chandelle

American  

[shan-del, shahn-] / ʃænˈdɛl, ʃɑ̃- /

noun

1. an abrupt climbing turn in which an aircraft almost stalls while using its momentum to gain a higher rate of climb.

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verb (used without object)

chandelled, chandelling

1. to perform a chandelle.

chandelle British  

/ ʃænˈdɛl, ʃɑ̃dɛl /

noun

1. aeronautics an abrupt climbing turn almost to the point of stalling, in which an aircraft's momentum is used to increase its rate of climb

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verb

1. (intr) to carry out a chandelle

Etymology

Origin of chandelle

1915–20; < French: literally, candle

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chandelle

Two weeks after telling Congress the F-22 "certainly" would be used, Air Force chief Schwartz pulled what pilots call a chandelle -- a 180-degree turn.

From Time ● Apr. 18, 2011

For not only in New York but all over the land school children are speaking a strange new language, fazing their elders with terms like wobble pump, advection, burble, troposphere, chandelle, nacelle.

From Time Magazine Archive

Just then the Navy plane made a chandelle, driving around back of me.

From Time Magazine Archive

In very sooth il ne vaut pas la chandelle.

From The Wits and Beaux of Society Volume 2 by Philip Wharton

He was right from his point of view, for he had none of the jeu and all of the chandelle.

From In the Courts of Memory, 1858 1875; from Contemporary Letters by L. de (Lillie de) Hegermann-Lindencrone