Originally Posted by WolfpackC17

donk,

I feel your pain...I retired last summer and also had a very hard time deciphering the civilian flying world/nomenclature. Not trying to be an ass, but you got to go out and "earn" that knowledge and not have anyone spoon feed it to you. Your exact questions have been asked in this very thread (hint, the search function here at Airline Pilot Central (APC) is pretty good).

Also, I STRONGLY recommend this book: Everything Explained for the Professional Pilot. I got it off of Amazon for $54 and it was well worth the cost.

WpC17