Definition
A unit of length equal to 12 inches or approximately 0.3048 meters. In aviation, feet is the standard unit used to express altitude, elevation, runway length, cloud heights, and visibility distances in the United States and most of the world.
Plain English
A measurement of distance. One foot is about the length of an adult's shoe. Pilots use it to describe how high they are flying, how long a runway is, and how high clouds sit above the ground.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA handbooks, charts, airport information, weather reports, and notices about airport or airspace changes when a height or distance is given.
Derivation
From Old English fōt, originally based on the length of a human foot. Aviation kept this familiar unit because it gives manageable numbers for the heights and distances pilots work with daily — for example, 5,000 ft is easier to read and call out than 1,524 meters.
Why Pilots Care
All U.S. altitudes and many distances are expressed in feet, directly affecting terrain clearance, traffic separation, and landing performance calculations.
Intuition Check
Do not read FT as a vague short form or guess from context. In FAA aviation text, FT means foot or feet as a unit of measurement.
Example Sentence 1
Example Sentence 2
Runway 18 is 3200 FT long with a displaced threshold.