Plain English Meaning

The things you look at outside the airplane — like where the horizon sits across the windscreen — to tell whether the nose is up or down, the wings are level or banked, and which way you're turning.

Full Definition

External cues outside the airplane — primarily the natural horizon and prominent ground or sky features — that a pilot uses to judge the airplane's pitch attitude, bank angle, and changes in heading during visual flight maneuvers.

Context Anchor

In the Steep Turns chapter, this term appears when discussing how a pilot uses outside sight cues, along with the instruments, to maintain a smooth and controlled turn.