Whoever takes over the management of an aircraft, a maintenance organization or a flight school inherits an entire vocabulary in the first month. Part of it comes from ANAC's regulations, part from industry English and part is hangar habit, and the three usually arrive mixed in the same conversation.
This glossary separates regulatory terms from jargon. For each entry there is the definition taken from the official source when one exists, the regulation where the term lives and, when available, the blog article that goes deeper. Entries follow alphabetical order of the acronyms as used in Brazil.
A
AD / DA (Airworthiness Directive)
AD is the English acronym (Airworthiness Directive); in Brazil it is written DA. Under RBAC 39 (Brazil's airworthiness directives regulation), airworthiness directives are prescriptions that apply to aircraft, engines, propellers and appliances, and ANAC issues one when it finds an unsafe condition in a product that is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design (sections 39.3 and 39.5). An AD issued by the authority of the State of Design is treated as if issued by ANAC itself (39.5-I). Operating a product that does not comply with an AD is a violation, repeated each time the aircraft is operated (39.7 and 39.9). The current status of ADs, with the method of compliance and, for recurring actions, the date of the next one, is a mandatory record (RBAC 91.417(a)(2)(v)). Read more in AD and SB are not the same thing.
Airworthy (aeronavegável)
The word has no entry of its own in RBAC 01, but it runs through every regulation. The criterion for issuing the airworthiness certificate is that the aircraft "conforms to the type design" and is "in condition for safe operation" (RBAC 21.183). Under RBAC 91.403(a), the operator or, failing that, the owner is responsible for keeping the aircraft in airworthy condition, including compliance with RBAC 39. In daily practice, airworthy means the aircraft still conforms to its design, with maintenance, inspections and directives up to date.
C
CA (Airworthiness Certificate)
A document that must be on board, valid and issued by ANAC in the operator's name, alongside the registration certificate (RBAC 91.203(a)(1)). The standard CA is valid for the period specified by ANAC, provided the aircraft is maintained under RBAC 43 and the operating rules, and as long as the registration certificate is valid (RBAC 21.181(a)(1)). Issuing it is a duty of the RAB (Brazilian Aeronautical Code, art. 72, I). The absence or loss of the logbook records is grounds for the precautionary suspension of the CA (ANAC Resolution 773/2025, art. 12).
CIV (Individual Flight Logbook)
The record of a pilot's experience. RBAC 61 defines the CIV Digital as a legal document in electronic form, made available by ANAC, for verifying experience and for proving and certifying flight hours and endorsements (61.2(a)(4)). The CIV belongs to the person; the aircraft logbook belongs to the aircraft. Read more in CIV digital and the pilot logbook.
CTM (Maintenance Tracking)
CTM stands for Controle Técnico de Manutenção, maintenance tracking. The acronym is spelled out in the acronym list of ANAC's 135 certification guide on the Maintenance Training Program (2022). Its content is what the regulations require in maintenance records: total time of each airframe, engine, propeller and rotor; status of life-limited parts; time since last overhaul; inspection status; and airworthiness directive status (RBAC 91.417(a)(2) and, for air taxi, 135.439(a)(2)). Under RBAC 91, these records are permanent and transfer with the aircraft when it is sold (91.417(b)(2)). Read more in CTM without spreadsheets and in RBAC 91 × RBAC 135: what changes in the CTM.
CVA (Airworthiness Verification Certificate)
Under RBAC 91, the aircraft may only be operated if the operator has submitted a CVA to ANAC within the last 12 months (91.403(f)). For an aircraft maintained under a continuous airworthiness maintenance program (CAMP), the period is 3 years (91.403(e)). An initial (VTI) or special (VTE) technical inspection replaces the submission. The CVA, or the inspection report, is on the list of documents required on board (91.203(a)(7)).
D
Logbook / eDB (diário de bordo)
The logbook is part of the aircraft's records and is the official means of recording its operations, maintenance actions and other information required (ANAC Resolution 773/2025, art. 2). It may be physical or digital, provided the integrity of the records is ensured (art. 3), and using the digital form requires a request to ANAC (art. 4). eDB is what the market calls the electronic logbook. For each flight the entries include, among others, crew, engine start, takeoff, landing and shutdown times, landings and cycles, day, night and IFR time, fuel and technical discrepancies (art. 6). In digital form, after the pilot in command, the operator also signs: within 15 days under RBAC 135 and within 30 days for operators outside RBAC 121 and 135 (art. 10). Resolution 773 has been in force since January 1, 2026, and repealed Resolution 457/2017. Read more in electronic logbook and in Resolution 773/2025.
E
EO (Operations Specifications)
An air operator must obtain a COA (Air Operator Certificate) and the corresponding operations specifications before starting air transport operations (RBAC 119.5(a)(1)). For a non-scheduled operator under RBAC 135, the EO include, among other items, the kinds and areas of authorized operation, each aircraft authorized for use, with registration marks and serial number, and the time limitations for overhauls and inspections (RBAC 119.49(c)). An aircraft not on the list may not be operated. Read more in operations specifications under RBAC 135.
F
FIP (instruction record)
FIP is the usual name, at a CIAC, for the record that IS 141-007D requires for each practical instruction activity (item 6.22); the IS calls it an instruction record (ficha de instrução). The minimum content includes the program and the activity, name, ANAC code and signature of student and instructor (the signature may be electronic, but not automatic), times, duration and landings, aircraft and aerodromes, objectives, assessment and the instructor's opinion. The records are part of the student's file and are kept for at least 5 years after course completion or withdrawal. Read more in FIP and the paper folder and in IS 141-007D at the CIAC.
FRAT (Flight Risk Assessment Tool)
A pre-flight risk assessment tool. It is not an RBAC term: the reference is the FAA's InFO 07015, from 2007, which describes the tool as a way for operators to determine which flights carry more risk and to intervene to reduce it. The document itself treats it as part of a safety management system, not the whole system, and each operator sets the acceptable level of risk for its flights. Read more in FRAT and PAVE in risk assessment.
I
IAC 3252
IAC 3252-121/135-0197 deals with the recording of crew flight hours and contains, in Annex 02, the Table for Converting Minutes into Tenths of an Hour. It is the source of the conversion used to close hours in decimal, which does not match a simple division by 60. Read more in the IAC 3252 table.
M
MEL and MMEL
The MMEL (Master Minimum Equipment List) is approved for an aircraft type or model and lists items that may be temporarily inoperative, subject to limitations, procedures and conditions; the MEL is the document approved for an operator's use, in accordance with the MMEL or more restrictive (RBAC 01, as worded by Resolution 740/2024). Under RBAC 91.213(a), takeoff with inoperative equipment is only allowed if there is on board an MEL developed by the operator and approved by ANAC, and for legal purposes that MEL constitutes a supplemental type certificate for the aircraft. An item that an AD requires to be operative may not be included in the MEL (91.213(b)(2)). For air taxi, the corresponding section is 135.179. Read more in MEL: how to interpret and apply it.
P
PMAC (Continuous Airworthiness Maintenance Program)
A concept presented by IS 120-016D (Ordinance 18.573/SPO, January 7, 2026): a ten-element program whose purpose is to strengthen safety management in maintenance activities and to ensure that each aircraft released for flight is airworthy (item 4.4). It is required of a 135 operator with an aircraft type certificated with 10 or more passenger seats (RBAC 135.411(a)(2)); with 9 or fewer, the PMAC is optional (items 5.11, 5.12 and 6.6.8 of the IS). The English equivalent is CAMP, which RBAC 01 renders as the continuous airworthiness maintenance program. The IS also notes that the maintenance schedule is "culturally known" as PMA, Approved Maintenance Program (item 4.6).
R
RAB (Brazilian Aeronautical Registry)
Under the Brazilian Aeronautical Code (Law 7.565/1986, art. 72), the RAB is public, single and centralized. It issues registration, airworthiness and nationality certificates, registers the aircraft at its first registration in the country and assigns nationality and registration marks. Registration also sets the end of the logbook's retention: it is kept for the aircraft's entire existence and for 5 years and one day after the registration is cancelled in the RAB (Resolution 773/2025, art. 3, § 1).
RBAC 91, 135, 141 and 145
The Brazilian Civil Aviation Regulations that show up most in day-to-day management:
- RBAC 91 (Brazil's equivalent of FAR Part 91), general operating requirements for civil aircraft. It applies to the operation of any civil aircraft in Brazil and to every person involved in it, including maintenance (91.1). It is the common layer the others build on.
- RBAC 135, air transport operations by a COA holder with airplanes of up to 19 passenger seats and up to 3,400 kg of payload, or helicopters (135.1). It is the air taxi regulation. Read more in the RBAC 135 guide.
- RBAC 141, certification and operation of civil aviation training centers (CIAC) that train pilots, flight engineers, flight dispatchers and maintenance technicians (141.1).
- RBAC 145, aeronautical product maintenance organizations, that is, the certificated maintenance shop (145.1). Read more in work orders and traceability in the shop.
S
SB (Service Bulletin)
A service document issued by the manufacturer. On its own it does not carry the force of an AD, but an AD may incorporate by reference, in whole or in part, the manufacturer's service documents, and the referenced parts become part of the directive (RBAC 39.27). Service bulletins are among the technical documents a certificated maintenance organization must keep (RBAC 145.109(d)(6)), and an alteration made to comply with a bulletin goes into the rebuilt engine's record when the bulletin itself requires it (RBAC 91.421(b)(3)). Read more in AD and SB are not the same thing.
SMS (SGSO)
RBAC 135 requires the certificate holder to establish and maintain an SMS (SGSO) (135.29) and defines it as a systematic approach to safety management, including policies, responsibilities, structures, processes and procedures (135.701(a)(28)). RBAC 141 requires it of type 2 and type 3 CIACs (141.27), and RBAC 145 provides for an SMS Manager at the maintenance organization, who represents it before ANAC on the subject (145.3(a)-II). Read more in SMS in practice.
SIGRAC
ANAC's Continued Airworthiness Reports Management System (Sistema de Gestão de Relatórios de Aeronavegabilidade Continuada). Its user guide (3rd edition) states that it was designed as an acceptable means of compliance with RBAC 145.221-I, which requires a certificated maintenance organization to submit, by the last business day of the following month, a monthly report of services performed and a quarterly report of technical personnel. Access is through ANAC's Santos Dumont system. Read more in SIGRAC: two tracks, shop and operator.
T
TLB (Technical Log Book)
TLB is an industry term in English and does not appear in the RBACs. Its content, however, is in the Brazilian rules. RBAC 135.65 requires a record book on board for the irregularities observed on each flight and for the corrective actions or the deferral of correction; the pilot in command records each irregularity and, before each flight, checks the status of previous ones. Resolution 773/2025 includes technical discrepancies among the records of each flight (art. 6, XIII) and requires the operator to arrange the correction and make the logbook available for recording the corrective action or the deferred corrective action (art. 8). In RBAC 91.213(a)(4), the "aircraft maintenance log" is where the pilot finds information on inoperative equipment.
TSN, TSO and CSN
English acronyms used in component tracking: time since new, time since overhaul and cycles since new. The RBACs do not use the acronyms, but they require the data: total time of each airframe, engine, propeller and rotor and time since last overhaul of items overhauled on a time basis (RBAC 91.417(a)(2)(i) and (iii); 135.439(a)(2)(i) and (iii)). Cycles originate in the logbook, which records total landings and cycles for each flight (Resolution 773/2025, art. 6, V). Note: in RBAC 21, TSO means Technical Standard Order, the technical standard for an article, and has nothing to do with overhaul.
Where Alis comes in
Many of these terms map to a screen in Alis. The TLB is its own route on the web and in the app, with discrepancy, response, acknowledgment and resolution, and a discrepancy can be flagged as an MEL item. A flight entered in the logbook converts minutes using the IAC 3252 table and feeds the CTM, which shows component TSN and TSO and tracks directives, with AD search in public sources. When a flight is entered, the registration status checked against the RAB shows up as a warning (CA suspended, registration cancelled, CVA expired), without blocking. The pilot's CIV adds the flights in the system to prior experience, the FIP can be signed by the student through a link, and the FRAT is a tab of the Flight Kit. SMS, the shop's SIGRAC and the RBAC 135 summary have their own screens.
To see how these records connect day to day, start with CTM without spreadsheets and the electronic logbook.
Want to see these terms with your aircraft's data? Book a demo.
This glossary is informational. The definitions were taken from RBAC 01 (Amendment 18), RBAC 21 (Amendment 16), RBAC 39 (Amendment 00), RBAC 61 (Amendment 16), RBAC 91 (Amendment 08), RBAC 119 (Amendment 10), RBAC 135 (Amendment 15), RBAC 141 (Amendment 03), RBAC 145 (Amendment 09), ANAC Resolution 773/2025, IS 120-016D (January 2026), IS 141-007D (January 2024), IAC 3252-121/135-0197, the SIGRAC User Guide (3rd edition), ANAC's 135 certification guide on the PTM (July 2022), Law 7.565/1986 and FAA InFO 07015, in the versions published as of October 31, 2026. This text does not replace consulting the regulation in force or the guidance of your organization's technical or operations manager.