glide slope

American  

noun

Aeronautics.

1. the angle that the glidepath of an aircraft or spacecraft makes with the horizontal.

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Etymology

Origin of glide slope

First recorded in 1945–50

Example Sentences

Pilots said so-called glide slope technology in modern airliners also should have helped the crew find the runway unless they failed to set it up as they approached the airport.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 16, 2017

“Nobody wants to see Libya on a glide slope to the kind of situation that already engulfed Syria and Iraq,” Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said last week.

From Time • Feb. 19, 2016

We don’t want to be on a glide slope to a situation like Syria and Iraq.

From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2016

Army General John Campbell told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the options, which he supported, dealt with the "glide slope" and "locations" for withdrawals in the summer of 2015.

From Reuters • Feb. 12, 2015

“It had been sent to another island to be repaired. So there was a notice to airmen that the glide slope was not operating.”

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell