Definition
TERPS is the official FAA document that establishes the criteria used to design instrument flight procedures in the United States, including instrument approaches, departures, and arrivals. It specifies the obstacle clearance requirements, minimum altitudes, descent gradients, and protected airspace dimensions that procedure designers must apply when building published procedures at airports.
Plain English
TERPS is the rulebook the FAA uses to design instrument approaches and departures. It tells the people who build these procedures how much room to leave around obstacles, how steep a descent can be, and what altitudes are safe.
Context Anchor
You will see TERPS mentioned in discussions of instrument approaches, departures, arrival routes, minimum altitudes, and how published procedures are designed.
Derivation
Terminal refers to the airspace and procedures around an airport (from the Latin terminus, meaning 'end' or 'boundary'). Instrument refers to flight by reference to cockpit instruments rather than outside visual cues. Procedures are the standardized steps a pilot flies. So TERPS is literally the standard for how procedures around airports are built for instrument flying.
Why Pilots Care
These standards guarantee obstacle clearance and consistent navigation guidance, directly supporting safe flight in instrument conditions.
Analogy
TERPS is like a building code for instrument procedures. A pilot may not design the procedure, but the code helps ensure the finished structure is safe to use when followed correctly.
Intuition Check
Do not read terminal as meaning final or deadly here. In this term, terminal means the area around an airport where arrivals, departures, and approaches are handled.
Example Sentence 1
The steep descent angle on that approach is unusual, but it still meets TERPS criteria.
Example Sentence 2
Pilots review TERPS-based notes on approach plates before flying an instrument procedure in marginal weather.