fly blind

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.

Example Sentences

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

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“All of that economic data released will be permanently impaired, leaving our policymakers at the Fed flying blind at a critical period,” Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday, regarding the Federal Reserve.

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"The Fed is flying blind a little bit, but we have a government shutdown, which is a negative for the economy," he said.

Read more on Barron's

A US federal data blackout deepened Thursday as a government shutdown halted the release of third quarter GDP figures, forcing policymakers, financial institutions and business owners to continue flying blind.

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It came despite the US government shutdown, nearing its one-month mark, which left central bankers "flying blind" about the state of job market, economists said, because of a delay in official data.

Read more on BBC