Glossary¶

Aviation and AZSuite-specific terminology.

A¶

A&P¶

Airframe & Powerplant. The mechanic certificate issued by the FAA that authorizes maintenance on certificated aircraft. AZSuite has a dedicated A&P persona and squawk-queue features.

Airworthiness Directive. A mandatory FAA-issued correction or inspection that must be performed on aircraft of a specified type / serial range. AZSuite tracks per-aircraft applicable ADs in the AD compliance module.

ADS-B¶

Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast. A radio system where aircraft broadcast their identity, position, and velocity to ATC and to other aircraft. AZSuite Mobile receives ADS-B from a Stratux or Garmin GTX-345 on the aircraft's Wi-Fi.

AGL¶

Above Ground Level. Altitude relative to the terrain below. (Compare MSL.)

AIRMET¶

Airmen's Meteorological Information. Area-wide weather advisory for things like turbulence, icing, IFR conditions. Delivered via FIS-B.

Altimeter setting¶

The barometric pressure reference (typically inHg) used to calibrate the altimeter. Reported in METARs and used by the W&B / engine-monitor systems for density-altitude calculations.

APDU¶

Application Protocol Data Unit. The framing unit inside FIS-B uplinks that contains a single weather product (METAR, NEXRAD, etc.).

B¶

Block 63 / Block 64¶

The two NEXRAD precipitation products in FIS-B. Block 63 covers all of CONUS at coarse resolution (~5 NM cells). Block 64 covers a region around the aircraft at fine resolution (~1.5 NM). AZSuite decodes both.

C¶

CG¶

Center of Gravity. The longitudinal point where the aircraft balances. Must fall within the aircraft's CG envelope for safe flight. AZSuite's Weight & Balance module computes it.

CHT¶

Cylinder Head Temperature. A primary engine-health indicator. JPI / EI / Insight engine monitors track per-cylinder CHT.

CONUS¶

Continental United States (lower 48 states). The coverage area of FIS-B Block 63 NEXRAD.

Cross-Country (XC)¶

Per FAA definition, a flight where the destination is more than 50 NM straight-line from the departure (different rules for ATP / CFI minimums). Logged as a subset of Total Time in the pilot logbook.

D¶

dBZ¶

Decibels relative to Z. The radar reflectivity unit used by NEXRAD. AZSuite maps dBZ ranges to colors on the radar overlay (light green = 5–20 dBZ, yellow = 30–40, magenta = >55).

Dual¶

Logbook term for instruction received (Dual Received) or given (Dual Given). Subset of Total Time.

E¶

EFB¶

Electronic Flight Bag. Generic term for an iPad / tablet running flight software. ForeFlight is the most common EFB. AZSuite Mobile complements an EFB rather than replacing it.

EGT¶

Exhaust Gas Temperature. Per-cylinder engine-health indicator, typically used during leaning. Tracked by engine monitors.

Envelope (CG)¶

The polygon of allowable (gross weight, CG arm) combinations for an aircraft. Defined in the POH and configured per aircraft in AZSuite.

F¶

FIS-B¶

Flight Information Service – Broadcast. A free service broadcast from ground stations on the same UAT 978 MHz frequency as ADS-B. Provides weather (METAR/TAF/NEXRAD/etc.) and notices. AZSuite parses and displays all FIS-B products.

Flight Log vs. Pilot Logbook¶

Two distinct AZSuite features: - Flight Log — per-aircraft operational log (Hobbs in/out, fuel, oil, squawks) - Pilot Logbook — your personal record of flights (FAA-style)

A single flight typically gets entries in both — the Flight Log records "how the aircraft was used", the Pilot Logbook records "what you did".

FCM¶

Firebase Cloud Messaging. Android's push-notification service. AZSuite delivers Android notifications via Expo Push, which fans out to FCM.

G¶

GA¶

General Aviation. Non-airline, non-military civil aviation. AZSuite is purpose-built for GA — primarily piston singles and twins, with some turbine support.

GDL90¶

The protocol Stratux and Garmin GTX-345 use to broadcast ADS-B and FIS-B data over Wi-Fi UDP. AZSuite is a GDL90 client.

H¶

Hobbs¶

The hour meter on the aircraft, typically wired to oil pressure or main bus power. Records actual operating time in tenths. Different from Tach time (which only counts above ~1000 RPM).

I¶

IATA / ICAO¶

Two airport identifier systems. ICAO is 4-letter (KZPH); IATA is 3-letter (MCO). AZSuite normalizes both to ICAO internally.

IFR¶

Instrument Flight Rules. Flight conducted by reference to instruments, typically in clouds. Logged separately from VFR time.

IMC¶

Instrument Meteorological Conditions. Weather where you're in the clouds or visibility is low enough that you're flying by instruments. Logged as Actual Instrument time.

J¶

JPI¶

JP Instruments. Manufacturer of popular engine monitors (EDM 700, 830, 930, etc.). AZSuite parses their proprietary binary dump format.

K¶

Kts¶

Knots. Nautical miles per hour. The standard speed unit in aviation. Ground Speed (GS) and indicated airspeed (IAS) are reported in kts.

L¶

LAT/LON¶

Latitude / Longitude. Decimal degrees. Used internally as lat: 28.228, lon: -82.156 (positive north / east).

Logbook¶

Two meanings: - Pilot logbook — your personal flight record - Aircraft logbook — the airframe / engine / propeller maintenance records (separate physical/digital books per major component)

M¶

METAR¶

Meteorological Aerodrome Report. Current weather observation at an airport, issued every ~hour. AZSuite displays via FIS-B and translates to plain English on demand.

MSL¶

Mean Sea Level. Altitude relative to sea level (vs. AGL which is relative to ground).

MinIO¶

S3-compatible object storage that runs on your own hardware. AZSuite historically used MinIO; now migrating to Wasabi.

N¶

N-number¶

The aircraft registration in the United States — always starts with N followed by 1–5 alphanumeric characters. Globally unique.

NEXRAD¶

Next Generation Radar. The US weather-radar network. Imagery is broadcast via FIS-B (Block 63 CONUS, Block 64 Regional) and displayed on AZSuite's mobile radar.

O¶

OurAirports¶

Public-domain airport database at ourairports.com. AZSuite uses it for the bundled mobile airport lookup (~16,000 US fixed-wing airports).

P¶

PDR¶

Per-Diem Report. Not used in AZSuite; common in airline / corporate operations.

PIC¶

Pilot-in-Command. The crew member with final authority and responsibility for the flight. Logged as a subset of Total Time.

PIREP¶

Pilot Report. Voice report from a pilot in flight describing weather, turbulence, icing, etc. Distributed via FIS-B.

PoH¶

Pilot's Operating Handbook. The manufacturer's bible for the aircraft — limits, procedures, performance charts, W&B data.

Push¶

Two meanings here: - Push notification — mobile alert via APNs / FCM - Sync push — uploading mobile-side changes to AZSuite server

Q¶

QNH¶

Altimeter setting in millibars (used outside the US). AZSuite stores altimeter in inHg and converts as needed.

R¶

RA / TA¶

Resolution Advisory / Traffic Advisory. TCAS-style threat tiers in the AZSuite mobile radar scope. RA is the more urgent (red, pulsing, repeating buzz); TA is the warning (amber, single buzz).

RLE¶

Run-Length Encoding. The compression scheme used in FIS-B Block 63 / 64 NEXRAD payloads. AZSuite decodes it directly.

Runup¶

Pre-takeoff engine check. Briefly part of the recorded flight (engine on, GS still 0). The recorder doesn't start until GS > 30 kts to avoid recording runup as a flight.

S¶

S3¶

Amazon's object storage protocol. AZSuite uses S3-compatible storage (MinIO / Wasabi / AWS S3). Buckets are addressed via SigV4-signed REST.

SAR¶

Search and Rescue. A flight track being available could matter for SAR coordination if an aircraft goes missing. AZSuite's track upload is a practical contribution toward this.

SIC¶

Second-in-Command. The non-PIC required crew member.

SIGMET¶

Significant Meteorological Information. Severe weather advisory (severe turbulence, hail, etc.). Subset of FIS-B uplinks.

Squawk¶

Two meanings: - Aircraft squawk — a discrepancy or open issue (the AZSuite feature) - Transponder code — the 4-digit number ATC assigns

In AZSuite the term refers to the first meaning.

STC¶

Supplemental Type Certificate. FAA approval for an aftermarket modification to an aircraft (e.g., autopilot install, engine upgrade). AZSuite tracks applicable STCs per aircraft.

Stratux¶

Open-source DIY ADS-B receiver. See Stratux integration.

T¶

TAF¶

Terminal Aerodrome Forecast. Forecast weather at an airport for the next 24 hours, issued every ~6 hours.

TCAS¶

Traffic Collision Avoidance System. AZSuite's mobile radar implements TCAS-style threat advisories (TA / RA) using ADS-B data.

TCPA¶

Time to Closest Point of Approach. Computed from relative-velocity geometry. AZSuite uses TCPA to promote threats to higher tiers when an encounter is imminent.

TIT¶

Turbine Inlet Temperature. Engine-monitor metric specific to turbo / supercharged engines.

TOT¶

Total Time. The umbrella in the pilot logbook — block-to-block engine-on time. Other categories (PIC, XC, Night, Instrument) are subsets.

Tower / non-towered¶

Towered airports have an active control tower; non-towered (most small GA fields) don't. Affects where you can land / what frequencies to use. AZSuite doesn't gate features on tower status.

TFR¶

Temporary Flight Restriction. Pop-up airspace closure (presidential travel, sporting events, fires). Distributed via FIS-B + NOTAMs.

U¶

UAT¶

Universal Access Transceiver. The 978 MHz radio AZSuite-supported receivers listen on. Below 18,000 ft AGL, GA aircraft typically use UAT instead of 1090ES (which is mandatory above 18K and for international flight).

V¶

VFR¶

Visual Flight Rules. Flight conducted by reference to outside visual references (vs. IFR by instruments).

VMC¶

Visual Meteorological Conditions. Weather good enough to fly VFR.

W¶

Wasabi¶

S3-compatible cloud storage with no egress fees. AZSuite is migrating its primary storage from MinIO to Wasabi.

WGS-84¶

World Geodetic System 1984. The geometric coordinate system most GPS units use. AZSuite stores latitude / longitude in WGS-84.