Definition
A noticeable shaking or vibration of the airplane's structure caused by turbulent, separated airflow striking the wings, tail, or fuselage as the wing approaches its critical angle of attack. It is one of the early aerodynamic warnings that a stall is developing.
Plain English
A shudder you can feel through the whole airplane when the air starts to break away from the wing. It tells you the wing is close to stalling.
Context Anchor
Felt during stall recognition and recovery practice, especially in power-off approach-to-stall training for landing situations.
Derivation
Airframe means the structural body of the airplane (frame of the air-machine). Buffet comes from an old French word meaning to strike or knock repeatedly. Together: the structure being knocked about by disturbed air.
Why Pilots Care
It gives an early tactile warning of an approaching stall, allowing recovery before full loss of lift occurs.
Grounding Statement
As the wing gets close to a stall, the airflow can become uneven and make the airplane tremble through the structure.
Intuition Check
Do not read “buffet” as a meal or as ordinary engine vibration. Here it means shaking caused by disturbed air hitting the airplane.
Example Sentence 1
As the airspeed decayed during the power-off approach to stall, the pilot felt the airframe buffet and immediately reduced the angle of attack.
Example Sentence 2
The pilot used the onset of airframe buffet as the cue to reduce angle of attack and recover.