Plain English Meaning

You pick a spot on the ground and fly circles around it. Because the wind keeps pushing the airplane sideways, you have to keep changing how steeply you bank so your path over the ground stays a perfect circle, not an oval.

Full Definition

A ground reference maneuver in which the pilot flies two or more complete circles of constant radius around a selected point on the ground, adjusting bank angle continuously to compensate for wind so the flight path traced over the ground remains a true circle.

Context Anchor

Seen in basic flight training when practicing ground-reference maneuvers and learning how wind changes the airplane’s path over the ground.