Definition
Instrument flight conducted with one or more of the primary flight instruments inoperative, requiring the pilot to control the aircraft and navigate using only the remaining functional instruments. Most commonly refers to flight without the attitude indicator and/or heading indicator, relying instead on the airspeed indicator, altimeter, vertical speed indicator, turn coordinator, and magnetic compass.
Plain English
Flying in clouds or low visibility when one or more of the main instruments has failed, so the pilot has to fly the airplane using only the instruments that still work.
Context Anchor
Used in instrument training and in real equipment-failure situations, especially when a key instrument stops working in clouds or poor visibility.
Derivation
‘Partial’ from Latin pars (part), and ‘panel’ refers to the instrument panel in the cockpit. So literally: flying with only part of the panel available. The phrase tells you exactly what the situation is — the panel is no longer whole.
Why Pilots Care
Allows continued safe flight and landing when critical attitude or heading information is lost.
Intuition Check
Partial-panel does not mean the flight is only partly on instruments. It means the pilot is still flying by instruments, but only with part of the normal instrument panel available or trustworthy.
Example Sentence 1
During the checkride, the examiner covered the attitude indicator and heading indicator, requiring partial-panel instrument flight for the next approach.
Example Sentence 2
During the checkride the examiner required a partial-panel instrument flight approach.