Definition
Flight conducted without the assistance of automatic stability or control augmentation systems. The pilot manually controls the aircraft using only the basic, unassisted aerodynamic responses of the airframe and flight controls.
Plain English
Flying the aircraft by hand, without help from any automatic systems that would normally smooth out or correct its behavior.
Context Anchor
Seen in discussions of aircraft handling, flight control systems, stability systems, flight testing, and procedures for system failures.
Derivation
From the Latin augmentare, meaning 'to increase' or 'to add to.' An augmentation system adds to the pilot's inputs to improve handling. 'Unaugmented' simply means that addition is not present — the aircraft is being flown without that extra help.
Why Pilots Care
Many modern aircraft are designed assuming augmentation is active. When those systems fail or are disabled, the aircraft can feel noticeably different — sometimes harder to control — and the pilot must be prepared to handle it in its raw, unassisted state.
Intuition Check
Unaugmented does not mean unsafe, and it does not necessarily mean unpowered. It means the extra assisting or enhancing system is not being used.
Example Sentence 1
After the stability augmentation system failed, the crew completed the approach in unaugmented flight, hand-flying the aircraft to landing.
Example Sentence 2
In unaugmented flight the airplane required continuous small corrections to maintain altitude and heading.