Definition
A typographical error appearing in Figure 10-19 of the Instrument Flying Handbook. The intended phrase is 'Departure/Arrival,' referring to the combined departure and arrival information block on an IFR flight log or planning form, where a pilot records the departure airport and the arrival (destination) airport along with associated planning data such as times, fuel, and clearances.
Plain English
This is a misspelling in the handbook figure. It should read 'Departure/Arrival' — the section of a flight planning form where you write down the airport you're leaving from and the airport you're flying to.
Context Anchor
Seen in Instrument Flying Handbook Figure 10-19 as a label connected with managing departure and arrival information during an instrument flight.
Derivation
Departure comes from Old French 'departir,' meaning to divide or go away. Arrival comes from Latin 'ad ripam,' meaning 'to the shore' — originally describing reaching land by boat. Together they bracket the flight: leaving one place and reaching another.
Why Pilots Care
Properly connecting departure and arrival segments keeps the aircraft inside protected airspace and maintains separation from terrain and traffic.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as only a general travel phrase. In instrument flying, departure and arrival often mean specific published ways to leave and enter an airport area, not just the fact that the airplane took off or landed.
Example Sentence 1
In the Departure/Arrival block of his IFR log, he wrote KSFO as the departure and KLAX as the arrival.
Example Sentence 2
During preflight the crew confirmed that the departure arrival segment would keep them above the minimum vectoring altitude into the destination airport.