Whipstall

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A sudden loss of lift in an aircraft that causes it to drop sharply, sometimes into a spin, when the wing stalls at a steep angle
2. An abrupt aerodynamic stall in which an airplane falls or spins out of control after losing its lift during a steep climb or sharp turn
3. The sudden collapse of lift in a flying aircraft, leading it to plunge or rotate uncontrollably when its wings can no longer support it

Etymology: Whipstall is a compound of "whip" and "stall," and the sense of each part is easy to picture. In aviation, a whipstall is a sudden, violent stall in which an aircraft abruptly flips over or spins, often with little warning, as the wing loses lift at a high angle of attack. The "whip" element describes that snap-like suddenness, while "stall" carries its older sense of a stopping or failing of motion, here the loss of the airflow that keeps the wing lifting. The term belongs to the vocabulary of flight, where "stall" itself was adopted to name the loss of lift, and "whipstall" was formed on that base to single out the abrupt, whip-like variety. Because the compound is built transparently from two ordinary English words, its meaning can be read straight from its parts.