Definition
An FAA publication, issued in regional volumes and updated on a 56-day cycle, containing the charts and information pilots use for instrument operations at airports within that region. It includes Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs), Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs), Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs), airport diagrams, and related takeoff and alternate minimums.
Plain English
A book of charts, published by the FAA every 56 days, that shows how to fly instrument departures, arrivals, and approaches at airports in a given region of the country.
Context Anchor
Pilots see Terminal Procedures Publications in paper chart books and electronic chart apps when reviewing a STAR, departure, or instrument approach before or during a flight.
Derivation
Terminal' here refers to the terminal area around an airport -- the airspace where aircraft are arriving, departing, or maneuvering for landing, as opposed to the en route phase between airports. The publication covers procedures used in those terminal phases of flight.
Why Pilots Care
Provides the current, approved routes and altitudes pilots must follow to transition safely from en route airspace into the terminal environment.
Intuition Check
“Terminal” does not mean a computer screen or an airport building here. It means the area around an airport where arrivals, departures, and approaches are flown.
Example Sentence 1
Before the flight, she pulled out the current Terminal Procedures Publication to review the STAR and approach for the destination airport.
Example Sentence 2
Changes to procedures are published in the next cycle of the Terminal Procedures Publication to keep charts current.