Bahrain CAA ATC Exam flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Chicago Convention

The 1944 Convention on International Civil Aviation established ICAO and the framework for international civil aviation, including sovereignty over airspace and standards for safety and regularity.

Annex 11

ICAO Annex 11 contains Standards and Recommended Practices for Air Traffic Services, covering airspace classification, separation, clearances, and coordination between ATS units.

Bahrain CARs

Civil Aviation Regulations issued by the Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs under national law; they implement ICAO Annexes with published differences and govern operations in Bahrain airspace.

Class D airspace

Controlled airspace where IFR flights are separated from each other and from VFR flights, and VFR flights receive traffic information; VFR flights are not separated from each other.

RVSM

Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum of 1000 ft applied between FL290 and FL410 inclusive, requiring approved altimetry, autopilot, and altimeter alerting systems.

Radar separation minimum

Normally 5 NM between identified aircraft at the same level; 3 NM may apply in approved terminal areas with suitable radar displays and defined procedures.

Essential traffic information

Information passed to an aircraft describing other traffic when prescribed separation minima are not or will not be maintained, including relative position, level, and direction.

Runway-in-use

The runway designated by ATC as the one in use for landing and take-off at a given time, selected considering wind, weather, approach aids, and traffic.

Conditional clearance

A clearance that depends on a preceding condition, such as 'after the landing aircraft'; it must be read back in full and used only where no ambiguity exists.

Runway incursion

Any unauthorised presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on a protected runway area; prevention relies on standard phraseology, confirmed clearances, and read-back monitoring.

Aerodrome control service

ATS provided for aerodrome traffic, including clearances for taxi, take-off, landing, and traffic information, to prevent collisions and maintain orderly flow.

Standard holding pattern

Right-hand turns with 1-minute inbound legs at or below 14,000 ft and 1.5-minute legs above; entry depends on aircraft heading relative to the holding fix.

Approach clearance

Authorisation for an aircraft to execute an instrument approach procedure; unless restricted, it permits descent to the published procedure altitudes.

Squawk 7600

SSR code indicating radio communication failure; the pilot follows published lost-communication procedures and ATC provides separation for the aircraft.

Speed control minima

ATC-assigned speeds must not be below 250 kt below FL100 unless approved, 210 kt on downwind/base, or 160 kt on final approach.

METAR

A routine aerodrome weather report issued typically hourly, reporting wind, visibility, weather, cloud, temperature, dew point, and altimeter setting.

SPECI

A special aerodrome weather report issued when significant changes occur in wind, visibility, ceiling, or weather phenomena that affect operations.

Microburst

A strong, localized downdraft producing a sudden headwind-to-tailwind shift near the ground; escape requires maximum performance climb and avoidance of low altitude.

QNH

Altimeter setting that, when set on the subscale, causes the altimeter to indicate altitude above mean sea level at the aerodrome.

SIGMET

A meteorological information message issued for significant weather hazards such as severe turbulence, icing, volcanic ash, sandstorms, or thunderstorms affecting flight safety.

VOR radial

A magnetic bearing from a VOR station; an aircraft tracking a radial flies toward or away from the station along that bearing.

ILS glideslope

The vertical guidance component of an ILS, typically set at a 3-degree angle, providing descent guidance to the runway.

RAIM

Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring, a GNSS function that detects and sometimes excludes faulty satellite signals, required for certain approaches.

Mode S

Secondary surveillance radar mode using a unique 24-bit aircraft address, enabling selective interrogation, data link, and TCAS coordination.

Wake turbulence categories

Aircraft grouped by maximum take-off weight: Light up to 7,000 kg, Medium 7,000-136,000 kg, Heavy above 136,000 kg; separation increases behind heavier aircraft.

V1

The decision speed at which a failure before V1 leads to a rejected take-off and a failure after V1 leads to continued take-off.

Vref

Landing reference speed, typically 1.3 times the stall speed in the landing configuration, used to compute landing distance.

Load factor in turns

In a level turn, load factor equals 1 divided by cosine of the bank angle; 60 degrees bank produces 2g and increases stall speed.

SHELL model

A human factors framework describing interfaces between Software, Hardware, Environment, and Liveware (people), where mismatches can cause errors.

Safety Management System

A formal system with four components: safety policy and objectives, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion, supported by a just culture.

Threat and Error Management

A framework where threats are external events, errors are crew actions, and undesired aircraft states result; countermeasures prevent, trap, or mitigate them.

Read-back requirement

Pilots must read back safety-critical clearances including route, level, heading, speed, altimeter setting, runway-in-use, and conditional clearances to confirm understanding.