Zulu means the letter Z in radio communication. The letter Z designates UTC time.
There is actually a list of time zones for each letter of the alphabet (except J):
- Alpha time zone: UTC + 1
- Bravo time zone: UTC + 2
- ...
- India time zone: UTC + 9
- Kilo time zone: UTC + 10
- Lima time zone: UTC + 11
- Mike time zone: UTC + 12
- November time zone: UTC - 1
- ...
- X-ray time zone: UTC - 11
- Yankee time zone: UTC - 12
- Zulu time zone: UTC + 0
However, the other time zones are seldom referenced in aviation.
Why do we use UTC time instead of local time?
Because flights often cross time zones.
Imagine this: the time now is 11:59. We will take offtakeoff at 12:30 and fly west. Afterwards, at around 11:48, we will be 15 nautical miles away from the airport.....................Huh?
Even more confusing: We takeoff at 12:30 and land at 13:00 ==> we only need 30 minutes of fuel. Wrong! We actually cross a time zone and the actual flight time is 90 minutes. But we've taken off with 60 minutes less fuel than we need. What do we do?
