Glossary

This glossary contains information on terms, phrases and abbreviations used by the Aviation industry. While this list does not include all aviation terminology, it is the purpose of this glossary to aid the general viewer in better understanding aviation terms as it pertains to content on this website. A full list of aviation terminology can be found here.
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D

Datum (Reference Datum)

An imaginary vertical plane or line from which all measurements of arm are taken. The datum is established by the manufacturer. Once the datum has been selected, all moment arms and the location of CG range are measured from this point.

Dead reckoning

Navigation of an airplane solely by means of computations based on airspeed, course, heading, wind direction and speed, groundspeed, and elapsed time.

Deceleration error

A magnetic compass error that occurs when the aircraft decelerates while flying on an easterly or westerly heading, causing the compass card to rotate toward South.

Deice

The act of removing ice accumulation from an aircraft structure

Delta

A Greek letter expressed by the symbol ? to indicate a change of values. As an example, ?CG indicates a change (or movement) of the CG.

Density altitude

Pressure altitude corrected for nonstandard temperature. Density altitude is used in computing the performance of an aircraft and its engines.

Deposition

The direct transformation of a gas to a solid state, in which the liquid state is bypassed. Some sources use sublimation to describe this process instead of deposition.

Detonation

The sudden release of heat energy from fuel in an aircraft engine caused by the fuel-air mixture reaching its critical pressure and temperature. Detonation occurs as a violent explosion rather than a smooth burning process.

Deviation

A magnetic compass error caused by local magnetic fields within the aircraft. Deviation error is different on each heading.

Dew

Moisture that has condensed from water vapor. Usually found on cooler objects near the ground, such as grass, as the near-surface layer of air cools faster than the layers of air above it

Dewpoint

The temperature at which air reaches a state where it can hold no more water.

Differential ailerons

Control surface rigged such that the aileron moving up moves a greater distance than the aileron moving down. The up aileron produces extra parasite drag to compensate for the additional induced drag caused by the down aileron. This balancing of the drag forces helps minimize adverse yaw.

Differential pressure

A difference between two pressures. The measurement of airspeed is an example of the use of differential pressure.

Dihedral

The positive acute angle between the lateral axis of an airplane and a line through the center of a wing or horizontal stabilizer. Dihedral contributes to the lateral stability of an airplane.

Diluter-demand oxygen system

An oxygen system that delivers oxygen mixed or diluted with air in order to maintain a constant oxygen partial pressure as the altitude changes.