flight path

American  

noun

1. the trajectory of a moving aircraft or spacecraft relative to a fixed reference.

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flight path British  

noun

1. the course through the air of an aircraft, rocket, or projectile Compare approach glide path

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Etymology

Origin of flight path

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flight path

A full 20 years after the screen debut of the satire, the topspin of its best lines still whizzes with the same precision and blistering flight path of its 2006 self.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026

Other records may feel less significant: The flight path will hit a maximum distance of 252,760 miles from Earth, breaking Apollo 13’s record by about 4,000 miles, which doesn’t sound like much.

From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026

Artemis 2 astronaut Jeremy Hansen felt like he was "falling out of the sky" as his spacecraft followed its complex flight path to the Moon, the Canadian said in a Saturday video call.

From Barron's ● Apr. 4, 2026

Rankin explained many of his constituents live under the Heathrow flight path and were worried about aircraft noise as well as traffic congestion.

From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2026

Contrary to common belief, however, the bus doesn’t lie beneath any established flight path, and very few planes fly over it.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer