Word on the Wing
Every aviation story arrives wrapped in its own vocabulary. In our Word on the Wing series we lift six real terms from the past four weeks of aviation news — roughly mid-August to mid-September 2026 — and unpack each one in plain English. This month brought a fatal cargo-aircraft overrun at Miami, a ground worker killed during a pushback in Montreal, and a doubling of the FAA’s drone testing programme. Here are the words behind the headlines.
Glossary
runway excursion (n.)
A runway excursion is an event in which an aircraft runs off the end or the side of the runway while landing or taking off.
Investigators are treating the Miami accident as a runway excursion: the freighter touched down, failed to stop and left the paved surface at the far end.
Usage note: Don’t confuse it with a runway incursion — an aircraft, vehicle or person wrongly on a runway in use. An excursion means leaving the runway; an incursion means entering one. Straight off the far end is an overrun.
marshaller (n.)
A marshaller is the ground worker who guides an aircraft on and off its parking stand using standard hand signals or lit wands.
The marshaller raised two lit wands and guided the arriving aircraft to a stop on its mark.
Usage note: Stress the first syllable: MAR-shuh-ler. British English spells it marshaller, American English often marshaler, but the verb keeps one l: to marshal an aircraft. The signals are standardised worldwide, so a marshaller and a crew with no shared language can still work safely.
ground stop (n.)
A ground stop is an order from air traffic control that holds aircraft bound for one airport on the ground wherever they are, until it can take them again.
With Miami closed after the crash, the FAA issued a ground stop, and aircraft due to fly there waited at their gates elsewhere.
Usage note: You issue, order or lift a ground stop. Notice where the aircraft wait: a ground stop for Miami holds departures at every other airport, not at Miami. A ground delay programme only spaces arrivals out.
type rating (n.)
A type rating is the qualification added to a pilot’s licence that allows them to fly one specific aircraft type, such as the Boeing 767.
The captain had held a type rating on the Boeing 767 for only a few months when the accident happened.
Usage note: You hold, gain or renew a type rating, and it sits on a type. Large aircraft each need their own; lighter ones share a class rating. The licence says you may fly; the type rating says what you may fly.
general aviation (n., also GA)
General aviation covers all civil flying other than commercial air transport — private flights, business and corporate jets, flight training and light aircraft.
Burke Lakefront handles mainly general aviation traffic: private aircraft, corporate jets and flight training rather than scheduled airline services.
Usage note: Usually shortened to GA, and common before a noun — a general-aviation airport, GA traffic. In ICAO’s strict definition, paid specialised flying such as crop-spraying or aerial survey counts as aerial work and is listed separately.
beyond visual line of sight (adj. phrase, BVLOS)
A flight beyond visual line of sight is one in which a drone travels further away than its operator can actually see it.
Of the 70,000 flights the programme has logged, nearly 48,400 were flown beyond visual line of sight.
Usage note: Almost always shortened to BVLOS, and set against visual line of sight (VLOS). It marks a regulatory threshold: routine BVLOS flying is what makes drone delivery and long inspection routes practical.
Practice
Fill each gap with a term from this issue. The last two (marked Review:) reach back to earlier issues.
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When the airport had to close after the accident, the FAA issued a ____, and every flight due to fly there was held at its gate until the airport reopened.
An order holding aircraft on the ground at their departure airports because their destination cannot take them is a ‘ground stop’. A ground delay programme only spaces arrivals out; it does not halt them.
Ground stop — aircraft bound for the affected airport are held on the ground wherever they are.
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Burke Lakefront is used mostly by private aircraft, corporate jets and flight schools — in other words, ____ traffic.
Private, business and training flying, as opposed to scheduled airline services, is ‘general aviation’ (GA).
General aviation — civil flying other than commercial air transport.
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Whether an aircraft leaves the side of the runway or runs off the far end, the event is recorded as a ____.
Leaving the runway surface during a landing or take-off — off the side or off the end — is a ‘runway excursion’. A runway *incursion* is the opposite: wrongly entering a runway that is in use.
Runway excursion — running off the end OR the side of the runway. (An overrun is only the off-the-end kind.)
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Nearly 48,400 of the programme’s drone flights went ____, meaning the aircraft travelled further than its operator could see.
Flying a drone further than the operator can actually see it is flying ‘beyond visual line of sight’ (BVLOS).
Beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) — the drone flies further than the operator can see it.
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Before flying the Boeing 767 in service, a pilot must first gain a ____ on that aircraft.
The qualification added to a licence for one specific aircraft type is a ‘type rating’. The licence says you may fly; the type rating says what.
Type rating — the qualification on a licence for one specific aircraft type.
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The arriving crew taxied slowly onto the stand, following the lit wands held up by the ____.
The person who guides an aircraft on and off its stand with standard signals is the ‘marshaller’.
Marshaller — the ground worker who guides an aircraft with standard hand or wand signals.
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Review: After cracks were found in a second aircraft, the regulator ordered the ____ of the whole fleet until the fault could be fixed.
An official order stopping a fleet from flying is a ‘grounding’ (the verb is ‘to ground’).
Grounding — an official order stopping an aircraft or fleet from flying.
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Review: The prototype lifted off for the first time on a cold March morning, completing its ____ in just under two hours.
An aircraft’s very first flight is its ‘maiden flight’ — a fixed phrase, like ‘maiden voyage’ for a ship.
Maiden flight — an aircraft’s very first flight (a fixed phrase).
CEFR Level B2 / ICAO Level 5
Want to see one of this month’s words in action? Read our full report on the cargo aircraft that overran the runway at Miami.
