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condensation trail
rendering shock field visible, often showing elliptic lift
distribution around transonic aircraft.
condensation trail Visible trail, usually white but sometimes
darker than sky background, left by winged or
propelled vehicle when flying above condensation level.
May be due to reduced pressure (eg in tip vortices), but
nearly all persistent ** due to condensation (and probable
freezing) of water vapour formed by combustion of fuel.
condenser 1 Capacitor.
2 Device for changing flow of vapour to liquid by
removing latent heat of evaporation. Essential feature of
closed-cycle space power systems in which working fluid
must be used repeatedly.
condenser-discharge light Gives very short flashes of
great intensity caused by capacitor discharge through
low-pressure gas tube (eg collision beacon).
con-di nozzle Jet-engine nozzle having cross section
which converges to throat and then diverges; subsonic
flow accelerates to throat, becomes supersonic and then
accelerates in divergent portion.
conditionally unstable Unsaturated air above or through
which temperature falls with height faster than SALR but
less than DALR; thus if air becomes saturated it will be
unstable.
condition monitoring Health inspection of operative
hardware, eg engine, using intrascope, X-ray photography,
oil sampling and BITE.
Condo Contractors on deployed operations.
Condor 1 Confidential direct occurrence reporting,
system for non-attributably ensuring that nothing having
a direct bearing on flight safety is kept hidden (RAF,
CAB, etc).
2 Electronic ‘sniffer’ which by mass spectometry identifies
traces of vapour or particles emitted by explosives
and drugs (from contraband detector, British Aerospace).
3 Covert night and day operations for rotorcraft.
conductance 1 Real part of admittance in electric circuit;
symbol Λ.
2 In circuit having no reactance, ratio of current to
potential difference, ie reciprocal of resistance. Symbol G,
unit siemens, = 1 / Ω .
3 In vacuum system, throughput Q divided by difference
in p between two specified cross-sections in pumping
system.
4 Several meanings in electrolytes (little aerospace
relevance).
5 See thermal *.
conduction Transfer of heat from hotter to colder
material or of electrons from higher to lower potential.
conduction band Band of electron energies corresponding
to free electrons able to act as carriers of
negative charges.
conductivity Measure of ability of material to transmit
energy, eg heat or electricity. Thermal *, symbol k or λ,
measured in Jm/M 2 s°C. Electrical *, symbol δ, measured
in mhos/m (per cube); reciprocal of resistivity.
conductor Material having very low electrical resistivity,
esp. such material fashioned in form useful for electric
circuits.
cone 1 Drag and stabilizing member trailed on end of
HF aerial wire (trailing *) or on end of air-refuelling hose.
2 Drag and stabilizing member incorporating pressure
and/or static heads trailed beneath aircraft under test in
supposed undisturbed air.
conflict
cone angle Semi-angle of right circular cone having same
increase in surface area per unit length as diffuser; hence
diffuser **.
CONECT, Conect Combat network communications
technology.
coned Caught in beams of two or more searchlights.
cone of confusion Inverted cone of airspace with vertical
axis centred on VOR or other point navaid.
cone of escape Volume in exosphere with vertex pointing
directly to Earth centre through which atom or molecule
could theoretically escape to space without collision.
Opens out in angle to infinity at critical level of escape.
cone of silence Inverted cone of airspace with vertical
axis centred on certain marker beacons, NDBs and other
point navaids within which signal strength reduces close
to zero.
cone passage Flight through cone (of confusion or of
silence) above point navaid.
cone yawmeter Cone flying point-first, with pitot holes
spaced at 90° intervals, to obtain yaw indication at supersonic
speeds (avoids averaging effect of wing-type
yawmeter).
confidence level Used in statistical sense, eg as
percentage probability that an actual MTBF will exceed
estimated or published MTBF. Value of ** increases with
number of samples. Sometimes called confidence limit.
confidence manoeuvres Set pattern of ground and air
tasks easily mastered by new and inexperienced pupil pilot
(eg, swinging propeller, letting aircraft recover from
unnatural flight attitude hands-off); devised to ease
problem of apprehension and tension. Sometimes called
confidence actions.
Confidential human [factors incident – reporting
programme Procedure whereby professional pilots and
controllers may confidentially report incidents caused by
human error for analysis by IAM(2).
configuration 1 Gross spatial arrangement of major
elements, eg in case of aircraft disposition of wings,
bodies, engines and control surfaces.
2 Aerodynamic shape of aircraft where variable by
pilot command, eg position of landing gear,
leading/trailing-edge devices and external stores. Thus
high-lift *, clean *.
3 Standard of build or equipment for task. Thus helicopter
in dunking ASW *, passenger transport converted
to all-cargo *.
4 Apparent positions of heavenly bodies, esp. in solar
system, as seen from Earth at particular time.
5 A new (1990– ) usage: the number of seats in a
passenger airliner, thus ‘*220’.
6 Used, incorrectly, to mean ‘application’, eg
‘Chaparral is the Sidewinder missile in ground-to-air *’.
This would be correct if hardware was physically changed
in *.
configuration bias Channel or subsystem in stall protection
or stick-pusher system allowing for changes in
configuration (2).
configuration deviation list Comprehensive schedule of
all variable parts of a/c, such as door panels and seals.
configuration management Combining the management
and traceability of software and hardware in a single solution.
conflict In ATC (1), two aircraft proceeding towards
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