Plain English Meaning

You fly two circles that join in the middle, like a figure 8 lying sideways next to a road. One circle sits on one side of the road, the other on the opposite side, and you cross the road each time you switch loops. The wind keeps trying to push you off shape, so you keep adjusting bank and heading to make both loops look the same from above.

Full Definition

A ground reference maneuver in which the pilot flies a series of figure-eight patterns on alternating sides of a straight road or other linear feature on the ground. The center of each loop is positioned to one side of the road, and the road itself acts as the reference line that the airplane crosses at the midpoint of each eight. The pilot must vary bank angle and crab into the wind continuously so that each loop has the same shape and size despite a wind blowing across the road.