Definition
An FAA publication containing the charted instrument approach procedures, departure procedures, and arrival procedures used at airports throughout the United States. The publication is issued in regional volumes (often called the Terminal Procedures Publication, or TPP) and is updated on a 28-day cycle to reflect current procedure data.
Plain English
It is the official FAA book of approach, departure, and arrival charts for U.S. airports. Pilots flying under instrument rules use it to find the chart for the procedure they plan to fly.
Context Anchor
You encounter this term when selecting an instrument approach, departure, or arrival procedure in an FAA chart book or an electronic flight bag app.
Derivation
Terminal here refers to the area around an airport where arrivals and departures happen, as opposed to the en route phase. The publication covers the procedures used in those terminal areas.
Why Pilots Care
They supply the precise instructions required for safe instrument flight in terminal airspace.
Intuition Check
Do not read “terminal” as the passenger building at an airport. Here it means the airport-area phase of flight, where published instrument procedures guide arrivals, departures, and approaches.
Example Sentence 1
Before the flight, she pulled up the U.S. Terminal Procedures volume covering the southeast region to brief the ILS approach into Charlotte.
Example Sentence 2
Changes in U.S. Terminal Procedures required the crew to update their briefing materials.