Glossary
Airfield Operations Specialist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential airfield operations specialist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key airfield operations specialist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in airfield operations specialist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Airfield lighting
- Runway and taxiway lights.
- Airside
- Secure aircraft area.
- ARFF
- Aircraft rescue and firefighting.
- FOD
- Foreign object debris.
- Friction test
- Runway grip test.
- Ground vehicle operations
- Driving on the airfield.
- Hold short
- Stop before a runway.
- Movement area
- Runways and taxiways.
- NOTAM
- Notice to air missions.
- Part 139
- FAA airport certification rules.
- RSA
- Runway safety area.
- Runway incursion
- Unauthorized runway entry.
- Snow plan
- Winter operations plan.
- Tower
- Air traffic control tower.
- Wildlife strike
- Collision with animals.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Airfield Operations Specialist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Airfield Operations Specialist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.