Test Pilot slang for a crash;
the notion is that
the faster you're going and
the higher you'd been flying and
the sleeker your exotic new test plane is/was,
the more closely the poor thing
emulates a woodworking tool
in boring an expensive hole in the desert.
(The term is described at some length in Tom Wolfe's classic book The Right Stuff,
but my copy isn't handy just now for an exact citation.)