Plain English Meaning

The aircraft is being pushed sideways through the air with the wings held flat, instead of in a normal banked turn. It is a wings-level slide that can fool the pilot's sense of balance into thinking the aircraft is turning the wrong way.

Full Definition

A level skid is a flight condition in which the aircraft is yawed about its vertical axis while the wings are kept level, producing sideways motion through the air without a corresponding bank. Because the wings are level, the pilot may not sense that the aircraft is turning, and the inner ear can falsely interpret the yaw as a turn in the opposite direction once the skid stops.

Context Anchor

Seen in instrument flying discussions of body-sense illusions, where a may tilted or pulled even though the is maintaining .