Pilot/Controller Glossary 

4/20/23 

BOUNDARY LIGHTS

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(See AIRPORT LIGHTING.) 

BRAKING ACTION (GOOD, GOOD TO MEDIUM, MEDIUM, MEDIUM TO POOR, POOR, OR NIL)

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A 

report of conditions on the airport movement area providing a pilot with a degree/quality of braking to expect. 

Braking action is reported in terms of good, good to medium, medium, medium to poor, poor, or nil. 

(See RUNWAY CONDITION READING.) 
(See RUNWAY CONDITION REPORT.) 
(See RUNWAY CONDITION CODES.) 

BRAKING ACTION ADVISORIES

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 When tower controllers receive runway braking action reports which 

include the terms “medium,” “poor,” or “nil,” or whenever weather conditions are conducive to deteriorating 

or rapidly changing runway braking conditions, the tower will include on the ATIS broadcast the statement, 

“Braking Action Advisories are in Effect.” During the time braking action advisories are in effect, ATC will issue 

the most current braking action report for the runway in use to each arriving and departing aircraft. Pilots should 

be prepared for deteriorating braking conditions and should request current runway condition information if not 

issued by controllers. Pilots should also be prepared to provide a descriptive runway condition report to 

controllers after landing. 
BREAKOUT

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 A technique to direct aircraft out of the approach stream. In the context of simultaneous 

(independent) parallel operations, a breakout is used to direct threatened aircraft away from a deviating aircraft. 
BROADCAST

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 Transmission of information for which an acknowledgement is not expected. 

(See ICAO term BROADCAST.) 

BROADCAST [ICAO]

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 A transmission of information relating to air navigation that is not addressed to a 

specific station or stations. 
BUFFER AREA

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 As applied to an MVA or MIA chart, a depicted 3 NM or 5 NM radius MVA/MIA sector 

isolating a displayed obstacle for which the sector is established. A portion of a buffer area can also be inclusive 

of a MVA/MIA sector polygon boundary. 
BVLOS

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(See BEYOND VISUAL LINE OF SIGHT.) 

PCG B

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