Word on the Wing
In our Word on the Wing series we lift six real terms from the last month of aviation news and unpack each one in plain English. The last month brought a British Airways 777 that dropped 27,000 feet over Ireland, a software fault that put the 737 MAX 10 on hold, a fuel-price shock at airBaltic and a sudden strike in Iceland. Here are the words behind the headlines.
Glossary
emergency descent (n.)
An emergency descent is a fast but controlled drop to a lower altitude where the air is thick enough to breathe without oxygen masks.
Over Ireland, the crew of British Airways flight BA295 began an emergency descent from about 36,000 feet to around 9,000 feet before turning back to Heathrow.
Usage note: You begin or carry out an emergency descent. Keep cause and response apart: a decompression is the problem; the emergency descent is the crew’s planned answer to it — fast, but never a fall.
missed approach (n.)
A missed approach is the published procedure a crew follows when it abandons an approach to land and climbs away instead.
The software fault reportedly appears if a crew flying on autopilot begins a missed approach and the flight plan is then changed.
Usage note: You fly or begin a missed approach. The manoeuvre itself is a go-around — the word pilots use on the radio (“going around”) — and the missed approach is the route they then follow. It is a normal, trained decision, not a failure.
transponder (n.)
A transponder is a device on board an aircraft that answers air traffic control radar with a four-digit code and, usually, the aircraft’s altitude.
The crew set the transponder to the code 7700, which tells every controller watching the radar that the aircraft has an emergency.
Usage note: Pilots set a code on the transponder, or simply squawk it: “squawk 7700”. Three codes are worth knowing: 7700 emergency, 7600 radio failure, 7500 unlawful interference.
certification (n.)
Certification is the formal approval from a regulator that lets a new aircraft type enter service, ending with the issue of a type certificate.
The FAA has delayed certification of the Boeing 737 MAX 10 while engineers decide whether a newly found software fault matters for safety.
Usage note: A regulator grants or delays certification, and the aircraft is then certified. Don’t mix it up with last month’s type rating: certification approves the aircraft; a type rating qualifies the pilot.
hedging (n., also fuel hedging)
Hedging is the practice of fixing the price of fuel an airline will buy in the future, so that a sudden rise in the market price does not hurt it.
Most airlines protect themselves against a fuel shock by hedging, but airBaltic had hedged only about a tenth of its fuel when prices nearly tripled.
Usage note: The verb is to hedge: an airline is 80% hedged, or unhedged. It works both ways — if prices fall, a hedged airline may pay more than its rivals.
walkout (n.; verb: walk out)
A walkout is a sudden strike in which workers stop work and leave their workplace.
When a last attempt at mediation failed, Icelandair’s mechanics staged a walkout early on 23 September, and dozens of flights were cancelled.
Usage note: You stage a walkout; the verb is two words: the mechanics walked out (or walked off the job). A walkout is one kind of industrial action, a term from our August issue.
Practice
Fill each gap with a term from this issue. The last two (marked Review:) reach back to earlier issues.
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Before a new aircraft type can carry passengers, it must pass ____, the process that ends with the regulator issuing a type certificate.
The regulator’s formal approval of a new aircraft type is its ‘certification’. Don’t confuse it with a pilot’s ‘type rating’, which is a qualification on a licence.
Certification — the regulator’s formal approval that lets a new aircraft type enter service.
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When the cabin pressure suddenly fell at 37,000 feet, the pilots put on their oxygen masks and began an ____ to a height where everyone could breathe normally.
The fast, controlled drop pilots make after a loss of cabin pressure is an ’emergency descent’. The loss of pressure itself is the decompression; the descent is the response to it.
Emergency descent — a fast, controlled drop to a lower level where the air is thick enough to breathe.
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Fog hid the runway lights at the last moment, so the crew abandoned the landing, flew the published ____ procedure and climbed away to try again.
The published procedure a crew follows when it abandons an approach and climbs away is the ‘missed approach’. The manoeuvre is often called a go-around, but the published route is the missed approach procedure.
Missed approach — the published procedure for abandoning an approach and climbing away.
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To tell controllers about the emergency without a word on the radio, the crew set the ____ to the code 7700.
The device that sends a four-digit code to air traffic control radar is the ‘transponder’. Setting it is also called ‘squawking’ a code.
Transponder — the on-board device that answers ground radar with a four-digit code.
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The airline had fixed the price of most of next year’s fuel in advance, so it was well ____ when the market price nearly tripled.
An airline that has fixed the price of its future fuel in advance is ‘hedged’ — from the verb ‘to hedge’. One that has fixed nothing is ‘unhedged’.
Hedged — an airline that has fixed its future fuel price in advance is ‘hedged’ (noun: hedging).
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The last round of talks failed at midnight, and early the next morning the mechanics ____ of the hangar, leaving the aircraft half-repaired.
When workers suddenly stop work and leave, they ‘walk out’ (past: walked out). The noun is one word: a walkout.
Walked out — the verb behind ‘walkout’: workers suddenly stop work and leave.
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Review: The low-cost airline plans a 25-minute ____: passengers off, a quick clean, fuel on, new passengers on, and the aircraft leaves again.
Everything done to an aircraft between one flight and the next — unloading, cleaning, refuelling, boarding — is its ‘turnaround’.
Turnaround — all the work done on an aircraft between landing and its next departure.
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Review: As the test jet passed Mach 1 high above the desert, people on the ground heard a sharp double crack — a ____.
The loud crack heard on the ground when an aircraft goes faster than the speed of sound is a ‘sonic boom’.
Sonic boom — the loud bang heard on the ground when an aircraft flies faster than sound.
CEFR Level B2 / ICAO Level 5
Want to see one of this month’s words in action? Read our full report on the British Airways 777 that made an emergency descent over Ireland.
