hard deck
Minimum safe altitude
Hard deck is military aviation slang for a minimum altitude that pilots are forbidden to fly below during training exercises, typically set for safety reasons.
The term has spread to general usage meaning any firm boundary or non-negotiable limit: The budget is a hard deck—we can't go lower.
Made famous by the film *Top Gun*.
- airspaceRegulated overhead flight zone
- restricted airspaceAviation exclusion area
- danger zoneHigh-risk location
- combat trainingMilitary fighting instruction
- altitudeMeasured height above reference
flight simulation · Top Gun · threshold · no-fly zone · boundary · restriction · limit · exclusion zone · game mechanics · floor · training exercise
- Aviation Slangroger, mayday, pan-pan, squawk, affirmative