sideslip

Pluralsideslips

Formssideslips, sideslipping, sideslipped

1. 1
   nouncountable

   In flying, a maneuver in which the pilot applies rudder and aileron in opposite directions so that the aircraft moves sideways while its heading stays the same.

   Like a swimmer angling across a current to hold a straight line to the far bank.

   She used a gentle sideslip to hold the nose straight as the wind pushed from the left.

   On final approach the pilot set up a sideslip to track the centerline despite the gusting wind.

   Similarslip

   Note

   Pilots call this cross-controlling: rudder pushes the nose one way while aileron lowers a wing the other, so the aircraft drifts sideways through the air but keeps its heading. It is the classic answer to drift in a crosswind landing. The word is simply side plus slip, and it is written solid, with no hyphen, in both the noun and the verb.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A flight maneuver used to rapidly lose speed or altitude while not changing the aircraft's track over the ground.

   Like a cyclist turning the wheel slightly and leaning to scrub off speed before a stop.

   With no spoilers fitted, the crew flew a sideslip to shed altitude before the threshold.

   A quick sideslip scrubbed off the extra speed without lengthening the approach over the ground.

   Similarslip

   Note

   Here the same crossed controls serve a different end, which is drag. Turned partly broadside to the airflow, the airplane sinks or slows quickly while its path over the ground stays put. Pilots often call this the forward slip to set it apart from the crosswind slip. The control inputs look alike; what differs is the purpose.

3. 3
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To perform a sideslip, or to place an aircraft into one, using opposing rudder and aileron inputs.

   Like a skier angling their skis across the slope to bleed off speed.

   Experienced pilots sideslip to steepen the descent without picking up extra airspeed.

   He sideslipped the glider until the runway numbers slid back into view beneath the nose.

   Similarslip

   Note

   The verb works with or without an object: a pilot simply sideslips, or sideslips the glider. Like slip, it doubles its final consonant before an ending, giving sideslipped and sideslipping. It covers both a held technique, as in crosswind work, and a brief control input made in passing.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A flight condition in which an aircraft's lengthwise axis is not lined up with its direction of motion through the surrounding air.

   Like walking forward while a strong wind nudges your body off the line you intend.

   After the gust hit, the airplane settled into a slight sideslip until the pilot corrected.

   Sensors detected a sideslip as the aircraft crabbed through the crosswind on approach.

   Similarslip

   Note

   A state rather than an action: an aircraft can be in sideslip whether or not the pilot meant it, as when a gust knocks it askew, and it lasts until something corrects it. In this use the noun typically follows in or into. An airplane is in a sideslip, or settles into one, rather than performing it.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   In aviation, the angle by which an aircraft's direction of travel through the air differs from the line of its nose-to-tail axis.

   The flight computer keeps the sideslip near zero to maintain coordinated flight.

   Test pilots recorded a sideslip of several degrees as the rudder input increased during the maneuver.

   Note

   The number engineers put on that sideways condition. In flight-dynamics work it is often called the sideslip angle and written with the Greek letter beta. It is the sideways partner of angle of attack: it measures how far the oncoming air arrives from the side rather than from below. Though often treated as a mass noun, it also counts readily, as in a sideslip of several degrees.

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