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• Weight units The weight of an aircraft is most commonly measured in kilograms, but may sometimes be measured in pounds, especially if the fuel gauges are calibrated in pounds or gallons.
Many airlines request that weights be rounded to a multiple of 10 or 100 units. Great care is needed when rounding to ensure that physical constraints are not exceeded.
When chatting informally about a flight plan, approximate weights of fuel and / or aircraft may be referred to in tons.
This " ton " is generally either a metric tonne or a UK long ton, which differ by less than 2 %, or a short ton, which is about 10 % less.
Describing a route. A route is a description of the path followed by an aircraft when flying between airports. Most commercial flights will travel from one airport to another, but private aircraft, commercial sightseeing tours, and military aircraft may do a circular or out-and-back trip and land at the same airport from which they took off.
Components
Aircraft fly on airways under the direction of air traffic control.
An airway has no physical existence, but can be thought of as a motorway in the sky. On an ordinary motorway, cars use different lanes to avoid collisions, while on an airway, aircraft fly at different flight levels to avoid collisions.
One can often see planes passing directly above or below one ' s own. Charts showing airways are published and are usually updated every 4 weeks, coinciding with the AIRAC cycle.
AIRAC( Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control) occurs every fourth Thursday, when every country publishes its changes, which are usually to airways.
A- Z of Flight
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