Miscellaneous Terms
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aerobatic category
A ranking system of regulations and achievements including five levels: Basic, Sportsman, Intermediate, Advanced, and Unlimited.

air patch
An air-to-ground radio relay system for voice communications.

airstart
The starting of an aircraft engine while the aircraft is airborne.

auger
To crash an aircraft.

beep
The sound made by a downed flyer's emergency radio or "beeper" by which rescue aircraft fix his position.

BLC
Boundary Layer Control. Air from the engine compressor of a jet aircraft directed over its wings to increase lift at slow speeds; the BLC light indicates when the air is becoming too hot for continued safe flight.

ding
To collide, to crash, to "bust your..."

MTBF
Mean Time Between Failures. A measure of a components reliability, referring to the average length of time a certain component will last before it breaks.

thermal
Air rising or falling due to temperature differences thus creating pockets of high pressure. Useful in soaring.

yaw string
A string tied to an aircraft's canopy or elsewhere visible to the pilot and exposed to the relative wind. Its angle shows you whether you are flying straight into the airstream, or at an angle.