Aero-Terms!

Aero-Terms are designed to be a daily reminder of the terms, names, acronyms and explanations of the unique language that populates the aviation world. Aerospace, sport aviation, fixed wing, helo, you name it... it's all fair game.

Aero-Terms should serve as a quick but intriguing reminder of the terms you may use every day, or an introduction to an aspects of the Aero-World you may not yet be familiar with. ANN also encourages readers to go beyond the FMI link, and further research any intriguing terms.

Suggestions for future Aero-Terms are ALWAYS welcome, as are additions or discussion of the explanations given for each Aero-Term.

Heading Hold

This describes a type of Gyro which senses rotation, and maintains direction. This is accomplished by sensing the rate of motion, and the time of motion, then compensating for the distance. While this sounds complicated, the effect is that if you have the aircraft dialed in, and point the nose north, with a heading hold gyro on the yaw axis the aircraft will continue to face north until you command it to yaw. See also Heading Lock. This is not recommended for aircraft use while in flight due to the requirement to use YAW (rudder) command to turn the aircraft. Often used for ground use only for perfect take-off and landing runs.

FMI: www.aviation-terms.com/index2.php?sSourceName=53-74-51-98-48-78-87-90-121-108-71-90&sCurrentLetter=H&nTermID=875