herculis 16

[LEICESTERSHI]

would appreciate help with this:
rapid descent aircraft in steep spiral
T/I/S/I/

[Aquagility]

Tail spin

[LEICESTERSHI]

Thank you for that Aquagility

[ikarus]

Just for interest, tailspin is not a word that would be used by aviators to describe a rapid descent in a steep spiral. More correctly this is a spiral dive. Alternatively, a descent with a high rate of rotation and low airspeed is just a spin. Tailspin means nothing in aviation.

I feel better for that.

[Aquagility]

Ikarus, your wings just fell off.

[Nigse]

The OED gives the following references to usage for tailspin:

1917 V. W. Page Gloss. Aviation Terms 23 Tail spin. 1919 in C. A. Smith New Words Self-Defined 201, I remember when I thought it was time to try a vrille or tail-spin. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 17 Jan. 2/5 Collison's airplane went into a tail spin when his motor failed to work. 1953 C. A. Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis ii. vi. 263 He'd tried to land out of a tailspin�that was asking for a crash.

So it might not be a term used by modern aviators but certainly

[Nigse]

Sorry inadvertantly hit submit before I intended to - why is the scroll down button so close to the submit button? - here's what I meant to say:

The OED gives the following references to usage for tailspin:

1917 V. W. Page Gloss. Aviation Terms 23 Tail spin. 1919 in C. A. Smith New Words Self-Defined 201, I remember when I thought it was time to try a vrille or tail-spin. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 17 Jan. 2/5 Collison's airplane went into a tail spin when his motor failed to work. 1953 C. A. Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis ii. vi. 263 He'd tried to land out of a tailspin�that was asking for a crash.

So it might not be a term used by modern aviators but certainly was by earlier ones; I don't think Charles Lindbergh's credentials can be argued with!

[ikarus]

Well, I wouldn't wish to denigrate the achievements of the pioneer flyers but there was a lot they had to learn about aviation not least the use of inaccurate terminology. Land out of a tailspin? I don't think so. Not out of any kind of spin.

If anyone is interested there is an interesting clip of an aircraft in a SPIN here (the beeping is the stall warning device indicating that the airspeed is at or close to the stalling speed).

http://www.kewego.co.uk/video/iLyROoaftYXj.htm l

Incidentally there is only une vrille (a spin) in the clip. There is no loop.

[POINCIANA]

I will stand by Ikarus on this one; the clue descibes a SPIRAL DIVE or a FLAT SPIN, neither of which fits within the crossword grid.
I believe 'tail spin' to be a sort of metaphore for being in more trouble than one can cope with; not used much in aviation in my experience - 33 years as a Private Pilot , 16 of them Instrument Rated. (PPL/IR)

[POINCIANA]

Supplementary:
Just seen the video clip recommended by Ikarus; made me feel almost as queasy as when I did my compulsory spinning exercise all those years ago!
Never done it since - DR400 won't spin properly anyway; just goes into a spiral dive. Ugh!

[Aquagility]

As one who was required to practise stalling and recovery in a Tiger Moth some 60 years ago, I can confirm Icarus' contention re the terminology.

But here we are concerned only with trying to discover what words were used by the compiler of the puzzle, which may or may not have any element of reality.

They were happy days though, were they not!