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A safe instrument approach requires a number of callouts along the way; two of the most important come fairly late in the approach, first to alert the pilot flying that the aircraft is approaching the minimum descent altitude (MDA) for that approach, and then when the aircraft actually reaches the MDA (these callouts were traditionally made by the pilot monitoring, but are now usually made by the aircraft’s GPWS). At this point, if the pilots have the runway environment clearly and consistently in sight, they can continue and land; otherwise, an immediate missed approach is mandatory.

These callouts are typically annunciated in plural form, as, respectively, “approaching minimums” and “minimums”; however, the plural of “minimum” is not “minimums”, but, rather, “minima”, which is also shorter and takes less time to say than “minimums” (and good time management is one of the many many things that are critical during an instrument approach, especially one in low visibility or over or near obstructed terrain), so why do these pilot and GPWS callouts typically use the longer and ungrammatical “minimums”?

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    $\begingroup$ Is there a good reason to require non-native speakers to learn the arcane rules for pluralizing certain words when the obvious form is also acceptable? $\endgroup$
    – StephenS
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 1:55
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    $\begingroup$ I'm convinced the voice of the Rockwell Collins EGPWS callouts is that of Brent Spiner, the character Data in Star Trek NG en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_(Star_Trek). Every time I'd hear it I'd think "yeah that's Data". $\endgroup$
    – John K
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 3:39
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    $\begingroup$ Note that cockpit is a noisy environment and you can get a radio transmission with its notoriously terrible audio quality over the announcement. In such environment, longer words have advantage of being harder to miss or mistake for another. Compare e.g. use of ‘negative’ instead of ‘no’. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Hudec
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 7:02
  • $\begingroup$ We say many things in cockpits that aren't normal usage, the answer as to why is usually because it works. $\endgroup$
    – GdD
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 7:32
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    $\begingroup$ @JanHudec the EGPWS callouts come over the internal audio system and have FM broadcast clarity. Even the VHF comms with the newest equipment are starting to approach FM audio clarity (if not frequency response). I did a ferry trip from South America to North America once, my first and only time down there, and the ATC audio instruction in SA was more or less: "bwabwa bloo bloo maytay wenny wousn fee" and we'd look at each other and go "what the hell did he say???". Entering US airspace from the Caribbean, contacting the first US center controller, it did almost seem like FM radio. $\endgroup$
    – John K
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 16:12

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Minimums is an acceptable plural of Minimum (along with minima).

As for why its used as a call out is likely because it is the preferred pluralization used by the FAA and in my experience the term generally used when talking about "approach minimums" or "weather minimums".

Its worth noting that the FAA uses both minima and minimums in their handbook.

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    $\begingroup$ Interestingly, the Oxford English Dictionary says that minima is the British plural and minimums is the US one. $\endgroup$
    – Bianfable
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 7:21
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    $\begingroup$ My experience as an American says that very few of us use "minima", while my experience with members of the British Commonwealth indicates that "minima" is much more common. (Most of that BC experience is via TV, so take that with a grain of salt.) $\endgroup$
    – FreeMan
    Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 15:41

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