Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

SELCAL en · NOUN

Blend of selective + calling.

(countable, uncountable) A system for alerting a specific aircraft that a radio station on the ground wishes to communicate with them, via transmitting an aircraft-specific sequence of audio tones over the aircraft's company radio frequency to an automatic decoder on board the aircraft.
(countable) An alert sent via this system.
- Duncan awoke to Li Quan's nudging. “What is a sell call?” Duncan's brain needed a moment to come online; sell call didn't make sense. Then he made the connection. A SELCAL was coming through. He jerked the headset off Li Quan's head, donning it in time to hear the words “hundred Chinese aboard your aircraft.” 2018 February 8, Terry Liittschwager, chapter 32, in Wrongful Act, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2024:

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
SelCal		alternative	lexicographic
SELCALs	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Blend of selective + calling.

(transitive) To send a SELCAL alert to (an aircraft).
- Captains earned big bucks because they had to make big decisions. Captain Ray Hanson commanded ACI Flight 103, and he feared that today he would earn those big bucks. San Francisco ARINC had SELCALed them. When the flight engineer answered, he found Sam Devlin on the other end. The owner of Air Cargo International had an incredible message. 2018 February 8, Terry Liittschwager, chapter 32, in Wrongful Act, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2024:

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
SELCALs	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres		lexicographic
SelCal		alternative	lexicographic
SELCALing	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
SELCALed	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
SELCALed	Tense=Past		lexicographic