Fighter pilot "slang" has invaded the vocabulary of everyday folk. Prior to the movie Top Gun, I can’t recall ANYBODY outside of the tactical flying community using the word "ballistic." I hear it often now. Most folk that use this term cannot define it, nor explain its origin. I guess slang is "cool" to use, but "Fighter Pilot Slang" was very serious business to those warriors that first developed it. It’s a protocol that met a wartime requirement for effective tactical command and control of a "Flight." In combat, good R/T discipline could mean the difference between life and death. The official term is "Brevity Code".
Brevity Code article.
fm_90-38_brevity.pdf
Brevity Code: SimHQ Article
