An aerobatic maneuver in which an aircraft climbs in a steep spiral turn while losing air speed, named after the French word for candle.
From French chandelle (candle). Pilots named this aerobatic maneuver after a candle because the plane rises like the flame of a candle climbs upward, creating a similar climbing motion.
The chandelle is one of aviation's most poetic technical terms—early aviators were clearly romantics who saw the grace of a climbing plane and compared it to candlelight, giving us technical vocabulary that's actually beautiful.
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