Definition
An engine that produces power by drawing in air, compressing it, mixing it with fuel and igniting it, then passing the resulting hot, expanding gases through a turbine wheel that drives the compressor and provides usable thrust or shaft power.
Plain English
An engine that burns fuel in a continuous stream of air and uses the hot gases to spin a wheel, producing thrust or turning a shaft.
Context Anchor
Seen in jet engine basics when learning how turbine engines make power and thrust.
Derivation
Gas' here refers to the hot expanding gases of combustion, not gasoline fuel. 'Turbine' comes from the Latin 'turbo,' meaning a spinning top or whirl — a wheel turned by a moving fluid. So a gas turbine is a wheel spun by hot gases.
Why Pilots Care
Nearly all jet aircraft rely on gas turbines for propulsion, directly affecting climb performance, fuel use, and operating limits.
Intuition Check
Do not read “gas turbine” as “an engine that burns gasoline.” Here, “gas” means the hot expanding flow of air and burned fuel that spins the turbine.
Example Sentence 1
The airplane's two gas turbine engines spooled up smoothly as the pilot advanced the thrust levers for takeoff.
Example Sentence 2
During the preflight the crew checked the gas turbine oil pressure before starting the engines.