volplane

American  

[vol-playn] / ˈvɒlˌpleɪn /

verb (used without object)

volplaned, volplaning

1. to glide toward the earth in an airplane, with no motor power or with the power shut off.

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noun

1. a glide in an airplane.

Other Word Forms

• volplanist
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of volplane

1905–10; < French vol plané glided flight, equivalent to vol flight (noun derivative of voler < Latin volāre to fly) + plané, past participle of planer to glide ( see plane ¹)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

volplane volplaned volplaning

Meanwhile Sir Alan Cobham had been forced by a faulty spark plug to volplane to earth near Nuneaton.

From Time Magazine Archive

It banked up on a sharp turn, dropped like a stone fully a thousand feet, making a magnificent volplane, and scurried away like a frightened vulture, dropping and dropping in a series of gigantic swoops.

From The Sequel What the Great War will mean to Australia by George A. (George Augustine) Taylor

It was the evening before when the Bolo airman, who had dropped two small bombs at the Americans at Obozerskaya, was obliged to volplane to earth on the railroad near the 464 outguard.

From The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 by Lewis E. Jahns

At any rate, his engine was going perfectly, so he was not required to attempt a difficult volplane with a dead engine.

From Battling the Clouds or, For a Comrade's Honor by Frank Cobb

After I had been doing circuits for some time and had begun to have a little confidence in myself, I decided that it was necessary to do a volplane.

From The War in the Air; Vol. 1 The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh

We never volplaned as easy as that in our lives, and that's a fact.

From The Aeroplane Boys Flight A Hydroplane Roundup by John Luther Langworthy

Against the blue sky great orange-headed vultures balanced and volplaned; yellow-gold kiskadees shrieked blatantly, and, silhouetted against the green fronds, smote both eye and ear.

From Jungle Peace by William Beebe

So they volplaned slowly downward, every eye strained for a safe landing-place.

From Lost in the Air by Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell

The machine volplaned to earth a few hundred yards from where we were, and the pilot was made prisoner.

From A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson

Before the sun was high on that morning," writes an American correspondent, "a British aviator volplaned down to his own lines with a wing damaged by shrapnel.

From The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 3 (of 10) From the First Battle of Ypres to the End of the Year 1914 by James Edward Parrott

We have the devotees of St. Vitus' dance called Jazz . . . volplaning down the descending scale.

From Time Magazine Archive

The maneuver was that of volplaning, and has been performed successfully by several aviators whose engines have suddenly ceased to work while in mid-air.

From The Girl Aviators' Sky Cruise by Margaret Burnham

"If the motors go back on us we'll be in a bad fix; and volplaning to the ground isn't always as easy as it's pictured, especially when you've no choice of a landing."

From Air Service Boys over the Atlantic by Charles Amory Beach

Suddenly we saw three Boche planes volplaning down from away up above.

From A Yankee in the Trenches by Robert Derby Holmes

From a height of five thousand feet the leader of the "air cavalry" suddenly turned the nose of his craft downward, and came volplaning toward the sea at a dizzy pace.

From The Brighton Boys with the Submarine Fleet by James R. [pseud.] Driscoll

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