-
- To save this word, you'll need to log in.
instrument landing
noun
: a landing made with limited visibility by means of instruments and by ground radio direction
Examples of instrument landing in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
And most instrument landing systems, which guide airplanes on their final approach to the runway, are more than 25 years old.
—Sophie Hills, The Christian Science Monitor, 2 May 2024
Radar fire control, radar tracking, airfield lighting and instrument landing techniques were developed and refined at NAS Patuxent River.
—Baltimore Sun, 12 May 2023
An instrument landing system helps airplanes fly safely when the pilot is unable to maintain visual contact with surrounding obstacles and the ground, mainly due to weather conditions or at nighttime.
—Sheikh Saaliq, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Jan. 2023
Jagannath Niroula, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, said Pokhara International Airport’s instrument landing system will not be working until Feb. 26 -- 56 days after the airport began operations on Jan. 1.
—Sheikh Saaliq, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Jan. 2023
Researchers have also devised a low-cost hack that spoofs the instrument landing systems that planes rely on to safely land.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 19 Oct. 2022
Until 2015, Metro had been allowing two planes to land simultaneously in poor visibility, both using their runway's instrument landing systems.
—Bill Laitner, Detroit Free Press, 22 Dec. 2020
Pilots landing at night must do instrument landings when a parallel runway is closed.
—Matthias Gafni, SFChronicle.com, 8 Aug. 2019
The flight crew failed to engage the plane’s instrument landing system, which would have provided a warning that they were not lined up with the correct runway.
—Matthias Gafni, SFChronicle.com, 8 Aug. 2019
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
illustrate current usage. 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
1938, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of instrument landing was
in 1938
Dictionary Entries Near instrument landing
Cite this Entry
“Instrument landing.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/instrument%20landing. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share