B Bravo

balanced forces - Opposing forces that are pushing or pulling against each other with equal force. For example, if you and a friend pull on a rope, in the opposite direction with the same force, neither of you will move. This is because the forces are balanced.

barometer - An instrument for measuring atmospheric pressure, and therefore for forecasting the weather.

base leg - A flight path at right angles to the landing runway off its approach end that extends from the downwind leg to the intersection of the extended runway centerline.

Bernoulli's Principle - Daniel Bernoulli explained that the faster the molecules within a fluid move, the less pressure they exert on objects around them. This applies to all fluids, including water, air and gases. For example, the water in a pond will exert more pressure on the pond's bottom, than a flowing stream with the same amount of water will exert on the streambed.

biplane - An airplane having two wings on each side of the fuselage, one usually slightly forward and above the other.

blunder - an aviation occurrence that is totally unexpected by an air traffic controller and leads to potentially unsafe results, such as a pilot navigating an approach to the wrong runway.

boarding gate - The entrance to the jetway ramp that leads to a passenger's an aircraft.

Bravo - Designator for the letter "B" in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

briefer - An air traffic control position that provides pilots with information such as weather conditions and other flight data prior to the pilot's flight.

broken - A weather description for clouds that are segmented or are collections of cloud formations that are non-continuous.