Definition
The earliest stage of a tire skid, in which a wheel has just begun to lose its rolling grip on the runway and is on the verge of locking up under braking, but has not yet fully skidded. At this point, the pilot can still recover full braking effectiveness by easing brake pressure before the tire breaks free into a full skid.
Plain English
The moment when a tire is about to start sliding instead of rolling during braking, but hasn't quite started sliding yet. It's the warning point — back off the brakes a touch and the tire keeps gripping.
Context Anchor
Encountered during landing roll discussions, especially short-field landings where the pilot uses firm braking to stop in the shortest safe distance.
Derivation
Incipient comes from the Latin incipere, meaning 'to begin.' So an incipient skid is a skid that is just beginning — the very first hint of one, before it has fully developed.
Why Pilots Care
Recognizing and correcting an incipient skid early prevents it from developing into a spin, which is critical during low-altitude maneuvers like short-field landings.
Intuition Check
Do not read “skid” here as an airplane sliding sideways through the air in a turn. In this landing context, it means a wheel tire starting to slide on the runway during braking.
Example Sentence 1
On the short-field landing, the pilot applied firm brakes up to the incipient skid condition, then held that pressure to achieve maximum deceleration.
Example Sentence 2
During the short-field approach turn, an incipient skid condition was identified and promptly resolved to maintain coordinated flight.