EMOJI MOVIE PLOTS
🤡🎈🛶🌧️👦
IT
Despite its name, this classic computer brand has never sold anything edible in a grocery store aisle.
Apple
You'll see this code stamped on your luggage tags if you fly directly into Los Angeles International.
LAX
It’s the invisible, high-altitude highway where the wind is coming from a specific direction, but on the runway, you have to worry about this type that blows perpendicular to your flight path.
Crosswind
If you see the abbreviation "BR" on a METAR, it doesn't mean your flight is broken; it means you are flying through this misty weather condition.
Mist
🌲🏠👽🚲🌕📞
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
It's the colorful, gelatinous underwater creature you don't want to get stung by, not a spread you put on toast.
Jellyfish
Fittingly, this massive airport in London, England uses these three letters.
LHR
This basic flight instrument uses a gyroscope to show the aircraft's pitch and roll relative to the horizon, often called the "artificial horizon."
Attitude Indicator
This specific altitude—abbreviated AGL—is what cloud ceilings are measured in when reported on a METAR or TAF.
Above Ground Level
🚢🥶🎻💎🌊
Titanic
This internet tracker helps websites remember your preferences, but you can't dip it in milk.
Cookie
This airport code for Chicago O'Hare surprisingly pays homage to its historical name, "Orchard Field."
ORD
In a standard traffic pattern, this is the name of the leg you fly parallel to the runway but in the opposite direction of landing.
Downwind leg
Represented by the letters CB, this violent cloud type is the absolute ultimate "do not fly into or near" hazard for a student pilot.
Cumulonimbus
🦖🧬🚙🌧️🛢️
Jurassic Park
This term describes someone who spends a lot of time sitting on the sofa watching TV, not a spud baked with butter.
Couch Potato
Named after a legendary Hollywood cowboy, this Orange County airport uses a code that matches his initials.
SNA
It is the critical speed below which you cannot safely stall the airplane, but as a student pilot, you memorize V-speeds like Vx and Vy, which give you these two specific types of maximum climbs.
Best Angle of Climb and Best Rate of Climb
When air flows over a mountain peak, it can create these dangerous, invisible waves on the leeward side that cause severe turbulence.
Mountain Waves
👠🌪️🦁🤖🌾🐶
The Wizard of Oz
This idiomatic expression refers to the ultimate boss or the entire situation, but it sounds like a massive, fully-loaded Mexican dinner.
The Whole Enchilada
Named after the beloved comedian who lived nearby, this desert-resort airport code lets you know you've arrived in paradise.
PSP
According to FAA regulations, VFR pilots must carry enough fuel to fly to their first point of landing and, during the day, fly for this many additional minutes at normal cruise speed.
30 minutes
On a weather chart, these lines connect lines of equal atmospheric pressure, and the closer they are together, the stronger the wind will be.
Isobars