| UNDERSHOT | Was inadequate as an air gunner and fell short as a pilot (9) |
| INSURGENT | Sit restlessly with gunner and guerrilla (9) |
| RAREEARTH | Gunner and engineer go to ground for elements found together (4,5) |
| AGO | In the past, when an air gunner needed a bit of oxygen (3) |
| FEEBLER | More inadequate, as an excuse |
| LAME | Inadequate, as an excuse |
| FEEBLE | Inadequate, as an excuse |
| NAVIGATOR | Voting for a painter, in short, when about to act as a pilot (9) |
| DEADHEADS | Flies to work, as a pilot |
| CAMECLOSE | Narrowly fell short of one's objective (4,5) |
| ONECOURSE | Short, as a meal |
| ALLCLEAR | A signal that a danger or difficulty, such as an air-raid or illness, is over; or, permission to proceed (3-5) |
| SCRAMBLEDSIGNALS | The chef took a job as an air traffic controller, but he... |
| SETAT | Programmed to stay on (a certain temperature), as an air conditioner (2 wds.) |
| OPPO | Working with a pilot, in short, as a teammate (4) |
| LAND | To guide a plane safely to the ground, as a pilot does at the end of the flight (or a plot of property) |
| SULLY | Biopic starring Tom Hanks as a pilot who lands a damaged plane on the Hudson river |
| TAXI | Do a bit of groundwork as a pilot (4) |
| SIREN | Word, derived from the mythological bird-women whose singing lured sailors to their doom on rocks, for a warning device such as an air-raid alarm, foghorn or tocsin (5) |
| JOYSTICK | Girl's given credit as an air-traffic controller (8) |
