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minimum descent altitude

minimum descent altitude noun: the lowest altitude at which an aircraft is permitted to fly during a non-precision approach without the runway being in clear sight.

Noun

minimum descent altitude (plural minimum descent altitudes, abbreviation MDA)

  1. The lowest altitude at which an aircraft is permitted to fly during a non-precision approach without the runway being in clear sight.
    • The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the descent below Minimum Descent Altitude during a nonprecision approach under adverse operating conditions, without visual contact with the runway environment. The Board has been unable to determine...1972 April 14, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.2b Probable Cause”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Southern Airways, Inc. DC-9, N97S, Tri-State Airport, Huntington, West Virginia, November 14...

Forms of minimum descent altitude

pluralminimum descent altitudes
abbreviationMDA

Questions about minimum descent altitude

What does minimum descent altitude mean?
Minimum descent altitude means the lowest altitude at which an aircraft is permitted to fly during a non-precision approach without the runway being in clear sight.
What part of speech is minimum descent altitude?
Minimum descent altitude is a noun.
What is the plural of minimum descent altitude?
The plural of minimum descent altitude is minimum descent altitudes.

Words near minimum descent altitude in the dictionary

  1. minimum connecting time
  2. minimum connecting times
  3. minimum contacts
  4. minimum cut
  5. minimum cuts
  6. minimum descent altitude
  7. minimum descent altitudes
  8. minimum inhibitory concentration
  9. minimum minimorum
  10. minimum naturale
  11. minimum sector altitude

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: minimum descent altitude (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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