drift indicator

noun

, Aeronautics.

1. an instrument that indicates the amount of drift of an aircraft.

Word History and Origins

Origin of drift indicator¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

This they were able to make up for by means of the drift indicator, which compensated for the drift.

From Project Gutenberg

He had a tachometer, and an altimeter, an earth inductor compass, a drift indicator, and—” Captain Bill interrupted.

From Project Gutenberg

It had a Sperry gyro-pilot, a new type drift indicator, robot navigational control.

From Time Magazine Archive

The truck makes use of the fact that if the drift indicator is set parallel to a course, as in flight, each deviation from that course on a twisting highway will give an effect of drift.

From Time Magazine Archive

Kept on his course by a homing radio compass, another taking bearings from ships at sea, and a new periscopic drift indicator perfected by Lieutenant Thurlow, Flier Hughes let a gyro-pilot do most of the flying, chatted every half hour or so over a powerful radio transmitter to a base at the New York World's Fair that was using a towering trylon of that future exhibition for an antenna.

From Time Magazine Archive