1-2-1.
DEFINITION
A
contraction is a word, title, or phrase represented in
shortened form for the purpose of brevity. Contractions
facilitate communication and thus are a vital part of the
Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) everyday
communications process.
1-2-2.
USE OF CONTRACTIONS
a.
Contractions lend
freedom to communication(s) in general correspondence. Without
them, written communication becomes cumbersome.
b.
Contractions save
space on telegraphic circuits, tabulating and computer
equipments, charts, drawings and reports.
c.
The International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the focal point for
world-wide use in the international aeronautical community.
d.
Standard ICAO
abbreviations and codes are to be used, wherever possible.
These are available in ICAO document 8400.
1-2-3.
RULES FOR DEVELOPING CONTRACTIONS
To form or
use contractions, the following rules must apply:
a.
Signs and symbols
included as part of a contraction are limited to those
available on FAA communications equipment.
b.
Contractions
composed of both upper and lower case letters cannot be used
in telegraphic communications.
c.
In some cases, a
contraction may include letter and number combinations.
d.
A contraction
should retain an alphabetical similarity to the longer word or
phrase.
e.
Three-character
contractions are no longer to be coined due to possible
conflict with Location Identifiers in an automated and voice
response environment.
f.
Words of five
letters or less are not to be contracted.
g.
Excessively long
contractions will not be adopted.
h.
Prepositions,
conjunctions, and articles should be omitted in forming
contractions. The slant may be substituted, if necessary.
i.
A pronounceable
word should be attained, if possible, when contracting a
phrase.
j.
Abbreviations that
are unique to a particular publication must not be listed in
this order.
k.
A contraction may
have more than one meaning. There are four different
categories which constitutes this rational. These categories
are air traffic, general, meteorological (weather) and
international aeronautics (ICAO).
l.
In cases where a
contraction may be unfamiliar to the recipient, spell out the
word or phrase the first time it is used and follow it with
the contraction in parenthesis.
m.
Contractions
stated should read fluently with the remainder of the text. If
questionable, the recipient should refer back to the
originator.
n.
The contractions
in this order may normally be used for any derivative of the
root word. If confusion would otherwise result, variations may
be shown by adding the following letters to the contraction of
the root word:
able
|
BL
|
al
|
L
|
ally,erly,ly
|
LY
|
ary,ery,ory
|
RY
|
ance,ence
|
NC
|
der
|
DR
|
ed,ied
|
D
|
ening
|
NG
|
er,ier,or
|
R
|
ern
|
RN
|
ically
|
CLY
|
ive
|
V
|
iest,est
|
ST
|
iness,ness
|
NS
|
ing
|
G
|
ity
|
TY
|
ment
|
MT
|
ous
|
US
|
s,es,ies
|
S
|
tion,ation
|
N
|
ward
|
WD
|
1-2-4. RECOMMENDATIONS
REGARDING CONTRACTIONS
Requests
for new contractions, changes, or deletion of obsolete
contractions may be submitted by the simplest means possible
(e.g. Route Slip) to FAA Headquarters, Mission Support
Services, Aeronautical Information Management, 800
Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20591. Recommendations
must include a description of the need for a proposed
contraction and the frequency of its use.
|