How to Use preflight in a Sentence

preflight

1 of 2 adjective
  • The spaceship was set to roll out overnight for fueling and preflight checks.
    — Washington Post, 11 July 2021
  • Arvin didn’t mention that his daughter and son-in-law were on board during his preflight remarks.
    — Francesca Street, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
  • During preflight checks, the gondola, which was tied to a five-ton truck, thrashed about, tossing the pilots around.
    — Ben Taub, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2022
  • Meanwhile, Penn wakes up four hours preflight, works out, does laundry, gets gas (and gas station hot dogs) and boards last.
    — The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026
  • After some preflight checks— including a wiggle of its rotor blades—the flight tests must begin.
    — Jamie Carter, Forbes, 5 Apr. 2021
  • The airline sends out preflight emails about its unique boarding procedures, which passengers may or may not read.
    — Dawn Gilbertson, WSJ, 1 Mar. 2023
  • Only a few airlines offer preflight testing for the virus — mostly on select routes.
    — Ian Duncan Washington Post, Star Tribune, 31 Oct. 2020
  • The winner of the auction—like Bezos—will have three-days of preflight training before the launch.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 11 June 2021
  • About midnight, Tibbets ran the final preflight briefing.
    — David Perlmutt, Charlotte Observer, 6 Aug. 2025
  • The format means there's plenty of waiting around, which provides the chance for a preflight briefing once the Valkyrie is in the line for the start.
    — Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 21 July 2021
  • If Hawaii’s reopening goes well, the belief is that preflight testing could become widespread.
    — Tariro Mzezewa, New York Times, 6 Nov. 2020
  • Then comes another series of preflight checks to test the rotor blades, motors, onboard computers and more.
    — Catherine Thorbecke, ABC News, 5 Apr. 2021
  • The vehicle, which has already undergone preflight ground testing, is poised to take off as soon as Monday.
    — Jackie Wattles, CNN, 14 Apr. 2023
  • More than half a century ago, a fire during a preflight test took the lives of three astronauts, forever impacting the the world of space.
    — Tori B. Powell, CBS News, 4 June 2022
  • Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded on that launch pad during a preflight test last month.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 19 June 2026
  • Last week, officials from NASA said a preflight review of the launch had gone off smoothly.
    — Doug Cameron, WSJ, 4 Aug. 2021
  • After a preflight briefing next to the four aircraft sitting on the tarmac, the four pilots climbed into their machines and started the engines.
    — Dale Ellis, Arkansas Online, 10 Oct. 2020
  • After the preflight celebration finished, the 10 passengers made their way to the plane.
    — Washington Post, 25 July 2021
  • The travel industry has seized on preflight testing as a strategy for reopening borders.
    — Author: Lori Aratani, Anchorage Daily News, 28 Feb. 2021
  • In a preflight briefing, Proctor spoke about her excitement and anticipation ahead of the launch.
    — NBC News, 15 Sep. 2021
  • The move mirrors what is already being done in countries around the world where preflight testing is seen as a way to reopen for business while helping control the spread of the virus.
    — Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2020
  • Their preflight notions were replaced by the reality of their experience.
    — Stephen Clark, ArsTechnica, 14 Apr. 2026
  • In June, a preflight engine test resulted in a rocket exploding on the launch pad, sending up a dramatic fireball.
    — Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR, 24 Aug. 2025
  • Nicole Kohanski, a dog behaviorist and trainer, shared her top preflight tips for pet owners with Newsweek.
    — Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Her days are filled with endless studying, preflight meetings, flying, post-flight debriefings, and meeting with engineers.
    — Dennis Hohenberger, Courant Community, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Silva jumped right into the preflight inspection, calculating the fuel levels with a dipstick.
    — Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, 2 June 2022
  • The preflight announcements repeatedly inform everyone on the plane that removing your mask in this way could result in a lifetime ban from the airline.
    — Peter Suciu, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2021
  • Now, those who have previously indulged in the delicacy of a preflight recharge will fall short of Delta’s new standards, and must find a new safe space prior to takeoff.
    — Jessica Chapel, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Sep. 2023
  • OceanGate has partnered with several space-tourism organizations to provide preflight training to the starstruck among us.
    — Alexandra Gillespie, Outside Online, 2 Nov. 2022
  • As Pine goes through his preflight inspection, McKinney and I regard each other for a moment.
    — Josh Condon, Robb Report, 6 Aug. 2022

preflight

2 of 2 noun
  • This should ease the transition from preflight to flight for both the hardware and software.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 19 Apr. 2021
  • And the insurance payout will fall on the roughly two dozen preflight insurers.
    — Steve Lohr, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2016
  • If and when Google is confident there won't be mass disruptions, preflight requests will have to be granted to go through.
    — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 13 Jan. 2022
  • This early end of the test happened when the helicopter was trying to shift the flight computer from preflight into flight mode.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 19 Apr. 2021
  • Experts believe the repairs to the suit were made preflight, leaving them susceptible to lunar dust.
    — Morgan Hines, USA TODAY, 16 July 2019
  • Airlines have tried different ways to get passengers to listen to preflight announcements.
    — Doug Cameron, WSJ, 19 Apr. 2018
  • An airplane fueler watched Lanzendorfer do preflight checks earlier in the day.
    — Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, 25 Aug. 2021
  • No matter the situation, preflight grab-and-go Hudson News is the old reliable.
    — Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 June 2024
  • About 93 percent of the changes reverted to preflight levels within six months of Scott's return to Earth.
    — Sarah Kaplan, chicagotribune.com, 16 Mar. 2018
  • The new second stage has already completed the same preflight inspections with all hardware behaving as expected.
    — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 28 Feb. 2020
  • Consortium members hope preflight tests and checks can cut the risk of spreading the virus across borders and revive international travel demand.
    — Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times, 25 Nov. 2020
  • Passengers will be tested before a preflight period of quarantine.
    — The Economist, 28 May 2020
  • The change related to only 7 percent of the gene expression that changed during spaceflight that had not returned to preflight after six months on Earth.
    — Daniel Victor, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Mar. 2018
  • Locking all systems in Sport but leaving stability control on for the time being completed the initial preflight check.
    — Georg Kacher, Car and Driver, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Apparently this passenger did not pay attention to the preflight instructions or really didn’t care.
    — Yesha Callahan, The Root, 31 May 2018
  • After nearly a decade of development, the Falcon Heavy has finally reached the launch pad and undergone all of its preflight tests.
    — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 6 Feb. 2018
  • The company provides a preflight safety briefing in Anchorage.
    — Mike Campbell, Anchorage Daily News, 28 May 2020
  • Rita Wilson and Natasha Mortensen are at every preflight briefing, with the next day’s flight plans loaded on iPads, asking as many questions as the pilots.
    — Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 3 Aug. 2025
  • All the late-night studying, freezing-cold preflights, frustrating mechanical issues, and irritating schedule conflicts had not beaten me.
    — Sarah Schutte, National Review, 25 Jan. 2024
  • Hardly anyone pays attention to the preflight briefing, which contains important safety information.
    — Author: Christopher Elliott, Anchorage Daily News, 17 Sep. 2019
  • Don’t Overdo the Booze While a preflight or in-flight cocktail might sound like a good idea to calm jangled nerves, both experts caution against overusing alcohol to manage anxiety in the air.
    — Jill Robbins, Travel + Leisure, 5 June 2026
  • Meanwhile, the preflight weighing of passengers was carried out by Uzbekistan Airways in 2015 as part of the airline’s safety measures.
    — Chloe Taylor, Fortune, 31 May 2023
  • By comparing and contrasting the preflight and postflight scans, the researchers found statistically significant changes in several key organs and structures.
    — Doug Adler, Discover Magazine, 14 Apr. 2020
  • Comparison between preflight and postflight MRI scans revealed small but significant changes occur in the brains of astronauts during long-term spaceflights.
    — Doug Adler, Discover Magazine, 14 Apr. 2020
  • Students must complete multiple phases of flight training in order to graduate, including aviation preflight indoctrination, primary flight training, and advanced flight training.
    — Lt. Paula Knight, Houston Chronicle, 13 June 2019
  • Flight attendants began helping passengers use masks as they were instructed in a preflight safety briefing, after donning their own portable breathing apparatuses, said passenger Kristopher Johnson.
    — Doug Cameron, WSJ, 19 Apr. 2018
  • Buzz60 United Airlines has tightened its preflight alcohol-use policy for pilots a week after two of its pilots were arrested in Scotland on suspicion of intoxication before a flight to Newark.
    — Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY, 13 Aug. 2019
  • Pick one workflow—triage summarization, change-risk preflight or a single remediation runbook—and define pass/fail metrics (time-to-diagnosis, MTTR, rollback success rate, acceptance rate).
    — Madhura Maskasky, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'preflight.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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