Aeronautical Terms beginning with F

False Horizon

An optical illusion where the pilot confuses a row of lights along a road or other straight line as the horizon.

Fixation

A psychological condition where the pilot fixes attention on a single source of information and ignores all other sources.

Flicker Vertigo

A disorientating condition caused from flickering light off the blades of the propeller.

Flight management system (FMS)

A system normally integrated into a technically advanced aircraft that provides an efficient means of loading and programming horizontal and vertical flight path information that can be tracked by the autopilot or followed manually by the pilot using flight director and other guidance cues.

Flight Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT)

A way to record and analyze identified hazards and risks. A FRAT can be numerical (scoring predetermined hazards) to measure risk or narrative (recording identified hazards, associate risk, and individual risk mitigations).