volplane

American  

[vol-pleyn] / 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

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)

Example Sentences

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 Taylor, George A. (George Augustine)

Tom soon shut the motor off, and tilted the machine for a volplane down several thousand feet to a new level.

From Air Service Boys Over The Enemy's Lines The German Spy's Secret by Beach, Charles Amory

Without a moment's delay Barcroft switched off the ignition and commenced a volplane.

From Billy Barcroft, R.N.A.S. A story of the Great War by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)

He had to volplane down this time, not as a quick way of descending, but as the only means of preventing a disastrous fall.

From The Boy Scouts on the Trail by Durston, George