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Learn aviation · 10 explainers · 77 jargon terms
Aviation, explained for the aviation-curious
Not booking admin — the flying itself. What keeps a 777 in the air, why runways have numbers, what the captain actually means by "flight level three-five-zero", and how to tell an A350 from a 787 at the gate.
FlightLogic's Learn aviation section explains flying itself — not booking admin. Read the 77-term aviation jargon A–Z, test yourself with the 10-question aviation quiz, and work through 10 plain-English explainers covering how planes fly, turbulence, air traffic control, boarding-pass codes, fare classes, airport codes, aircraft identification, runway numbers, ETOPS and pilot announcements.
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How flying works
Lift, turbulence, ocean crossings and the people guiding your flight.
- How planes fly: lift, thrust, drag and weight explained The four forces every flight balances — and why the wing changes shape for takeoff and landing.
- Turbulence explained: what it is, why it happens, and why aircraft shrug it off Clear-air, thermal, wake and mountain-wave turbulence — what each feels like, and what actually keeps you safe.
- Air traffic control explained: who's guiding your flight, and when Follow a London Heathrow–New York JFK flight through every control handover, from pushback to the gate.
- Why twin-engine jets now rule the oceans: ETOPS explained From the 60-minute rule to ETOPS-330: how engine reliability retired the four-engine airliner.
Decoding your flight
Boarding passes, fare buckets, airport codes, runways and PA announcements.
- Decoding your boarding pass: what every code and letter actually means Fare class letters, SSSS, sequence numbers and the barcode — a field guide to the slip of paper that runs your journey.
- Airline fare classes explained: why the same seat has twelve prices Booking buckets, the alphabet soup of Y/J/W/F, and how revenue management prices your exact seat.
- Airport codes explained: why Heathrow is LHR and Toronto is YYZ IATA vs ICAO, the Canadian Y mystery, and the stories behind ORD, MSY and the EG-prefix map.
- Runway numbers explained: what 09L and 27R actually mean Magnetic headings, parallel runway letters, and why the wind decides which runway you use.
- Pilot announcements decoded: what the flight deck is really telling you Flight levels, armed doors, cross-checks, holds and finals — a phrasebook for the PA system.
Spotter's guide
Aircraft identification from the terminal window.