seat-of-the-pants

From seat + of + the + pants.

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

seat-of-the-pants (not comparable)

1. (chiefly US, idiomatic) Done by feel, guess, or trial and error rather than by careful planning, thought or technique.
   • 1984 January 9, Charles Alexander, Frederick Ungeheuer, “The Billion-Dollar Boys”, in Time:

     The new pension-fund managers are an eclectic group, displaying a spectrum of styles and strategies. Some rely chiefly on computers and charts, while others are more likely to trust their seat-of-the-pants judgment.

• fly by the seat of one's pants