Aphorisms and Idioms: Flying By The Seat Of Your Pants
F
lying by the seat of your pants means to figure out how to do something while in the midst of that undertaking. By using your own initiative, observations, and intrinsic skills rather than detailed instructions. Here’s a good example of this idiom’s use:
The new employee’s training was abysmal. But they managed to make it through their first week flying by the seat of their pants.
The phrase suggests relying on gut feelings and immediate sensations to navigate the situation at hand. Like many other idioms, “flying by the seat of your pants” has moved beyond its original context. In this case, to any scenario where someone figures out how to complete a task on their own. Whether that project is in business, daily problem-solving, or creative endeavors.
Origin Of The Idiom
Flying By The Seat Of Your Pants
The expression “flying by the seat of your pants” was born of early aviation experiences. From the days when planes had few, if any, reliable instruments. When pilots had to rely on the sensations of position and movement they felt through contact with the plane’s seat.
Until the “slip/skid indicator” was developed near the end of WWI, pilots had no instruments to help them turn efficiently. Their only means of calculating turns was to take note of which direction and to what degree their backsides were sliding in the seats they were piloting.[1] Hence, these pilots were flying “by the seat of their pants.”
This expression was first used in newspaper reports about Douglas Corrigan’s 29 hour flight from the USA to Ireland in 1938. One he made without proper navigation tools. Many US newspapers reported on that flight. Including a piece in The Edwardsville Intelligencer titled “Corrigan Flies By The Seat Of His Pants.”[2]
During WWII, the phrase became popular among military fliers to describe flying when their instruments weren’t working, or weather interfered with visibility. As noted above, it ultimately spread into general use. For anyone making decisions about an undertaking through instinct, observation, and resourcefulness rather than with detailed instructions.[3]
Interesting To Note
As we learned in school, the Wright brothers are credited with inventing, building, and flying the first successful airplane. And as noted above, the idiom “flying by the seat of your pants” emerged from the industry they created.
Interestingly enough, neither Orville nor Wilbur Wright had any prior knowledge about aerodynamics, designing effective controls, or building a reliable engine. Their success was the result of their innate skills and research methods, combined with their personality traits. [4]
In other words, the Wright brothers were doing what we now call “flying by the seat of their pants” when they invented the industry that gave birth to the idiom. So, take heart the next time you have a great idea but aren’t sure you have the know-how to pull it off. And remember how far “flying by the seat of your pants” can take you.
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Endnotes:
[1] The Sydney Morning Herald. March 12, 2005
[2] “Fly by the seat of your pants.” The Phrasefinder.org.UK
[3] “Seat of the pants, by the.” Dictionary.com
[4] Hammes, Leslie. “Inventing Flight: The Wright Brothers and Their Pre-Airplane Innovations.” SwiftRepublic
Researching the Wright Way. National Air and Space Museum.
Images:
Flying By The Seat Of Your Pants: Photo by Morteza Akhnia on Unsplash
Origin Of The Idiom Flying By The Seat Of Your Pants: Photo by Florida Memory on Unsplash
Interesting To Note: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-USZ62-67331)
LC-USZ62-67331)
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