Definition
An internal FAA directive, titled Standard Terminal Arrival Procedures, that establishes the criteria and procedures the FAA uses to design, develop, and maintain Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) and area navigation (RNAV) STARs in the National Airspace System.
Plain English
It is the FAA's internal rulebook for how STARs are built. Pilots do not fly by it directly, but every STAR they fly was designed according to its rules.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA handbook discussions about STARs, especially when the text explains where the rules for creating and managing those arrival routes come from.
Derivation
FAA Orders are numbered internal directives. The 'JO' prefix stands for Joint Order, meaning the order is jointly issued and applies across multiple FAA lines of business, primarily Air Traffic Organization and Flight Standards. The number 7110.9 places it within the 7110 series, which covers air traffic procedures.
Why Pilots Care
Pilots do not need to read this order, but knowing it exists explains why STARs across the country share a consistent design logic. If a procedure looks unusual, it was still built to these standards, which can help a pilot trust the structure of an unfamiliar arrival.
Intuition Check
Do not read “Order” here as an instruction from ATC to one aircraft. Here it means an official FAA policy document that controls how STARs are created and managed.
Example Sentence 1
The arrival procedure was developed in accordance with FAA Order JO 7110.9, which sets the design standards for all STARs.
Example Sentence 2
Changes to the arrival procedure required review against FAA Order JO 7110.9 before implementation.