During flight, loin cut in half — piece of meat (8)
I believe the answer is:
escalope
'piece of meat' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'during flight loin cut in half' is the wordplay.
'during' indicates putting letters inside.
'flight' becomes 'escape' (synonyms).
'cut in half' suggests halving the letters.
'loin' with half the letters taken is 'lo'.
'escape' enclosing 'lo' is 'ESCALOPE'.
(Other definitions for escalope that I've seen before include "Thin piece of meat" , "F" , "Thin slice of boneless veal" , "what might feature in the catering" , "food" .)