Definition
On a glass cockpit Primary Flight Display, automatically removes non-essential symbology and information from the screen so that only the data needed to recover the aircraft remains visible. This typically occurs when the system detects an unusual attitude, leaving the pilot with a clean, simplified display showing attitude, airspeed, and altitude.
Plain English
Strips the screen back to just the basics. When the aircraft gets into an unusual position, the display hides the extra information so the pilot can focus on getting the wings level and the nose back where it belongs.
Context Anchor
Seen in discussions of electronic flight displays and unusual attitude recovery features.
Derivation
From 'de-' (remove) and 'clutter' (a confused or disorderly mass). The word literally means 'to remove the mess.' In aviation displays, the 'mess' is all the secondary information that becomes a distraction when the pilot urgently needs to read core flight data.
Why Pilots Care
Reduces the chance of missing critical attitude or altitude information when workload is high.
Intuition Check
Declutters does not mean the airplane removes physical clutter. Here it means the display hides less-important items to make the important information easier to see.
Example Sentence 1
When the bank angle exceeded the threshold, the PFD declutters automatically, leaving only attitude, airspeed, and altitude visible.
Example Sentence 2
During recovery from an unusual attitude the system automatically declutters the display to show only essential flight parameters.