Meanings
plural aeroneuroses
- countableuncountableaeronauticsA disorder afflicting pilots and members of aviation crews, characterized by exhaustion, fearfulness, and other symptoms of physical and emotional distress, associated with prolonged flying times and stressful flight conditions.
A pilot who is under par physically soon becomes a prey to aeroneurosis. He will dislike to take the air and may actually fear to leave the ground.
1940 April, Stephen Bates, "Flight Surgeon," Popular Aviation, vol. 26, no. 4, p. 90 (Google preview)2 more examples
By April 1943 the flight surgeons could detect a growing number of aeroneuroses among their aircrews. The strain of constant overwater flying rested particularly heavily upon the navigators, but it was severe for all air personnel.
1983, Wesley Frank Craven, James Lea Cate, editors, The Army Air Forces in World War II, Volume Four, →ISBN, page 274Gotch had described aeroneurosis developing in flying training and considered that it was infectious, commenting that "one pupil who has given up flying [is] followed ... by 2 or 3 more in the same week."
2006, David Gradwell, David J Rainford, editors, Ernsting's Aviation Medicine, 4th edition, →ISBN, page 740
Origin
Cite this entry
aeroneurosis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aeroneurosis
“aeroneurosis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aeroneurosis. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aeroneurosis,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aeroneurosis.
Source: aeroneurosis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.