Aviation words you will see on the map

Flight trackers borrow a lot of words from real aviation. Here are the ones you will meet on RoFlightTracker24, with what they mean in real life and on the map.

Airport codes

Every airport has an ICAO code of four letters, used by pilots and air traffic control, and many also have an IATA code of three letters, the one on luggage tags. London Heathrow is EGLL and LHR, Stockholm Arlanda is ESSA and ARN. The first letters of an ICAO code show the region: E for northern Europe, K for the United States, Y for Australia.

Runway numbers

A runway is named after the direction it points, in tens of degrees. Runway 09 points east (090 degrees), runway 27 points west (270). One strip of concrete therefore has two numbers, one for each direction, like 09/27. Parallel runways add L, C or R for left, centre and right, as in 01L/19R.

Flight phases

• Ground: parked or taxiing before take-off.
• Take-off: the run down the runway and the first seconds in the air.
• Climb: gaining altitude after take-off.
• Cruise: flying level at its chosen altitude.
• Descent: coming down from cruise.
• Approach: lining up with the destination runway, low and close to the airport.
• Landed: on the ground at the end of the flight.

Registration

Every aircraft has a registration, like a car's number plate. The first letters show the country: G for the United Kingdom, N for the United States, SE for Sweden, EI for Ireland. Virtual airlines give their Roblox planes registrations too.

Diversion

A flight diverts when it lands somewhere other than its planned destination, because of weather, a technical problem or a sick passenger. Turning back to the departure airport is a diversion too. On the map a diverting flight is shown in red.

Ferry flight

A flight with no passengers that moves an aircraft from one place to another, for example to a maintenance base or a new route.

Codeshare

One flight sold under the flight numbers of several airlines. The airline flying the plane is the operating carrier, the others are marketing carriers.

Knots and feet

Aviation measures speed in knots, nautical miles per hour, and altitude in feet. 100 knots is about 185 kilometres per hour, and 10,000 feet is about 3 kilometres.