Cold Temperature Airport (CTA)

An airport where the FAA has found that cold temperatures put some instrument approach procedures at risk of losing the required obstacle clearance, because in air colder than standard an aircraft is lower than its barometric altimeter shows. Its approach charts carry a snowflake icon and a temperature limit in degrees Celsius. When the reported airport temperature is at or below that limit, pilots correct the published altitudes on the designated segments, either on all segments or only on the segments marked in the FAA's CTA list, using the cold temperature error table in the AIM or an approved temperature-compensating system. Pilots tell ATC the corrected altitude on every segment except the final, and the corrected MDA or DA becomes the minimum for the approach.

Source: summarized from AIM 7-3-4; AIM 7-3-5.

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Glossary last updated 2026-10-28.

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