FLIGHT SIMULATION GLOSSARIES

The world of flight simulation, like all specialised areas, has its own vocabulary and set of acronyms.

Rather than create yet another glossary, this page offers links to existing glossaries of relevance.

Just searching on “Flight Simulation” is more likely to yield information on flight simulation games than on professional applications of flight simulators for training and for system development.

Flight Simulation as a topic embraces many technologies: computing, mathematics, modelling and simulation, visual systems, human factors, human perception, hydraulics, electronics, virtual reality and many more. Each domain has its own terminology.

To find an answer to your query, apart from using one of the well-known search engines, the following sites may be of interest:

A Flight Simulation Glossary (by Nels Anderson) offers a contribution to understanding aviation & flight simulation terms, with an alphabetical list.

On-line cyclopaedias can also offer an A-Z index of terms or some flight simulation definitions, and can lead to an extended article, or specific entries.

The US military and Department of Defense are prolific users of simulation, and offer a searchable Online Modelling and Simulation (M&S) Glossary or a Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms.

Another general source is the US Army. The Army MSRR is part of the DoD-wide Modelling & Simulation (M&S) Resource Repository (MSRR). The MSRR promotes interoperability, reuse, and commonality through information sharing and communication throughout the M&S community. This site is intended as a guide and directory to Internet information on M&S technologies. Users can locate, access, and obtain M&S resources that support Training, Exercises, & Military Operations (TEMO); Advanced Concepts and Requirements (ACR); and Research, Development, and Acquisition (RDA).

Airlines such as Lufthansa also offer the Lufthansa Flight Training Simulator Glossary

A Glossary of Virtual Reality (VR) Terms is also available.

Academia makes a contribution through the General Glossary of Terms relating to Modelling and Simulation for Environmental Engineering (University of Strathclyde) and through a collection of links (University of Ottawa) to M&S Dictionaries and to some online dictionaries and glossaries for acronyms and abbreviations.

The US-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is widely known as a source of independent information, including a Military Lexicon, and related Acronyms, Initialisms, and Abbreviations, Military Terminology.

SEDRIS is an independent organisation that encompasses the environmental domain with its own alphabetic glossary and acronym list.

In the field of visual displays, the specialist supplier SEOS provides an alphabetic list.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) offers its own Aviation Acronyms and abbreviations.

The Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) can be a source of information but does not have an identifiable glossary. The JAA is an associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) representing the civil aviation regulatory authorities of a number of European States who have agreed to co-operate in developing and implementing common safety regulatory standards and procedures.

Anyone who uses this list and can add further useful sources is invited to post their suggestions on the FSG Forum.