flight path

noun

: the path in the air or space made or followed by something (such as a particle, an airplane, or a spacecraft) in flight

Example Sentences

No other planes were on their flight path.
Recent Examples on the Web Massive Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s owned by the long-haul carrier Emirates roared overhead as the neighborhood sits only 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Dubai International Airport along its flight path. Jon Gambrell, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Apr. 2023 De Ravin starred as the expecting — and eventual new mom — Claire Littleton (one of flight 815's few Australian passengers, despite the Sydney to Los Angeles flight path). Lindy Segal, Peoplemag, 22 Jan. 2023 By 1998, the Air Force assessed its JETRAX software as 84 percent reliable at determining whether contrails would appear on a flight path. David Hambling, Popular Mechanics, 15 Nov. 2022 The chopper, which arrived on the red planet strapped to the Perseverance Rover in February, took to the air for its sixth test flight last Saturday when an anomaly occurred that led it on an unexpected flight path, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said on Thursday. Catherine Thorbecke, ABC News, 28 May 2021 The sanctuary is on the flight path, but was not included in the environmental study area, residents said. Haeven Gibbons, Dallas News, 24 Mar. 2023 Pilots on that plane again decided to loop around so everyone could see the aurora with FlightAware showing a similar loop about halfway through the flight path. Alison Fox, Travel + Leisure, 1 Mar. 2023 Thomas Vaughan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said there had been a weather advisory for thunderstorms that included Oahu and areas that would have included the flight path at the time. Ramon Padilla, USA Today, 19 Dec. 2022 Although thunderstorms were reported in the area and a weather advisory had been issued for the flight path approaching Oahu, Snook said the turbulence was unexpected. Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 19 Dec. 2022 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'flight path.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1908, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of flight path was in 1908

Dictionary Entries Near flight path

Cite this Entry

“Flight path.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flight%20path. Accessed 28 May. 2023.

Kids Definition

flight path

noun
: the path in the air or space made or followed by something (as a particle, an airplane, or a spacecraft) in flight

More from Merriam-Webster on flight path

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