Definition
The phase of flight in a tiltrotor or powered-lift aircraft in which the wings produce essentially all of the lift, and the rotors or tilting propulsion units act as conventional forward-thrust propellers rather than as lifting rotors. In this mode the aircraft flies and handles like a fixed-wing airplane.
Plain English
The part of a tiltrotor's flight where its wings are doing the lifting and its rotors are just pulling it forward, like a normal airplane.
Context Anchor
Seen in discussions of aircraft that can change between helicopter-like flight and airplane-like flight, especially during the transition to forward flight.
Derivation
Wing-borne' literally means 'carried by the wings.' The phrase distinguishes this mode from 'rotor-borne' flight, where the rotors carry the aircraft like a helicopter.
Why Pilots Care
Efficient long-range flight and fuel economy depend on properly entering and maintaining wing-borne mode after takeoff or hover.
Intuition Check
Wing-borne does not just mean the aircraft has wings. It means the wings are the main thing carrying the aircraft’s weight in flight.
Example Sentence 1
Once the rotors had tilted fully forward and airspeed built up, the tiltrotor settled into wing-borne flight mode for the cruise.
Example Sentence 2
The pilot confirmed wing-borne flight mode before retracting the landing gear.