aviation slang (1928)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

_Lima News_ (Ohio) Oct 12, 1928, p. 11, col. 1-2

NEW ENGLISH IS MADE FOR USES ON AIR FIELDS
Language Spoken Daily Around Hangars and Runways Given Adoption
NEW EXPRESSIONS NAMED
Dozens Already Known Are Augmented With Hundreds by Aviators Themselves

LOS ANGELES, Cal., Oct. 12 -- (INS) -- An entirely new form of the English
language is spoken daily around the hangars and runways, it was revealed
at the recent national air races at Mines field.
For instance when a pilot tells you to "hoik 'em up" in taking off from a
small field, he means to raise the plane clear of obstacles that may be in
its path.
Then he says a ship is "tooting along" he means the same thing an
automobile driver would mean if he said his car was running along fine.
When he "pancakes" a plane or "mushes her in" he means that he is making
it lose forward speed in landing to keep it from hitting the ground on its
"nose" -- its front end.
"When he means to say that he hasn't flown in a week, he announces that he
hasn't "cracked a throttle" in that time. And when he wants to say that a
pilot is a Goebel or a Lindbergh or a Kingsford-Smith, he drags out the
good old word "hot" to express efficiency, daring and steel nerve.
>From Ensign Frank E. Williams, attached to the naval aviation base at Long
Beach now and formerly in the army aviation corps, some of the new
expressions here named were obtained. And to represent commercial
aviation, others were taken from the vocabulary of Bob Toutt, who flew the
Kendall ship to the race from Pennsylvania.
Sharp turns in the air are called "fantails." A "dead stick landing" is
one made with the propeller stopped. A "bail out" is navy slang for
jumping out of a plane to make a parachute jump.
"Squat" is the term in vogue for a slow "semi-stall" landing. "Stalling"
is holding the plane's nose up until flying speed is lost and the plane
drops out of control until speed is regained.
"Banking" is lowering one wing while turning, similar to the position
taken by a race car on a banked race track. "Prop" is a simple translation
for propeller, and "skidding" means the same thing it does in ordinary
English, except the deed is done on the invisible alleys of the air,
instead of rain-wet asphalt streets.
A "nose-over" is the army term for the unhappy (for the flier) event of
landing and turning the plane over on its back. A "stable plane" is one
that is steady and tends to fly without the constant movements of the
controls -- so that the filer presumably may day dream or meditate, as ho
sails over the much advertised silver lining every cloud is alleged to
possess.
The greatly misused verb "zooming" actually means pulling the plane upward
sharply after a long dive toward the ground. And "blind flying" of course,
means flying in the rain or fog with no chance of seeing up, down or to
the side, making it necessary to guide the plane by instruments.
And there are dozens that everyone alreadys knows. like "take off,"
"gliding," "stunning" and "forced landing." These too, that designate and
describe stunts, like "aileron roll,' "Immelman turn," "side slip," "nose
dive," "falling leaf.' "inside loop," and "outside loop" and "power dive."



--Ben Zimmer