A fast descent followed, before the final 2km 1 were flat.

The bike was comfortable on the long climbs and supremely stable on the fast descents.

The engine's liquid-cooling allows fast descents while towing, without subjecting the engine cylinders to shock-cooling.

A gradual descent can reduce noise by five decibels compared with a stepped landing, because a constant angle of descent needs less engine thrust and keeps aircraft higher for longer.

This will be a slow and gradual descent rather than a singular cataclysm, like the crash of 2008.

That should happen next year, particularly if the dollar continues its gradual descent.

Mercifully, too, it had been, until the last six months, a mostly gradual descent down the intelligence quotient with only the occasional dizzy-making scurry.

The line started its gradual descent as it left the tunnel, generally following the existing ground level and crossing streets at grade.

Then followed a period of frantic dancing, more chatting, more beaming at strangers before, at the 45-minute mark, a rapid descent to earth.

As intelligence indicated that both bridges had been prepared for demolition, a rapid descent from 6,000 feet was chosen, to avoid the gliders' approach at a lower altitude being detected.

The rapid descent of the chancellor's political stock lately appears to have taught him the importance of masking his disdain.

The pilot then reportedly initiated a rapid descent aimed at putting out a fire on board and clearing smoke.

The plane landed with no incident and only one minor injury was recorded in someone's inner ear due to the rapid descent.

But this policy seems more like a slow descent into mediocrity.

She was married twice more and described her life as a 'slow descent into respectability'.

In the end they decided they were more friends than a couple and that they didn't want a slow descent into unhappiness and resentment.

The slow descent, as airline pilots say, has begun.

Videos taken from the ground show it beginning a slow descent before another explosion sent it tumbling to the ground in flames.

There were reports that the brakes had failed as the coach rounded the bend on the steep descent.

This involved a two-hour trek over the glacier and then a steep descent to the tunnel entrance.

On the steep descent later that morning, there was much talk about everyone's experiences at altitude.

Most violations surrounded keeping a steady and steep descent to cut noise, with nine missing targets.

You'll need a 4x4 to drive down to the valley floor - it's a terrifyingly steep descent.