Plain English Meaning

Side-to-side, up-and-down, or rocking motions that repeat after the aircraft is bumped out of steady flight. Each swing past the original position is one oscillation.

Full Definition

Repeated back-and-forth movements of an aircraft about one of its axes after a disturbance from steady flight. In dynamic stability, oscillations describe how the aircraft's motion behaves over time as it responds to a disturbance — they may decrease in size (damped), stay the same (neutral), or grow larger (divergent).

Context Anchor

Seen in aircraft stability discussions, especially when describing how an airplane responds after a gust, control input, or other disturbance.