High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! In aviation, the word autorotation is applied to operation of fixed-wing aircraft and rotary-wing aircraft. The word has significantly different meanings in each of these two applications. In the operation of fixed-wing aircraft, autorotation is the name given to the manner in which an aircraft in a stall, or approaching the stall, displays a tendency to roll spontaneously to the right or left. A fixed-wing aircraft in a spin rolls continuously to the right or left, displaying the characteristic known as autorotation.