"Terminate" has a very different meaning when dealing with missiles and remotely piloted vehicles that have a "Flight Termination System," designed to quickly end the flight of the "vehicle" and limit possible damage to the surrounding environment (or people).
On programs such as that, you should never say the "T" word unless you mean to abruptly end the flight or destroy the vehicle. In some environments, this means "push the red, self-destruct button..." I know a guy that's done this three times...
I have used "Abort, Abort, Abort" (with volume and inflection in the voice) before, where we wanted the vehicle brought quickly back to a safe point in the envelope -- because we did not like something (state or trend). Frequently, crew would like for us to add "why" we wanted them to stop -- e.g., Beta-dot, alpha-dot, or that still respected "bad feeling about this..."
"Recover" is what I've said at a completion point, end point or non-dynamic (non-urgent) cessation of a test point -- asking the crew to gently return to the stable or trim state preceding the test point. For steady heading sideslips or wind-up turns, I prefer this terminology since ceasing the maneuver in an overly dynamic fashion can sometimes be more dangerous than the maneuver itself. For people of some background, this might have a different meaning: return to the ship and land, for one.
"Hold" would be for "don't stop, but don't go (further)," e.g., while we look at the data.
"Continue" might be self explanatory...
Bottom line, brief what the expected calls are INTENDED to mean and what response is desired from each call -- before each and every flight.
Safe testing to you all,
-Pete Donath
