Definition
The clock time at which an aircraft is planned to arrive at a specified point, typically the destination airport or a metering fix used by air traffic control. STA is published in the flight schedule or computed by ATC traffic management systems and is expressed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Plain English
The time the flight is supposed to arrive at a particular point, based on the published schedule or an ATC plan.
Context Anchor
Seen in air traffic control, arrival planning, and traffic flow discussions where aircraft need to reach an airport or route point at an organized time.
Why Pilots Care
It supports fuel planning, speed adjustments, and coordination with controllers to avoid unnecessary holding.
Intuition Check
Do not read STA as only the pilot’s rough guess of arrival time. In this context, it is a scheduled or planned time used to manage the arrival flow.
Example Sentence 1
Our STA at KORD is 1845Z, but ATC has us in a holding pattern, so the actual arrival will be later.
Example Sentence 2
We slowed down five knots to meet our STA without entering holding.