'Powerless' seems like a misnomer. Can we rename it to 'unpowered'? That is at least a more typical term, although perhaps that's only in the US.
Agreed. It would be good to get international input, as you suggest, but unless it's commonly used elsewhere, unpowered would certainly be preferred. I think glider pilots would take offense to being called powerless.
-
2$\begingroup$ I'd agree -- a search for "unpowered" in the FARs returns multiple matches, while a search for "powerless" comes in empty-handed. $\endgroup$ – Qantas 94 Heavy Dec 19 '13 at 10:12
I started the powerless tag.
I had chosen it because there is plenty of usage of the term.
Upon researching more, I find that the term "unpowered flight" is perhaps the more prevalent term.