Glossary

Airtask	A company external to FAAM who operate the aircraft, providing pilots, cabin crew and operations staff.
ARA	Atmospheric Research Aircraft. This is a term sometimes used to refer to the FAAM BAe 146 research aircraft.
Avalon Aero	The aircraft maintenance company who maintain the FAAM BAe 146 research aircraft.
BAe 146(-301)	BAe 146 is a type of aircraft (-301 refers to the specific model of the FAAM aircraft)
BAE Systems	The manufacturer of the FAAM BAe 146 research aircraft. BAE continues to support, modify and upgrade the aircraft.
BCAR	British Civil Airworthiness Requirements.
CAA	Civil Aviation Authority.
Campaign	A flying project.
(S)CCM	(Senior) Cabin Crew Member.
CEDA	Centre for Environmental Data Analysis. A UK organisation that serves the environmental science community by provision of data centres, data analysis, data access and research project participation. Data collected using the FAAM aircraft is stored at CEDA.
CFD	Computational Fluid Dynamics.
Co-I	A Co-investigator (Co-I) assists the Principal Investigator (PI) in the management and leadership of the research project.
Core and non-core	Historic, loosely-defined terms used to refer to instruments, services and data relating to the FAAM Airborne Laboratory. Instruments referred to as ‘core’ tended to be maintained and operated by FAAM staff, and part of the basic provision for all users. ‘Non-core’ instruments could be either maintained by FAAM or an external organisation. The ‘core file’ contains data from some of FAAM’s instruments, but not the ‘core cloud’ or ‘core chemistry’ ones.
Cranfield Airport	FAAM’s home base in Bedfordshire, UK.
Cranfield University	FAAM is a tenant at Cranfield University. Although its offices and labs are in university buildings, it is not part of the university.
DECADES	(Data Evaluation, Collection, Analysis, Display, End-use and Storage) Data logging and display system
Detachment	A flying project based away from Cranfield Airport.
DOI	Digital Object Identifier.
EASA	European Union Aviation Safety Agency.
ECR	Early career researcher. We define an ECR as a non-independent Postdoctoral Researcher (e.g. a PDRA), an independent Postdoctoral Researcher (e.g. a research fellow) or an individual with a technician background, such as research or instrument technicians currently employed in a research capacity within the UK in an environmental science discipline relevant to NERC’s remit.
EUROCAE	European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment.
FAAM Airborne Laboratory	A research facility operating a specially adapted research aircraft managed by a team of scientists, engineers, operations staff and project managers. It encompasses a range of services and infrastructure.
FAAM Application Form	An online form completed by a potential FAAM user, which enables FAAM to evaluate the feasibility and costs of their project idea. The form forms the basis of subsequent project planning.
FAAM Technical Assessment	A document produced by FAAM outlining the technical feasibility and estimated costs associated with a proposed project, to be included in funding applications.
FAAM-Science Link	A member of FAAM scientific staff nominated for each project to facilitate the exchange of information about measurement science requirements between FAAM and its users.
FEC	Full economic cost.
Flight manager	A member of FAAM staff who operates many of the FAAM instruments for a given flight, documents the flight, co-ordinates the pre- and post-flight briefs, and acts as a key point of contact between the science teams and air crew.
G-LUXE	The aircraft registration number of the FAAM BAe 146 research aircraft.
G-LUXE Exchange Folder	A folder that can be used for uploading or downloading relatively small files to aid mission scientists.
H&S	Health and Safety.
IRC	FAAM uses internet relay chat (IRC, or “the chat”) for text-based communication between the science team on the aircraft and the ground.
Mission scientist (1, 2, 3)	A scientist who leads (MS1), or helps lead (MS2 and 3), the science aspects of a flight from planning through to debrief.
NCAS	FAAM is managed through the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, a NERC Research Centre.
NDA	Non Disclosure Agreement.
NERC	Natural Environment Research Council is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. The FAAM aircraft is owned by UKRI and NERC.
NetCDF	NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) is a set of software libraries and platform independent data formats which are designed to support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data
Operational Partnership	A temporary partnering arrangement based on operational availability: researchers can apply to use the aircraft alongside existing projects when they’re in the right place at the right time for them, whilst not compromising existing funded projects. It allows them to make use of the facility by identifying synergies with existing FAAM projects, with resulting costs lower than the full economic rate.
Preflighter	A member of FAAM staff who prepares much of the FAAM scientific equipment for flight on a flying day, and liaises with external instrument operators and aircraft engineers. They are responsible for the scientific equipment before handing over to the Flight Manager prior to take-off.
PI	Principal Investigator, the lead researcher for a research project.
Postflighter	A member of FAAM staff who shuts down much of the FAAM scientific equipment after a flight.
Research Runway	One of FAAM’s access routes, aimed at providing flying hours and support for small-scale, standalone projects. Primarily targeted at early career researchers and new FAAM users.
RTCA	RTCA, Inc. (formerly known as Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics) is a US non-profit organization that develops technical guidance for use by government regulatory authorities and by industry.
SATCOM	Satellite communication, referring to the system that enables communication between the aircraft and the ground (text-based chat, file exchange or data streaming).
Sortie brief	A written plan for the flight, produced by a science user well in advance of the flight, usually the Mission Scientist. It is used to provide Airtask with the waypoints and timings needed to file a flight plan, and to communicate to everyone on board what the plan is, and how it relates to the basic objectives.
Superstructure costs	Costs over-and-above the ongoing NERC investment in providing the aircraft in a ready-to-go state at Cranfield Airport. Fuel and other similar costs do not need to be considered as they are included in this ready-to-go reckoning.
UKRI	A non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. NERC is one of the nine bodies in UKRI. NERC and UKRI own the FAAM aircraft.
University of Leeds	The FAAM aircraft is leased through the University of Leeds, and all FAAM staff are employed by the University of Leeds.
User	A person or organisation who uses some aspect of the FAAM facility or its data.