Definition
Time to station (TTS) is a navigation computer output that shows the number of minutes remaining until the aircraft reaches a selected waypoint or station, based on current groundspeed and distance to that point.
Plain English
How many minutes it will take, at your current speed, to reach the point you have selected.
Context Anchor
Seen on navigation equipment that can show distance and time information, including VOR/DME RNAV displays.
Why Pilots Care
Allows pilots to anticipate arrival time for fuel planning, descent initiation, and workload management.
Intuition Check
“Station” does not mean the airport building here. It means the selected navigation station or selected navigation point the equipment is using.
Example Sentence 1
With a strong tailwind, the RNAV showed a TTS of 14 minutes to the next fix.
Example Sentence 2
We used the TTS value to decide when to begin the arrival checklist.