Is it Aeroplane or Airplane, Aerodrome or Airfiled, Helicopter or Chopper

[amostcivilpilot]

Good afternoon ppruners and a Very Happy and Safe New Year to all in advance :)

Reading through various threads in the different forums I have noted that dependant upon which side of the Atlantic that your aviation background relates to, posters will either relate to Aerodrome or Airfield, Aeroplane or Airplane and Helicopter or Chopper :hmm:

For me it is Aerodrome, Aeroplane and Helicopter. I blame "Reach for the Sky" for using Aeroplane - "Never call it a plane Bader, it's and Aeroplane" :O

I don't like "Chopper" and I am happy with either Aerodrome or Airfield dependant on it's use, Old Warden Aerodrome, Baldonnel Aerodrome and Cranfield Airfield are examples.

Yes I am old fashioned and have too much time on my hands today so I thought I would put something on pprune!

So what do you call yours?

AMCP

[VfrpilotPB/2]

I think Country Location makes a big difference, I also feel our cousins from across the pond are the one's who always seem to cut out certain words from the Queens English, and forshorten words to describe things in their own acceptable manner, but Pour Moi, it is Aeroplane, Aerodrome and Helicopter, I feel Chopper describes something big ,long and heavy, something that I dont have.......... A woodsmans Axe!!!;)

Happy new year to one and all,

Peter R-B
VfrpiltPB/2

[18-Wheeler]

The US is 'airplane', everywhere else should be aeroplane. (though back about a century ago is was also aeroplane I believe)
Not sure of the roots of airport/aerodrome, so can't comment on which is more correct where. Can't see a problem with either though.
I use chopper often when talking about helicopters, again can't see a problem with that.

[Jhieminga]

Aerial carriage? ;)

[forget]

Not sure of the roots of airport/aerodrome, so can't comment on which is more correct where.

Courtesy Wiki.

Aerodrome.

Derivation
The word was created by analogy with "Hippodrome" (Greek, from hippos, horse, and dromos, race or course), which was a course for horse racing and chariot racing in ancient times.

General usage
The term is used in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) documents, for example in the Annex to the ICAO Convention about aerodromes, their physical characteristics and their operation. The term "Airport" is also used in the aviation industry. There is not a clear difference in meaning between the two terms.

UK usage
In the UK, the term was used by the Royal Air Force in the two World Wars as it had the advantage that their French allies, on whose soil they were based and with whom they co-operated, used the equivalent term (aérodrome). However, the term "Airfield" or "Airport" has mostly superseded Aerodrome.

United States usage
In the United States, the word was modified into airdrome but has become obsolete since the World War II, though it is still used to describe airplane museums such as Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, located in Rhinebeck, New York, where dogfights and other flying stunts are reenacted.

Australian/Canadian usage
In Canada and Australia usage it is a legal term of art for any area of land or water used for aircraft operation, regardless of facilities.

The Canadian act says "...for the most part, all of Canada can be an aerodrome", however there are also "registered aerodromes" and "certified airports". To become a registered aerodrome the operator must maintain certain standards and keep the Minister of Transport (Canada) informed of any changes. To be certified as an airport the aerodrome, which usually supports commercial operations, must meet safety standards.

The Canadian government publishes a directory of Canadian Water Aerodromes in the Water Aerodrome Supplement (WAS).

[amostcivilpilot]

18 Wheeler Not sure of the roots of airport/aerodrome, so can't comment on which is more correct where. Can't see a problem with either though.
I use chopper often when talking about helicopters, again can't see a problem with that.

I couldnt agree more with you. It is an individuals choice of word or words which suits them. As I said, I personally prefer Aeroplane, etc but it doesn't mean I am right. However, I always corrected my students when they said "Airplane" ;)

The original post was done for fun and curiosity :ok:

AMCP

[ab33t]

strip and bird

[l.garey]

And let's not forget (!) the Langley Aerodrome a flying machine designed in the 1890s by Samuel Langley. He designed a number of manned and unmanned aircraft later built by Smithsonian crews. One made a short flight in 1896. Later trials, just a few days before the Wright brothers in 1903, ended in crashes. One example survives at the Smithsonian.
Laurence

[Agaricus bisporus]

If aircraft operate from it then it is an airfield, but to be an airport surely it needs customs and immigration too?

[Warmtoast]

When good natured arguments and differences of view arise I tend to try to agree / disagree with what's been said, but only after consulting the oracle, which in the case of the English language means reference to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

Here's how it records the usage of Aeroplane, Airplane and Aerodrome.


Aeroplane

1. A flattened structure, originally plane but later aerodynamically curved, that forms the principal lifting surface of an aircraft; esp. a wing. Cf. AEROFOIL (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=aeroplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=xeMR-VUpj2g-2633&result_place=1&xrefword=aerofoil&ps=n.) n. 1 , PLANE (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=aeroplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=xeMR-VUpj2g-2633&result_place=1&xrefword=plane&ps=n.&homonym_no=3) n.3 5. Now disused.
1866 F. H. WENHAM in 1st Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 33 In the flying mechanism of beetles when the wing-cases are opened, they are checked by a stop, which sets them at a fixed angle. It is probable that these serve as ‘aeroplanes’, for carrying the weight of the insect. 1866 F. H. WENHAM in 1st Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 37 The rude contrivance just described [sc. a glider] had taught, first, that the webs, or aeroplanes, must not be distended in a frame... A thin steel tie-band served as the foundation of the superposed aeroplanes. 1868 3rd Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 36 He had turned his attention to the wing and to the sustainer, or what he might call the aëroplane. 1894 O. CHANUTE Progress in Flying Machines 237 This main aeroplane is trussed and stiffened in every direction by wire stays. 1905 G. BACON (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-b.html#g-bacon) Balloons 111 What are called ‘aeroplanes’ large flat surfaces, light but rigid inclined at a suitable angle to the horizon. 1907 F. W. LANCHESTER Aerodynamics v. 179 The author does not employ the term aeroplane outside its correct signification, that is to say, to denote other than a true or plane aeroplane; the misuse of the word being avoided by the introduction of the word aerofoil, to denote a supporting member, or organ of sustentation of undefined form. 1910 R. FERRIS (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-f.html#r-ferris) How it Flies xx. 454 Angle of Entry, the angle made by the tangent to the curve of the aeroplane surface at its forward edge, with the direction, or line, of travel.
2. Now chiefly Brit. An aircraft which relies on aerodynamic lift for flight; a heavier-than-air aircraft; esp. one having fixed wings and using propellers or jet engines to provide thrust. Cf. AIRPLANE (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=aeroplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=xeMR-VUpj2g-2633&result_place=1&xrefword=airplane&ps=n.) n. 2b , PLANE (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=aeroplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=xeMR-VUpj2g-2633&result_place=1&xrefword=plane&ps=n.&homonym_no=5) n.5 , AIRCRAFT (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=aeroplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=xeMR-VUpj2g-2633&result_place=1&xrefword=aircraft&ps=n.) n.
In the period to 1900 when aircraft were still rudimentary in design and the word was still active in sense 1 the denotation is sometimes not clearly either ‘a surface’ or ‘an aircraft’, but something between the two concepts (see quots. 1868 , 18942 , 1896). For a full discussion of the development of the term in this period see S. Stubelius Airship, Aeroplane, Aircraft (1958 ) 251ff.
The equivalent term in North America is airplane.
1868 Eng. Mechanic 24 Apr. 91/2 We have yet to see the ‘aëroplane’ with buoyancy sufficient to sustain 150 lb., or with apparatus sufficiently light and portable to make headway on an ‘air plane’... Supposing an aëroplane to have raised itself, if it reared out of equilibium it and the occupant would come to grief. 1873 D. S. BROWN in 8th Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 17, I think this [sc. impetus] will be more requisite with respect to the aëroplane than any other vehicle. 1873 Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 20 Mr. Bennett introduced an Aëroplane invented by a Frenchman, to be worked by a screw by motive power derived from elastic springs. 1894 in Aeronaut. Ann. (1895) 152 With a dirigible aeroplane or soaring machine the rate of speed is practically a matter of choice. 1894 O. CHANUTE Progress in Flying Machines 72 It was not until 1842 that an aeroplane, as we now understand the term, consisting of planes to sustain the weight, and of a screw to propel, was first proposed. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 15 Sept. 2/1 Hargrave stands alone as one who has developed simultaneously the best form of aeroplane and motor before attempting to combine them in a flying-machine... Lilienthal appears to have confined himself entirely to practising with a motorless aeroplane formed of a double set of wings. 1905 W. WRIGHT Let. 28 Nov. in Papers Wilbur & Orville Wright (1953) I. 529 The first free flight through the air with a motor-driven aeroplane. 1908 Westm. Gaz. 11 May 4/1 The double box-kite aeroplane with which Mr. Farman won the Archdeacon Prize in Paris recently. 1934 O. WRIGHT Let. 10 Jan. in Papers W. & O. Wright (1953) II. 1162 The helicopter type of aeroplane offers several seemingly insurmountable difficulties. 1944 LD. ALANBROOKE Diary 17 Jan. in War Diaries (2001) 514 Latest reports on German pilotless aeroplanes. 1971 H. MACMILLAN (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-m.html#h-macmillan) Riding Storm iv. 98 Russian weapons were paraded through the streets, and Russian aeroplanes gave a display. 2005 BBC Focus Dec. 72/3 The mammoth aeroplane will hold nearly 600 people, and dwarfs even the biggest jumbo jet in the skies.
3. An airship provided with planes (PLANE (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=aeroplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&search_id=xeMR-VUpj2g-2633&result_place=1&xrefword=plane&ps=n.&homonym_no=3) n.3 5(a)). Obs. rare.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 28 Aug. 4/1 As soon as the Aero-Plane has been seen floating to and fro over the city of San Francisco, steered at pleasure this way and that, and carrying a number of passengers.

COMPOUNDS
General attrib., appositive, and objective, as, aeroplane carrier, aeroplane wing, etc.
1872 7th Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 15 At an angle of ten degrees, about one man power would be sufficient to drive an aëroplane machine twenty miles an hour. 1872 7th Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 17 An aëroplane, or rather the pair of aëroplane wings, must be long and narrow. 1896 H. S. MAXIM in Aeronaut. Ann. 2 38 The next machine was on the kite or aeroplane system. 1902 Aeronaut. World (U.S.) 1 Oct. 58/1 This bird-like aeroplane machine. 1920 Proc. Air Conference, London 96 Movement by sea is a slow business unless aeroplane carriers are available. 1923 R. KIPLING (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-k.html#r-kipling) Irish Guards in Great War I. 50 ‘Aeroplane duty’ was another invention of those early days. A Company was told off daily to look out for aeroplanes. 1932 H. NICOLSON (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-n.html#h-nicolson) Public Faces xi. 301 She was an aeroplane carrier of His Majesty’s Navy. 1958 Spectator 10 Jan. 47/1 HQ Tank Corps arranged with the RFC to have daily aeroplane photographs taken of the front over which tanks would advance. 1974 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 267 583 The finger bone which forms the leading edge of the wing has exactly the transverse section as the corresponding part of an aeroplane wing. 1998 K. LETTE Altar Ego (1999) xxxi. 271 Treading in a puddle in the aeroplane toilet in absorbent airline socks.

DERIVATIVES
aeroplanist n. now rare a person who flies an aeroplane; a pilot.
1906 Daily Mail 26 Nov. 7/5 The first successful *aeroplanist in Great Britain will win as much money as the Soap Trust has already lost. 1912 G. B. SHAW (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-s2.html#g-b-shaw) Let. to Granville Barker 1 May (1956) 182 We went to the aeroplanists’ sheds again... Flying just about to begin as usual. 1928 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 22 81 After interning the Germans resident in Siam she [sc. Siam] sent an expeditionary force to France composed largely of aëroplanists. 1940 Hammond (Indiana) Times 19 Aug. 4/6 The aeroplanists, if they once got their machines above the pollen cloud, would just fly back to the fatherland and report that our country was permanently under a pall of poison gas


Airplane
1. In form air plane. A horizontal plane in the air on which an aircraft, bird, etc., is regarded as flying. Obs.
1868 Eng. Mechanic & Mirror of Sci. 24 Apr. 91/2 We have yet to see the ‘aëroplane’ with buoyancy sufficient to sustain 150 lb., or with apparatus sufficiently light and portable to make headway on an ‘air plane’. 1874 Belgravia 4 168 Not all the rudders and flappers can ever enable the aeronaut to navigate his machine horizontallyto one hand or the other of the air-plane on which he is sailing. 1891 Amer. Naturalist 25 797 Its [sc. a bird’s] weight is resolved into a normal and parallel component by the air plane of pressure beneath it.
2. a. = AEROPLANE (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=airplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefword=aeroplane&ps=n.) n. 1. Now rare.
1896 J. CHALLIS in Invention 13 June 380/2 The combined use of the screw and aeroplane (why not call it air plane) principles. 1907 Washington Post 28 Apr. (Misc. section) ¼ My idea of the airship of the future. Somewhat on the order of a box-kite, with projecting air-planes on either side. 1911 Times 15 Feb. 8/3 The rudders, airplanes, &c. are worked from the gondolas [of the airship], where compasses and other navigating appliances are also arranged.
b. Chiefly N. Amer. = AEROPLANE (http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=airplane&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefword=aeroplane&ps=n.) n. 2. Also attrib.
Airplane became the standard U.S. term (replacing aeroplane) after it was adopted by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1916. Although A. Lloyd Jones recommended its adoption by the BBC in 1928, it has until recently been no more than an occasional form in British English.
1906 Sci. Amer. 29 Dec. 487/1 Air-plane is a much better word than aeroplane. It is as good etymologically and much better when it is spoken. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 19 July 4/2 It is this ease of going against the current, with no motive force in evidence, that is the despair of the aeronauts with their air-planes. 1917 N.A.C.A. (U.S.) Rep. Nomencl. Aeronaut. 31 Airplane. This term is commonly used in a more restricted sense to refer to airplanes fitted with landing gear suited to operation from the land. If the landing gear is suited to operation from the water, the term ‘Seaplane’ is used. 1933 E. A. POWELL Slanting Lines of Steel xi. 172 This was no airplane bomb, but a projectile from a super-cannon. 1978 D. B. THURSTON Design for Flying ix. 112 If the airplane is intended for the private market, thin skin could be used and the weight saved converted to useful load. 1995 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 1 Oct. 32 No one with any sanity would fly in an airplane if they could walk. 2005 Chicago Sun-Times (Nexis) 4 Nov. 26 New rules that would allow travelers to bring items such as sharp knives and scissors onto airplanes, rolling back post-9/11 prohibitions.




Aerodrome
1. A place where a balloon or flying machine is housed; a hangar. rare. Now disused.
1902 Westm. Gaz. 29 Jan. 6/2 He. soared above the Prince’s castle to the aerodrome. 1921 ‘M. CORELLI’ (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-c3.html#m-corelli) Secret Power viii. 80 The lady of many millions had commanded an air-ship to be built with an aerodrome for its safe keeping and anchorage.
2. Originally: a tract of open ground set aside for aircraft to fly over in flight trials and flying contests (now disused). Later: a large tract of open level ground together with runways and other installations for the operation of aircraft; a small airfield, esp. a private or military one.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 14 Aug. 7/2 An ambulance station is situated immediately outside the Aerodrome, and several members of the ambulance corps were on the spot in the space of a moment or two. 1909 F. LANCHESTER in Flight 2 Jan. 13/1, I regret to see that the misuse of the word ‘aerodrome’ is receiving support in your columns... I suppose because a hippodrome is a big open space for horses, you think that an aerodrome should be a big open space for flying machines. 1911 C. GRAHAME-WHITE (http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-g2.html#c-grahame-white) & H. HARPER Aeroplane iv. 124 A circle had been whitewashed on the aerodrome to act as a mark in which the aviators were to descend. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 48/1 The London terminal aerodrome at Croydon, Sur., may be taken as typical of a modern air-port for commercial traffic. 1934 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 38 725 There was erected the aerodrome beacon. 1939 Flight 19 Oct. 309 Fighter pilots in crews’ quarters on an aerodrome. 1940 LD. ALANBROOKE Diary 15 Aug. in War Diaries (2001) 100 Picked up plane again at Grimsby aerodrome and flew over Humber estuary examining forts and Spurn Head defences. 1953 R. CHISHOLM Cover of Darkness ii. 30 At last I was given a ‘green’, but the dim pattern of aerodrome lights made little sense by this time. 1969 D. WRIGHT Deafness vi. 60 A private aerodrome at Sywell where we spent afternoons watching moustachioed youths learning to fly pocket biplanes. 1994 S. DAWSON Forsytes (1996) II. ii. 355 On his route into town from the aerodrome there had been the chastening prospect of bomb craters and ruined homes to either side.

[VX275]

Aircraft, Aeroplane or Airplane? Well as far as the powers that be I worked for are concerned its that horrible word PLATFORM. However as I my work involved putting a weapons Platform on an Airdrop Platform in to the Platform (the aircraft) that needed its navigation Platform to function correctly or else the Airdrop Platform would end up on a railway Platform I tended to purposely ovoid using the 'P' word in my reports.

For the Aeroplane / Airplane debate I found it hilarious that Airbus would insist on using 'Airplane' rather than the more european Aeroplane in all their documents

[ZH875]

A chopper is a person who uses the word 'airplane' when we all know it is an aeroplane.

An aeroplane is often built using aluminium.

A big chopper is a person who builds airplanes from aluminum.:ok:

[Noyade]

chopper is a personAnd a nasty one at that...

Chopper Read - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopper_Read)

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1165/jtoeqx710uhm3bnlrwkh.jpg (http://img8.imageshack.us/i/jtoeqx710uhm3bnlrwkh.jpg/)

[stepwilk]

the only professionals who call helicopters "choppers" are professional TV newsreaders. The rest of us call them helos (HEE-lows) if we're short of time.

[alisoncc]

And if you have plenty of time they are Chellywopters.

[PEI_3721]

The correct term is an ‘elevating device’.
Notices or licenses to this effect are often seen in hotel elevators. I have a license to operate an ‘elevating device’ presented to me by my chief engineer, so as to prove that it was safe for us to ascend in the same moving part of a building.

[Senior Pilot]

And when did the delightful term "airscrew" get replaced by that ugly word "propeller" :confused: I certainly recall "airscrew" being used into the 60's, was this another 'Americanisation' of our industry?

stepwilk, very few professional helicopter drivers use the term 'helo', at least none that I know. And the term 'chopper' is most definitely a hanging offence :p

[FlightlessParrot]

Whenever the police helicopter circles over our house (which is quite often--should I be worried?) I confess I think of it as the Copper Chopper.

Is there no hope for me?

[Fris B. Fairing]

It's aeroplane not plane and while we're at it, it's hangar not hanger.

This is a Plane in a Hanger

http://www.adastron.com/aviation/definitive/plane-hanger/plane-hanger-1.jpg

[Jolly Green]

It appears Americanization is the root of all confusion. From a dated USAF perspective I'll toss in my two cents.

An airdrome is the runway, taxiways and associated buildings (hangars, control tower and operations buildings). I read that in a glossary somewhere.

An airfield also includes the other support facilities including dormitories, administration offices and other nonaviation facilities.

An airport is something civilians use. It would have to include an airdrome and might even be an airfield.

The term 'helo' is acceptable by helicopter personnel from those limited by writing space, ignorance or mental capacity. The term 'chopper' should only be used by the mentally incapacitated, those ignorant of aviation terminology or veterans suffering from infantry flashbacks of Vietnam.

Airplanes are those powered aircraft that must move forward to develop lift, the one that should endeavor to land prior to ceasing forward motion.

Those that speak English outside of North America (or North of 49 degrees within North America) probably should replace 'air' with 'aero' in everything above.

Someone please point out my errors.

[alisoncc]

And when did the delightful term "airscrew" get replaced by that ugly word "propeller" http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/confused.gif

When members of the mile-high club laid claim to it.

[amostcivilpilot]

Jolly Green The term 'helo' is acceptable by helicopter personnel from those limited by writing space, ignorance or mental capacity. The term 'chopper' should only be used by the mentally incapacitated, those ignorant of aviation terminology or veterans suffering from infantry flashbacks of Vietnam

and Senior Pilot very few professional helicopter drivers use the term 'helo', at least none that I know. And the term 'chopper' is most definitely a hanging offence http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Great replies :ok:

I personally think that the use of Microsoft Word has a lot to do with the use of North American terminology (no offence to Americans intended before the PC outrage bus drives up :rolleyes:).

With American English as the default setting it is becoming the norm for Europeans to not bother changing their language setting, so the use of American terminology is becoming the standard. Type in Aeroplane and it will come up as Airplane, as with colour, hangar, etc.

No doubt the default English at Airbus is American as VX275 pointed out

For the Aeroplane / Airplane debate I found it hilarious that Airbus would insist on using 'Airplane' rather than the more european Aeroplane in all their documents

AMCP

[stepwilk]

"stepwilk, very few professional helicopter drivers use the term 'helo', at least none that I know."

Maybe it's a Brit thing. What do the English say "short for helicopter," then?

Oh, and another one, which is a pretentious American usage of a classic English word that no longer means what it originally said: tarmac. Without exception, U. S. media call it "the tarmac" ("stuck on the tarmac, parked on the tarmac, delayed on the tarmac...") and without exception, of course, serious U. S. pilots call it "the ramp."

I actually complained about this to the Conde Nast Traveler website (I write for the magazine), and they did an entire post about how Wilkinson had nattered on about this but he was obviously wrong since the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal call it the tarmac, so there.

[Warmtoast]

Why do we call a "Water Alighting Device" a Seaplane?

[TheChitterneFlyer]

Many fighter pilots will call their aeroplane 'The Jet'... even the ex fighter pilots will call any civil transport... 'The Jet'.

I also recall some of the Army Air Corps refering to their aircraft as a 'mount'.

TCF

[stepwilk]

I've also always been amused by the media's use of the phrase "fighter jet," as though there's such a thing as a "fighter prop" or "fighter piston." I can't imagine that military pilots call their aircraft "fighter jets."

I can understand calling it a "jet fighter," if it's a situation where you need to be clear that it isn't a "prop-driven fighter..."

[henry crun]

While we are talking about terminology, why some people, including those on Pprune, refer to "vertical fin", and "tail fin" ?

[stepwilk]

Nothing wrong with that. The vertical fin (tailfin is a slightly more casual usage) is the fixed, upright part of a conventional tail. It can also be referred to even more formally as the vertical stabilizer. The rudder is the movable vertical part, as opposed to the vertical fin. Vertical fin is correct, assuming it's applied correctly.

[henry crun]

The point I am trying to make stepwilk, is why state the obvious ?

All fins are vertical, or as near to as makes no difference.
Likewise, with the exception of a tiny handful of aircraft that hardly anyone has heard of, all fins are on the tail.

If you think it is ok to use those examples I have quoted, when referring to a wing do you say "horizontal wing" ?
If not, why not ?

[Amos Keeto]

Likewise, Americans call the 'tailplanes' , 'stabilizers'

[stepwilk]

"All fins are vertical, or as near to as makes no difference."

An exceedingly fine point, since there are horizontal fins on ships, fish, belly tanks, bombs and a variety of other objects both aeronautical and not. I think what happens is that properly speaking, a conventional airplane has a vertical stabilizer and two horizontal stabilizer, and though I've never heard the horizontal stabs called "horizontal fins," I guess the former gets improperly simplified to "vertical fin."

Yeah, you're right, strictly speaking (and I guess that's what we're having fun doing here), but that's one I think I've been guilty of, and I get handsomely paid for knowing English, particularly aeronautical English.

But it could be worse. Recently on a Porsche-owners forum that I frequent, I complained about some spelling (most Porsche owners spell an instrument as "a guage") and somebody simply posted a photo of a quasi-official badge with big letters GRAMMAR POLICE and the legend "To Serve and Correct."

Hey, how about the old classic "the glide scope," which I still occasionally see?

[stepwilk]

"Likewise, Americans call the 'tailplanes' , 'stabilizers'"

We get to call them anything we want, since we invented the things.

[stepwilk]

Funny, I just noticed for the first time that the very title of this thread contains a non-word. Unless the poster meant air-filed, like a flight plan...

[ONE GREEN AND HOPING]

.......Post retirement from a big airline, and until not all that long ago, I flew a 1960s BAC 1-11. (a sturdy British built low-wing monoplane)

It lived in a hangar at a provincial aerodrome, and more than that, it had cockpit placards for "Warning Lamps" and a "Hooter".

To reach the aerodrome, I had to motor down from town, as they dug up the last bit of the railway line in 1936.

[stepwilk]

If it had one for hooters, that would be too cool.

[18-Wheeler]

Likewise, Americans call the 'tailplanes' , 'stabilizers'

Stabilisers. ;)

[henry crun]

Amos Keeto: Nothing wrong with that.

I don't use that those terms because I grew up with fin and tailplane, but they are correct because the tail assembly with a separate vertical and horizontal component does stabilise an aircraft.

[alisoncc]

I always found all aircraft to be inherently unstable, and it was the job of the pilot to stabilise it. Thus a vertical stabiliser is a standing pilot, a horizontal stabiliser is a pilot lying down. Not sure about when pilot sitting in the left-hand seat though, probably the auto-pilot does it then. :)

[Harley Quinn]

"Likewise, Americans call the 'tailplanes' , 'stabilizers'"

We get to call them anything we want, since we invented the things.

Don't confuse the advent of powered flight with the beginning of heavier than air flight. From memory, Cayley's designs of the early 1800's had sticky out bits at the back to provide a stabilising effect

[HarmoniousDragmaster]

When did an American invent a stabiliser before 1804, when George Cayley flew a glider with them? :E

Also, I remember Sir George Edwards once wrote (I paraphrase of course) "it is not written 111 or 1-11, the correct form is 'One-Eleven' and that is how it should always be written.

"HISTORY POLICE" ;)