Definition
An FAA publication containing the charts and procedures pilots use when flying under instrument flight rules into and out of airports in a given region of the United States. It includes instrument approach procedure charts, departure procedures, standard terminal arrival routes, and airport diagrams, organized by geographic volume and revised on a regular cycle.
Plain English
A book of FAA charts that shows pilots how to safely arrive at, depart from, and move around airports when flying on instruments. It contains the approach charts, departure charts, arrival charts, and airport diagrams for the airports in that region.
Context Anchor
Seen during instrument preflight planning, approach briefing, departure planning, and surface movement preparation when a pilot checks airport diagrams and published procedures.
Derivation
Terminal here refers to the airport area — the part of a flight near the ground where arrivals, departures, and ground movement happen — as opposed to the en route (cruise) phase. So a Terminal Procedures Publication is simply the book of procedures used in and around airports.
Why Pilots Care
It supplies the only FAA-approved procedures a pilot may legally follow when flying an instrument approach or departure.
Intuition Check
Do not read “terminal” as the passenger building. Here it means the airport-area part of flight, where aircraft are arriving, departing, approaching, or moving on the airport surface.
Example Sentence 1
Before starting the descent, the pilot pulled up the current TPP volume to brief the instrument approach into the destination airport.
Example Sentence 2
Before departure the crew reviewed the TPP departure procedure for the assigned runway.