestron’. of a specific item has become a more general
At a rough count the number of new entries term which has to be included. In the 1970s the
this time is in excess of 15,000. Almost all the AAH (Advanced Attack Helicopter) meant
additions are acronyms. There is little point the AH-64 Apache. This is a particular type of
in again saying that acronyms are an infec- helicopter, so it had no place in these pages.
tious disease, especially in the world of However, over the years AAH has become a
aerospace. Whilst admitting that the incentive term applied to several of the AH-64’s later
to abbreviate is often strong, it is self-defeating competitors, so exclusion is no longer justi-
if the reader has a choice of more than 20 fied. In the same way Awacs is now a class of
interpretations and does not know which one aircraft, while, even though there is only one
to pick. type of AABNCP, that designation is so
Some acronyms, such as Cardsharp, appear important it would be unhelpful to omit it.
contrived. Another is Tiger – Terrifically Both the AAH and AABNCP begin with
Insensitive to Ground-Effect Radar; I had to ‘Advanced’. This is merely a pointless buzz-
force myself to include it. In general, I have word. Presumably it is intended to imply that
omitted acronyms which include the name of something is the very latest, ‘state of the art’
a company, an example being Caps – Collins and better than the competition, but – in aero-
adaptive processor system. I have attempted space at least – I have seldom heard of
to indicate whether the spoken acronym or anybody designing something that was
spelt-out version predominates. Thus, we have not ‘advanced’. Can these items still be
Papi before PAPI. The oustanding exception ‘advanced’ after 40years? To me, another bête
is NATO. This is always spoken as a word, but noireis ‘integrated’. Already we have a zillion
the hierarchy in Brussels still insists that it is AIAs (advanced integrated acronyms). This is
not written Nato. an advanced integrated dictionary.
Some acronyms bear little resemblance to There is an obvious need for a body with the
the actual initial letters of the original words, clout to decree what things shall be called,
while a few are quite a mouthful. We have because the present situation is ludicrous. Did
been in particular trouble with the Joint Strike you know that the acronym ATAC can mean
Fighter. This soon spawned JSF-E&MD ‘Advanced Target Acquisition and Classi-
andJSFPO-AEP, whilst Boeing was awarded fication’? Fine, but ATDC stands for ‘Assisted
a $28,690,212 contract to perform the Target Detection and Classification’ and also
JSFPICPTD. This means the Joint Strike for ‘Automatic Target Detection and
Fighter Program Integrated Core Processing Classification’ and also for ‘Automated
Technical Demonstration and is something I Target Detection and Classification’. Clearly
have omitted. Another non-starter has to be that is not enough, because ATRC stands for
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Foreword
‘Aided Target Recognition and Classification’ has two slots, the second being used by an
and ‘Automatic Target Recognition and Arinc, MIL-1553A/B or PANIL interface.’
Classification’. I did not myself invent these. Many readers were doubtless happy with this,
And I have just noticed that the USAF, the and one was impelled to respond with, ‘May I
world’s leading offender, has become dis- add something to your characterisation of
satisfied with the mere ERT (extended-range AQP as “an upgrade of CRM” ... The human
tank). It has changed it to ERFCS, extended- factors elements had to be injected into non-
range fuel-containment system. Feeble! The jeopardy Loft and LOE ... With converging
name could be made farmore complicated! developments in CPL NVQ and recurrent
In the same way, it should be simple to have CRM, the AQP may be the shape of things to
an agreed abbreviation for an airspace control come in the UK.’
zone, but we are now confronted by CTLZ, A speaker at a recent conference ‘has sat
CTR, CTRZ, and CTZ. In the first edition of on EUROCONTROL, ICAO, EUROCAE,
this work I included FMEA, for which two RTAC and AEEC. In his current position as
elucidations were (and are) current: failure Programme Manager CNS/ATM he is
modes and effects analysis and failure-mode involved in the CLAIRE and ISATIS using
effects analysis. I now have to add FMECA – ACARS, a development study of VDL Mode
failure-mode effects and criticality analysis 2 in France. He is evaluation manager of
–and FMETA – failure-mode effects and task EOLIA and ASD manager in ProATN.’ And
analysis. It is inconceivable that the authors an advertisement tells me, ‘Group IV faxes
ofthe two new letter-jumbles were unaware of and PCMCIA cards are only supplied with an
FMEA, and I cannot comprehend the need for ISDN S-Bus interface. The ISDN integration
the two new identities. If we go on like this I provided by the LES means that a SODA is
fear for the sanity of whoever takes over this only required at the mobile end.’ I think I need
work when I collapse through exhaustion. a whisky with my SODA.
Many of the acronyms in these pages
already have more than 20meanings, and are Preface to the Cambridge edition
gathering fresh ones all the time. This trend is This updated and enlarged new edition is the
leading to texts which, even to most aerospace first to be published by Cambridge University
people, must appear mere gobbledegook. Press. I would like to thank Phoenix Type-
There is no more clearly written periodical setting for doing a masterful job with
than Aerospace, published by the august mathematics and Greek symbols, and every-
Royal Aeronautical Society, and it strives to one at Cambridge for their diligence and
remain one of the few bastions of good infectious enthusiasm – all too rare these
English. They published an article which told daysin book publishing.
us, ‘Currently, BASE is developing a Terprom
SEM-E standard card for use in the H764G, a
high-accuracy INS with embedded GPS. It Bill Gunston, Haslemere, 2004
vii
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Foreword to the Second
Cambridge Edition
I am grateful to the publisher’s excellent team entries by combining two or more in one entry.
in New York and Cambridge, not least for For example, under DSU 1 offer:
agreeing that a new edition is needed. The
avalanche of new aerospace terms, and 4 Data-storage unit; R adds receptacle.
5 Defensive system upgrade; P adds program.
especially acronyms, shows no sign of abating.
There is little point in my reiterating the ques-
I hope that no reader seeking DSUR will
tionable value of inventing new meanings for
angrily say that it is not there. I have also
three-letter acronyms when the same three
agonised over many names and functions,
letters already have more than 30 different
especially in structural analysis where I have
meanings relevant to aerospace. Of course,
often failed to concoct explanations which are
common sense shows that these cannot be
both brief and accurate. A dictionary ought
presented in any particular order of impor-
not to try to emulate a textbook.
tance.
Just as this edition was closing for press, I
One correspondent asked, ‘What’s the point
received a letter from Dick Gunnell, an
of having so many meanings for the same set
Englishman living in the south of France. He
of letters? It just clutters up your book.’ In my
drew my attention to a passage on page 41 of
reply I asked him which ones he would delete.
Annette Carson’s classic history of aerobatics
I am still waiting for his reply.
Flight Fantastic:
Obviously, it is imposible to include every-
thing. I have given GSP a single brief line,
At the very same time, quietly and almost unnoticed, it
though I have one definition of this seemingly seems, the word “aerobatics” entered the English
harmless letter-combination which extends language. A certain Mr E. L. Gunston wrote the following
amusing letter to The Aeroplane, which was published in
over 14 pages of text. My first explanation of
its edition of 1st January 1914:
EPS is ‘Emergency or [confusing] electrical, “Since boucling and boucle is a feat which has come to
power system, or supply, or source’. It was stay, and which apparently is as common as sane flying,
these feats performed by Pégoud, Chevillard and certain
impossible to omit any of these, because all are
other scientific gentlemen will have to be called by a distin-
in current use. The reader can be assured that guishing name. Why not ‘aerobatics’?”
I am not in the business of myself inventing Nice one, Mr Gunston!
extra meanings; there are too many already.
As far as possible I have (obviously) tried to My correspondent asks whether Mr E.L.G.
avoid including an acronym within the was my father (‘there appears to be a similarity
explanation of an acronym. I apologise for in the genes’). Regretfully I must claim no
the fifth translation of Dars. I have offered known close kinship. I wonder if he invented
‘Deployable ARS12 (NATO).’ The seeker any other terms now to be found between
after enlightenment may, in an ill humour, these covers.
look up ARS12, where he will find it means Again, I would like to thank Phoenix
‘Air Control Center, recognised air picture Typesetting, and everyone concerned at
production center sensor-fusion post [ACCS] Cambridge University Press, both in
(NATO).’ Quite a mouthful to be represented Cambridge and New York, for unfailing
by three letters. meticulous attention to detail.
I have tried to keep down the number of
Bill Gunston, Haslemere, 2009
viii
