to fly contact

9.6

To pilot an airplane by looking at places on the ground rather than instruments

phrasal verb

Specialized

: volar a vista

During clear weather, pilots often fly contact along familiar routes to ensure safety.

Examples

He learned to fly contact before being fully trained to fly by instruments.
He practiced how to fly contact by identifying fields and roads below during his lessons.
Because of dense fog, the trainee was not allowed to fly contact and used the instruments instead.
The pilot decided to fly contact during the training session.
Can you fly contact when the instruments fail?
Pilots prefer to fly contact on clear days, using landmarks to navigate.
When visibility is good, many flight instructors teach students to fly contact instead of relying solely on instruments.

Antonyms

instrument flying

Specialized

6.7

To fly a plane using only instruments without seeing the ground or horizon

How Visual

to fly contact

Specialized

9.6

to fly blind

Specialized

7.3

Surface Forms

fly contact infinitive

flying contact present participle

flies contact third person singular

flew contact past

flown contact past participle

Morphology

fly + contact

This is specialized aviation jargon: the noun 'contact' does not retain its ordinary sense of physical touch or communication in this phrase, but refers to a procedural way of flying (using visual references rather than instruments). An average B1 learner who knows 'fly' and 'contact' would not be able to derive this technical meaning from the constituents, so the expression is opaque.

Etymology

Fly contact probably comes from pilots saying they had 'visual contact' with the ground and landmarks. The image is a pilot watching roads, rivers and buildings, so to fly contact means to fly by sight using landmarks rather than by instruments.