trap
n.— «The Greyhound, which looks as if it sprang from the womb of Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, is 50,000 pounds of flying metal that must set itself down on the pitching deck of a ship at 120 knots and come to a complete stop in two seconds and 200 or so feet. Our pilot made the “trap” on the first try. But tonight Adm. Gortney will watch from his seat on the bridge as freshly minted pilots (“nuggets,” in Navy parlance) miss their traps and “bolter” off the deck to try again.» —“Naval Gazing: A Top Gun Fantasy Comes True” by Bret Stephens Wall Street Journal July 13, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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