[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 47, Volume 5]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 47CFR87.5]



[Page 184-187]

 

                       TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION

 

        CHAPTER I--FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED)

 

PART 87_AVIATION SERVICES--Table of Contents

 

                      Subpart A_General Information

 

Sec.  87.5  Definitions.



    Aeronautical advisory station (unicom). An aeronautical station used 

for advisory and civil defense communications primarily with private 

aircraft stations.

    Aeronautical enroute station. An aeronautical station which 

communicates with aircraft stations in flight status or with other 

aeronautical enroute stations.

    Aeronautical fixed service. A radiocommunication service between 

specified fixed points provided primarily for the safety of air 

navigation and for the regular, efficient and economical operation of 

air transport. A station in this service is an aeronautical fixed 

station.

    Aeronautical Mobile Off-Route (OR) Service. An aeronautical mobile 

service intended for communications, including those relating to flight 

coordination, primarily outside national or international civil air 

routes.(RR)

    Aeronautical Mobile Route (R) Service. An aeronautical mobile 

service reserved for communications relating to safety and regularity of 

flight, primarily along national or international civil air routes.(RR)

    Aeronautical Mobile-Satellite Off-Route (OR) Service. An 

aeronautical mobile-satellite service intended for communications, 

including those relating to flight coordination, primarily outside 

national and international civil air routes.(RR)

    Aeronautical Mobile-Satellite Route (R) Service. An aeronautical 

mobile-satellite service reserved for communications relating to safety 

and regularity of flights, primarily along national or international 

civil air routes.(RR)

    Aeronautical Mobile-Satellite Service. A mobile-satellite service in 

which mobile earth stations are located on board aircraft.

    Aeronautical mobile service. A mobile service between aeronautical 

stations and aircraft stations, or between aircraft stations, in which 

survival craft stations may also participate; emergency position-

indicating radiobeacon stations may also participate in this service on 

designated distress and emergency frequencies.

    Aeronautical multicom station. An aeronautical station used to 

provide communications to conduct the activities being performed by, or 

directed from, private aircraft.

    Aeronautical radionavigation service. A radionavigation service 

intended for the benefit and for the safe operation of aircraft.

    Aeronautical search and rescue station. An aeronautical station for 

communication with aircraft and other aeronautical search and rescue 

stations pertaining to search and rescue activities with aircraft.

    Aeronautical station. A land station in the aeronautical mobile 

service. In certain instances an aeronautical station may be located, 

for example, on board ship or on a platform at sea.

    Aeronautical utility mobile station. A mobile station used on 

airports for communications relating to vehicular ground traffic.

    Air carrier aircraft station. A mobile station on board an aircraft 

which is engaged in, or essential to, the transportation of passengers 

or cargo for hire.

    Aircraft earth station (AES). A mobile earth station in the 

aeronautical mobile-satellite service located on board an aircraft.

    Aircraft station. A mobile station in the aeronautical mobile 

service other than a survival craft station, located on board an 

aircraft.

    Airport. An area of land or water that is used or intended to be 

used for the landing and takeoff of aircraft, and includes its buildings 

and facilities, if any.



[[Page 185]]



    Airport control tower (control tower) station. An aeronautical 

station providing communication between a control tower and aircraft.

    Automatic terminal information service-broadcast (ATIS-B). The 

automatic provision of current, routine information to arriving and 

departing aircraft throughout a 24-hour period or a specified portion 

thereof.

    Automatic weather observation station (AWOS) or automatic surface 

observation station (ASOS). A land station located at an airport and 

used to automatically transmit weather information to aircraft.

    Aviation service organization. Any business firm which maintains 

facilities at an airport for the purposes of one or more of the 

following general aviation activities: (a) Aircraft fueling; (b) 

aircraft services (e.g. parking, storage, tie-downs); (c) aircraft 

maintenance or sales; (d) electronics equipment maintenance or sales; 

(e) aircraft rental, air taxi service or flight instructions; and (f) 

baggage and cargo handling, and other passenger or freight services.

    Aviation services. Radio-communication services for the operation of 

aircraft. These services include aeronautical fixed service, 

aeronautical mobile service, aeronautical radiodetermination service, 

and secondarily, the handling of public correspondence on frequencies in 

the maritime mobile and maritime mobile satellite services to and from 

aircraft.

    Aviation support station. An aeronautical station used to coordinate 

aviation services with aircraft and to communicate with aircraft engaged 

in unique or specialized activities. (See subpart K)

    Differential GPS (DGPS). A system which transmits corrections to the 

GPS derived position.

    Emergency locator transmitter (ELT). A transmitter of an aircraft or 

a survival craft actuated manually or automatically that is used as an 

alerting and locating aid for survival purposes.

    Emergency locator transmitter (ELT) test station. A land station 

used for testing ELTs or for training in the use of ELTs.

    Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV). A booster rocket that can be used 

only once to launch a payload, such as a missile or space vehicle.

    Flight Information Service-Broadcast (FIS-B). A broadcast service 

provided for the purpose of giving advice and information useful for the 

safe and efficient conduct of flights.

    Flight test aircraft station. An aircraft station used in the 

testing of aircraft or their major components.

    Flight test land station. An aeronautical station used in the 

testing of aircraft or their major components.

    Glide path station. A radionavigation land station which provides 

vertical guidance to aircraft during approach to landing.

    Instrument landing system (ILS). A radionavigation system which 

provides aircraft with horizontal and vertical guidance just before and 

during landing and, at certain fixed points, indicates the distance to 

the reference point of landing.

    Instrument landing system glide path. A system of vertical guidance 

embodied in the instrument landing system which indicates the vertical 

deviation of the aircraft from its optimum path of descent.

    Instrument landing system localizer. A system of horizontal guidance 

embodied in the instrument landing system which indicates the horizontal 

deviation of the aircraft from its optimum path of descent along the 

axis of the runway or along some other path when used as an offset.

    Land station. A station in the mobile service not intended to be 

used while in motion.

    Localizer station. A radionavigation land station which provides 

horizontal guidance to aircraft with respect to a runway center line.

    Marker beacon station. A radionavigation land station in the 

aeronautical radionavigation service which employs a marker beacon. A 

marker beacon is a transmitter which radiates vertically a distinctive 

pattern for providing position information to aircraft.

    Mean power (of a radio transmitter). The average power supplied to 

the antenna transmission line by a transmitter during an interval of 

time sufficiently long compared with the lowest



[[Page 186]]



frequency encountered in the modulation taken under normal operating 

conditions.

    Microwave landing system. An instrument landing system operating in 

the microwave spectrum that provides lateral and vertical guidance to 

aircraft having compatible avionics equipment.

    Mobile service. A radiocommunication service between mobile and land 

stations, or between mobile stations. A mobile station is intended to be 

used while in motion or during halts at unspecified points.

    Operational fixed station. A fixed station, not open to public 

correspondence, operated by and for the sole use of persons operating 

their own radiocommunication facilities in the public safety, 

industrial, land transportation, marine, or aviation services.

    Peak envelope power (of a radio transmitter). The average power 

supplied to the antenna transmission line by a transmitter during one 

radio frequency cycle at the crest of the modulation envelope taken 

under normal operating conditions.

    Private aircraft station. A mobile station on board an aircraft not 

operated as an air carrier. A station on board an air carrier aircraft 

weighing less than 12,500 pounds maximum certified takeoff gross weight 

may be licensed as a private aircraft station.

    Racon station. A radionavigation land station which employs a racon. 

A racon (radar beacon) is a transmitter-receiver associated with a fixed 

navigational mark, which when triggered by a radar, automatically 

returns a distinctive signal which can appear on the display of the 

triggering radar, providing range, bearing and identification 

information.

    Radar. A radiodetermination system based upon the comparison of 

reference signals with radio signals reflected, or re-transmitted, from 

the position to be determined.

    Radio altimeter. Radionavigation equipment, on board an aircraft or 

spacecraft, used to determine the height of the aircraft or spacecraft 

above the Earth's surface or another surface.

    Radiobeacon station. A station in the radionavigation service the 

emissions of which are intended to enable a mobile station to determine 

its bearing or direction in relation to the radiobeacon station.

    Radiodetermination service. A radiocommuncation service which uses 

radiodetermination. Radiodetermination is the determination of the 

position, velocity and/or other characteristics of an object, or the 

obtaining of information relating to these parameters, by means of the 

propagation of radio waves. A station in this service is called a 

radiodetermination station.

    Radiolocation service. A radiodetermination service for the purpose 

of radiolocation. Radiolocation is the use of radiodetermination for 

purposes other than those of radionavigation.

    Radionavigation land test stations. A radionavigation land station 

which is used to transmit information essential to the testing and 

calibration of aircraft navigational aids, receiving equipment, and 

interrogators at predetermined surface locations. The Maintenance Test 

Facility (MTF) is used primarily to permit maintenance testing by 

aircraft radio service personnel. The Operational Test Facility (OTF) is 

used primarily to permit the pilot to check a radionavigation system 

aboard the aircraft prior to takeoff.

    Radionavigation service. A radiodetermination service for the 

purpose of radionavigation. Radionavigation is the use of 

radiodetermination for the purpose of navigation, including obstruction 

warning.

    Re-usable launch vehicle (RLV). A booster rocket that can be 

recovered after launch, refurbished and re-launched.

    Surveillance radar station. A radionavigation land station in the 

aeronautical radionavigation service employing radar to display the 

presence of aircraft within its range.

    Survival craft station. A mobile station in the maritime or 

aeronautical mobile service intended solely for survival purposes and 

located on any lifeboat, life raft or other survival equipment.

    VHF Omni directional range station (VOR). A radionavigation land 

station in the aeronautical radionavigation service providing direct 

indication of



[[Page 187]]



the bearing (omni-bearing) of that station from an aircraft.



[53 FR 28940, Aug. 1, 1988, as amended at 54 FR 11719, Mar. 22, 1989; 54 

FR 49995, Dec. 4, 1989; 55 FR 4175, Feb. 7, 1990; 57 FR 45749, Oct. 5, 

1992; 64 FR 27474, May 20, 1999; 69 FR 32879, June 14, 2004]