Definition
A printed or electronic record used by air traffic controllers and flight service specialists that contains the key details of a single flight, including aircraft identification, type, route, altitude, speed, and times. Flight strips are used to track a flight's progress through the system and to coordinate handoffs between facilities.
Plain English
A small data slip — paper or on a screen — that lists the important information about one flight so controllers and FSS staff can keep track of it.
Context Anchor
Seen in Flight Service Station material when showing how a filed or active flight is recorded and handled by specialists.
Derivation
Called a 'strip' because the original versions were printed on long, narrow strips of paper that could be lined up in racks, one per flight, and shuffled as the flight progressed.
Why Pilots Care
When you file a flight plan or get a clearance, the information you provide ends up on a flight strip. Knowing this helps you understand why controllers ask for specific details in a specific format — they're populating the strip that will follow your flight from departure to destination.
Intuition Check
Do not read flight strip as a runway area or a strip of pavement. In this context, it means a compact record of information for a particular flight.
Example Sentence 1
The controller pulled the flight strip for the inbound aircraft and confirmed its assigned altitude before issuing the descent clearance.
Example Sentence 2
Flight strips are arranged in racks to show the current status of all active flights in the area.