fly blind

Idioms  

1. Feel one's way, proceed by guesswork, as in There are no directions for assembling this furniture, so I'm flying blind. This hyperbolic expression dates from World War II, when it was used by pilots who could not see the horizon and therefore had to rely on instruments. It was transferred to broader use soon afterward.

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Example Sentences

For a central bank that is highly data dependent, this is tantamount to flying blind.

From MarketWatch

Wall Street grew more weary of unprofitable tech while flying blind on the state of the economy during the recently ended government shutdown.

From The Wall Street Journal

What is a central bank to do when it is flying blind?

From MarketWatch

Investors accustomed to dissecting every payroll figure were left flying blind, forced to rely on private trackers and early state filings that suggested the labor market merely “plodded along” in September.

From MarketWatch

“The shutdown delayed some releases, but we are far from flying blind,” said then-San Francisco Fed President John Williams on the first day of the policy meeting at the end of that month.

From The Wall Street Journal