a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. sig. A.iiii I waxed..sodenly sommwhat aflighte.

a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 42/2 Y^e quene in gret flight & heuines, bewailing her childes rain.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Sam. xiv. 15 There came a fearfulnes and flight in the hoost vpon the felde.

1831 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) Gloss. 1243 Oat flights are the glumes of the oat.

1855 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. (Gloss.) 722/3 Flights, oat chaff.

1914 Times 19 Nov. 3/4 Royal Naval Air Service. Flight Lieuts...reappointed as Acting Flight Commanders.

1915 H. Rosher In Royal Naval Air Service (1916) 131 I am to be 1st Lieut., good for me, but fear they may yet put in a Flight Commander.

1916 H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 27 The Flight-Sergeant is awaiting the Pilot's orders.

1917 Blackwood's Mag. Mar. 380/2 ‘Good-night, you chaps,’ said one of the flight-commanders.

1917 Blackwood's Mag. May 800/1 The good work of my pilot had brought him a flight commandership.

1922 Man. Seamanship (H.M.S.O.) I. 11 Distinction lace worn by officers of the Royal Air Force... R.A.F. Flight Lieutenant. R.N. Lieutenant.

1928 C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station iv. 75 Flight Commander (relative rank of Lieutenant, R.N.). Flight Lieutenant (relative rank of Lieutenant, R.N.). Flight Sub-Lieutenant (relative rank of Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.).

1943 C. H. Ward-Jackson It's a Piece of Cake 30 Flight, flight sergeant.

1959 Chambers's Encycl. XI. 519 Army and Royal Marines, Captain. Royal Air Force, Flight Lieutenant (Flight Officer, W.R.A.F.).

1959 Chambers's Encycl. XI. 519 Army and Royal Marines, Colour Sergeant. Royal Air Force, Flight-Sergeant.

1960 T. Rattigan Ross i. ii We'd nearly finished fatigue, Flight.

1801 T. Roberts Eng. Bowman vi. 153 Roving arrows are much heavier, and flight arrows much lighter, than others.

1881 W. W. Greener Gun & its Devel. 6 The longest well-authenticated distance for shooting with flight-arrows is about 600 yards.

1947 W. L. Grossman Air Passenger Traffic xii. 176 By picking up..the flight coupons, with the passengers' names on them, after the passengers are seated, a flight attendant knows where, say, Mrs. Johnson is located and can address her by name.

1957 Occupational Outlook Handbk. (U.S. Dept. Labor) 561/1 Stewardesses or stewards (sometimes called flight attendants) are aboard almost all passenger planes operated by the commercial airlines.

1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 Feb. 9/1 Air Canada flight attendant Mary Dohey today will become the third and only living recipient of Canada's highest award for bravery, the Cross of Valor.

1982 Sci. Amer. Nov. 19/3 It is nice to see ‘stewardess’ and ‘steward’ gradually being replaced by the general term ‘flight attendant’.

1937 Brit. Birds 31 98 When disturbed, they flew up without travelling far, producing a whinnying and metallic flight-call.

1959 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles VIII. 63 Birds flying about the island.., calling with a soft squeaky note..not unlike the flight call of the stormy petrel.

1969 ‘J. Munro’ Innocent Bystanders vi. 86 They were in the departure lounge, waiting for their flight call.

1937 Discovery Oct. 277/2 Since the reaction thrust, acting from the extreme rear of the plane, is in no way different from the pull of the aero engine in its nose, and remains in fixed relation to the aeroplane axis, stability and flight-control are not interfered with.

1959 F. D. Adams Aeronaut. Dict. 75/1 Flight control, 1. In plural. Controls for guiding or trimming an aircraft, missile, [etc.]. 2. A general if somewhat loose term applied to any activity or organization that directs and controls the movement of aircraft.

1969 Sunday Times 13 July 13/2 Flight Control System, a system that serves to maintain stability and control during the flight.

1951 Philippine Air Lines Timetable 15 May 2 P.A.L.'s experienced flight crews, with skilled American pilots and trained cabin attendants, are your assurance of a perfect trip.

1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose i. 14 The flight crew were getting ready to take off the freighter.

1965 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) §16 Flight crew (operating crew), those members of the aircrew whose primary concern is the operation and navigation of the aircraft and its safety in flight.

1924 Sci. Amer. Oct. 248/2 On the flight deck there are various devices for checking the speed of landing airplanes.

1936 Meccano Mag. June 325 The members of the flight deck party are rushing out to seize the machine as she comes to a standstill.

1949 Aeronautics Nov. 44/1 As one might expect, the Brabazon's flight deck is spacious and well laid out.

1958 Oxf. Mail 19 July 1/2 Rebel snipers fired on one of the planes..and hit it twice. One shot went through the flight deck.

1964 D. Macintyre Battle for Mediterranean iii. 47 But for her armoured flight deck which absorbed the shock of some of the hits, the Illustrious must have been sunk.

1971 Guardian 29 June 6/4 Airlines have been warned to review flight deck procedure after an air miss..between a BOAC VC10 and an El Al Boeing.

1938 Flight 21 July 67/2 Opposite the captain's desk are the flight engineer's quarters.

1939 Meccano Mag. Oct. 570/3 The radio operator occupies a position behind them, and a little farther aft is the flight engineer, both on the port side of the cabin.

1958 ‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose vi. 226 I was talking to Dick Scott, my new flight engineer.

1965 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) §16 Flight engineer, a member of the flight crew responsible for engineering duties.

1944 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 48 488 The best known of the envelope cases is the ‘flight envelope’, which is in general use in this country and in the United States... The ‘flight envelope’ covers all probable conditions of symmetrical manœuvring flight instead of the few isolated points specified in the previous system.

1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) I. 177 (caption) Airplane flight envelope, speed and range, medium altitude.

1966 D. Stinton Anat. Aeroplane ii. 10 The operational environment of an aircraft lies within a boundary, drawn on a basis of speed and height, called the flight-envelope... The outline marks the limit of performance in one particular configuration.

1735 J. Moore Columbarium 35 The nine flight Feathers of the Wing.

1890 E. Coues Handbk. Field & Gen. Ornithol. ii. iii. 164 The Remiges, or Flight-Feathers, give the wing its general character.

1605 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) I. 38 Some Popish flight-heads thinking to do wonders.

1933 Brit. Birds 26 366 The migratory flight-line of the others appears to lie well off the shores of west Wales.

1956 W. A. Heflin U.S. Air Force Dict. 210/2 Flight line, on an airfield, a general area including the hangars and the ramps and other grounds between and surrounding the hangars where aircraft are parked, serviced, etc.

1958 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles VII. 147 The majority of the large flocks..travel by two main flight-lines.

1971 Country Life 25 Feb. 407/2 In America, the native geese regularly move on well-plotted flight lines.

1890 W. P. Ball Effects Use & Disuse 64 The shortening of the sternum in pigeons is attributed to disuse of the flight muscles attached to it.

1889 Leisure Hour 675/2 The birds caught in the flight nets are sold to a dealer.

1960 E. Ennion House on Shore vi. 78 The flight-net has been reintroduced recently..to ‘control’ oystercatchers in Morecambe Bay.

1897 Pearson's Mag. 216/2 The birds when captured are packed into large bags, and are carried in this way to the flight-netter's home.

1897 Pearson's Mag. Feb. 213 (heading) Flight-netting for wildfowl.

1937 Discovery Feb. 47/2 He [sc. an owl] has..a loud flight-note..like the quacking of a duck.

1961 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles IX. 77 J. T. Nichols, who considers this the ‘flight note’ of the transient bird.

1949 Internat. Air Transport Assoc. Bull. Dec. 136 Flight number, which is equivalent to the term line number, means the numerical designation of a flight.

1953 C. Day Lewis Ital. Visit i. 21 We have Ten minutes until our flight-number is called.

1955 E. Bowen World of Love xi. 204 I don't even know where he's coming from... Harris will have the flight-number.

1911 Chambers's Jrnl. 1 55/2 Instruments which will exhibit the angle of the flight-path.

1919 Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (Royal Aeronaut. Soc.) 52 Flight path, the path of the centre of gravity of an aircraft with reference to the air.

1967 Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 1 Oct. 5/1 The peregrine flew towards it... Every bird in her flightpath froze to the ground.

1969 Times 19 Feb. 13/6 Another experiment..will measure the mass and distance of Mars simply by tracking the spacecraft and measuring the effect the planet exerts on its flight path.

1969 Times 10 Mar. 10/1 Fortunately none of the flight paths used by the birds crosses the airport.

1936 M. B. Garber Mod. Mil. Dict. 135 Flight plan, a plan for an aerial flight, setting forth the probable time of departure, direction of flight.., with estimated time of arrival.

1940 Meccano Mag. July 322/3 These flight plans cannot be standardised like a railway timetable, because of the great effect changes in weather have on the aircraft.

1971 Guardian 3 July 1/7 The pilot filed a flight plan for Trinidad with the airport tower.

1945 Aeroplane 30 Nov. 638/2 Aircraft ex-Baltimore could always ‘flight-plan’ for Stephenville.

1959 Listener 26 Feb. 372/1 Good flight planning—to use a term already long in use in terrestrial air navigation—is going to be of the highest value [in space navigation].

1971 Flying Apr. S5/1 Not enough pilots seem ready to lay out hard cash for weather and flight-planning information.

1948 Shell Aviation News cxv. 5/1 The Civil Aeronautics Board is now requiring all U.S. certified airlines to install flight recorders on their aircraft by 30th June, 1948.

1964 Daily Tel. 3 July 25/5 The flight recorder is an indestructible ‘black box’ which automatically records the key functions in the aircraft... The ‘black box’ can..tell what went wrong in a crash.

1971 Times 4 Oct. 1/3 Vital clues to the cause of the crash..were gained yesterday when the flight recorder was decoded.

1962 Flight Internat. 81 945/1 The relatively new art of flight recording.

1963 Economist 23 Nov. 733/1 TSR 2 can be flight-refuelled.

1939 Air Ann. Brit. Emp. 50 Flight refuelling..is likely to become a prominent means of allowing flight at very high wing loadings.

1947 Shell Aviation News cxiii. 14/1 It is fairly generally known that a series of flight-refuelling trials has recently taken place, in conjunction with British South American Airways.

1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (Tollem. MS) xii. i Whan hire [the eagle's] briddes beth flyȝte-ripe sche putteþ hem oute of hire neste.

1609 S. Daniel Civile Wares (rev. ed.) viii. xv. 207 Braue Faulconbridge..assign'd The Archers their flight-shafts to shoote away.

1840 G. A. Hansard Bk. Archery xi. 407 Barely within the range of his lightest flight-shaft.

1947 Electronics June 154/1 Installation of Teheran receiver in cockpit of flight simulator brings this air navigation aid to the second of three..steps in its development.

1950 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 54 600/1 One recent development which should help both to raise the standard of training and reduce the time and cost of non-revenue flying involved in crew training is the ‘flight simulator’. This ground equipment is designed to reproduce exactly the control cabin of the selected aircraft type, with all instruments and controls.

1961 Engineering 12 May 677/1 Control of an aircraft in bad flying conditions can now be tested on the ground by a machine..known as a ‘rocking cockpit’ or..flight simulator.

1931 C. St. J. Sprigg Airship xiv. 210 Before the rigid airship can be used on a commercial service it must be thoroughly flight-tested under every variety of conditions.

1958 Observer 9 Nov. 1/8 This is a new solid fuel rocket that had been flight-tested only once before.

1969 Times 3 June (Suppl.) p. iii/5 He [sc. Neil Armstrong] became a Nasa research pilot in 1955 and flight-tested the X-15 rocket plane.

1943 Sci. News Let. 30 Jan. 73/3 (heading) Flight testing advances win award for MacClain.

1961 Shell Aviation News Dec. 2/2 With the coming of auto-observers and telemetry, ‘test flying’ has been gradually and unobtrusively ousted by ‘flight testing’.

a1225 Juliana 45 I þat ilke time we biginneð to fleon & turneð to fluhte.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 182 Hardi bileaue bringgeð þe deouel on flucht ananrichtes.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 182 Edstond ane aȝein him & he deð him ofluchte.

1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) ii. 267 For it suld be full mekill mycht Yat now suld put yaim to ye flycht.

1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) ix. 243 Whan they..sawe Reynawde come, they smote theym selfe to flyghte.

a1500 Lancelot of Laik (1870) 3014 Ȝhone folk sal tak one them the flycht.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Heb. xi. 34 Which..wexed valient in fyght, turned to flyght the armees of the alients.

1625–6 S. Purchas Pilgrimes II. 1128 They presently set themselves in flight.

a1639 J. Spottiswood Hist. Church Scotl. (1655) iii. 145 The French..took the flight and retired to the Town.

1745 P. Thomas True Jrnl. Voy. South-Seas 207 It was his wisest Course to..betake himself to flight.

1816 J. Marriott Thou, whose Almighty Word (hymn) i Chaos and darkness..took their flight.

1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna vi. xiv.135 That onset turned the foes to flight almost.

1840 F. D. Bennett Narr. Whaling Voy. I. 258 The remainder..took to flight when their companions were harpooned.

1852 G. Grote Hist. Greece IX. ii. lxxiii. 371 The Persians were put to flight.

?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads ii. 158 What prince.. He found flight-giv'n, he would restrain with words of gentlest blame.

1797 A. Young Gen. View Agric. Suffolk 56 The light, called also flight oats, are known only on the poorest sands, and in the fen district.

1568 W. Dunbar in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 260 This warld evir dois flicht and wary.

1823 New Monthly Mag. 7 123 The superabundant population may be flighted off to the lunar region.

1892 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words (at cited word) ‘Aa'll flight ye pigeons for a shillin'.’

1892 Cornhill Mag. Aug. 155 Wildfowlers know this habit well, and ‘flighting’, or shooting them as they go and come, is a favourite method of procuring wild ducks.

1869 C. Boutell tr. J. P. Lacombe Arms & Armour ii. 34 The arrows, which had iron tips, were flighted with feathers.

1890 C. Dixon Stray Feathers ii. 20 The stiff quill feathers..are used by savages to flight their arrows.

1912 P. F. Warner Eng. v. Austral. iv. 33 Woolley kept an excellent length, and ‘flighted’ the ball.

1925 Country Life 18 July 95/1 This power of varying the trajectory of the ball and its pace is known as ‘flighting’ the ball.

1955 Times 16 Aug. 3/3 He flighted and turned from leg just enough on what had previously seemed to be an easy paced surface.

1961 Times 16 May 4 Cowper had been bowling slow flighted off-breaks.