Crossword Genius

50/50 chance: fix sudden descent of aeroplane

Ross

I believe the answer is:

tailspin

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'descent of aeroplane' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'5050 chance fix sudden' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'fix' could be 'pin' (pinning is a kind of fixing) and 'pin' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'tails' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for tailspin that I've seen before include "Alpinist (anag) -- state of panic" , "State of rapidly increasing panic" , "Spiral dive of aircraft in trouble" , "Chaotic situation" , "Spiral aeroplane dive" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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