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Aviation vocabulary · Aircraft & Systems

Thrust

Meaning in aviation, with examples

/θrʌst/nounCommon term

In aviation, thrust means: The forward force produced by an aircraft's engines that pushes it through the air. Pilots control it with the thrust levers.

In Turkish: itki, itme kuvveti

How it is used

Common phrases: takeoff thrust, climb thrust, idle thrust, reverse thrust and 'set thrust'. On jets the levers are called thrust levers; on propeller aircraft pilots usually say 'power' and 'throttle'.

Example sentences

  1. After touchdown, the captain selected full reverse thrust because the runway was wet.

  2. We used reduced takeoff thrust to save engine wear.

Common collocations

  • takeoff thrust
  • reverse thrust
  • idle thrust
  • thrust lever
  • reduced thrust
  • engineThe machine that produces the power or thrust to move an aircraft. Most airliners use jet engines called turbofans, mounted under the wings or at the tail.
  • takeoffThe moment or phase in which an aircraft speeds up along the runway and leaves the ground to begin a flight.
  • go-aroundA manoeuvre in which the pilots stop an approach, add power and climb away instead of landing, usually to try again or to go to another airport.
  • airspeedThe speed of an aircraft relative to the air around it, which is what keeps it flying. Whenever there is wind, it is different from the ground speed.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Aircraft & Systems

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