Definition
The total elapsed time from the moment an aircraft first moves under its own power for the purpose of flight until it comes to a final stop at the destination parking position. It includes taxi out, takeoff, flight, landing, and taxi in.
Plain English
The full time from when the aircraft starts rolling away from its parking spot at the departure airport to when it stops at its parking spot at the destination airport. It is more than just the time in the air.
Context Anchor
Seen in flight logs, aircraft rental records, airline operations, and discussions of how total trip time is measured.
Derivation
The term comes from the wooden chocks (called blocks) placed against the wheels to keep a parked aircraft from rolling. Time is measured from when the blocks are pulled away at the start of the trip to when they are placed back against the wheels at the end. Hence 'block-to-block.'
Why Pilots Care
Used to calculate total flight duty time, crew pay, fuel planning, and aircraft scheduling.
Intuition Check
Do not read “block” as a city block or a section of airspace here. In this term, the “blocks” are the aircraft’s parking points, originally the wheel blocks that marked the start and end of the aircraft’s movement.
Example Sentence 1
The scheduled block-to-block time for the flight from Denver to Chicago was two hours and fifteen minutes, even though the aircraft was only airborne for one hour and forty-five minutes.
Example Sentence 2
Dispatchers compare planned block-to-block times against actual times to adjust future schedules and crew pairings.