A San Diego, California, listener shares some slang used by her father, who was a Navy fighter pilot. To “bang off the cat” is to take off from an aircraft carrier. The meatball refers to the landing system that requires lining up with an amber...
Zach, an F-18 instructor pilot calling from China Lake, California, asks whether deconflict is really a word. In aviation, it means to remove a possible conflict, such as assigning different altitudes or positions so two aircraft can share a piece...

