Flying metal planes flying around without personnel (8)
I believe the answer is:
shrapnel
'flying metal' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't see how one could define the other.
'planes flying around without personnel' is the wordplay.
'flying around' is an anagram indicator.
'without' indicates putting letters inside ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'personnel' becomes 'HR' (Human Resources).
'planes' with letters rearranged gives 'sapnel'.
'sapnel' enclosing 'hr' is 'SHRAPNEL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shrapnel that I've seen before include "Flying debris" , "Exploding shell fragments" , "Fall out from bomb" , "Metal bomb fragments" , "Dangerous fragments" .)