Plain English Meaning

Times when a radio or navigation signal cannot be received properly, so the pilot cannot use it for talking to controllers or navigating.

Full Definition

Periods during which radio communication or navigation signals are unavailable, degraded, or unreliable, whether due to scheduled maintenance, equipment failure, atmospheric interference, terrain shadowing, or distance from the transmitting station.

Context Anchor

Seen in flight training scenarios, emergency planning, airport notices, and real flights when a pilot cannot make or receive expected radio calls.

Derivation

‘Outage’ comes from ‘’ plus the suffix ‘-age,’ meaning a of being out of . The same word is used for outages — a stretch of time when something normally is not working.