Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended					12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Apr. 26, 2013 USD ($)	Oct. 25, 2013 USD ($)	Oct. 26, 2012 USD ($)	Oct. 28, 2011 USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Dec. 05, 2013 Subsequent Event USD ($)	Oct. 25, 2013 Foreign Exchange Contract USD ($)	Oct. 26, 2012 Foreign Exchange Contract USD ($)	Oct. 25, 2013 Foreign Exchange Contract Cash Flow Hedging USD ($)	Oct. 26, 2012 Foreign Exchange Contract Cash Flow Hedging USD ($)	Oct. 25, 2013 Minimum	Dec. 05, 2013 Minimum Subsequent Event USD ($)	Oct. 25, 2013 Minimum Building	Oct. 25, 2013 Minimum Machinery and Equipment	Oct. 25, 2013 Maximum	Dec. 05, 2013 Maximum Subsequent Event USD ($)	Oct. 25, 2013 Maximum Building	Oct. 25, 2013 Maximum Machinery and Equipment	Dec. 20, 2013 Sunbank Subsequent Event USD ($)	Oct. 29, 2012 Swap USD ($)	Oct. 29, 2012 Senior Notes Due In 2017	Oct. 25, 2013 Euro Term Loan USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 Euro Term Loan Fair Value Hedging EUR (€)	Oct. 25, 2013 U.S. Government	Oct. 26, 2012 U.S. Government
Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Sales revenue percentage																								6.00%	7.00%
Fair market value of long-term debt and short-term borrowings		$ 711,600,000	$ 882,500,000
Maturities of forecasted transactions using forward exchange contracts		24 months
Derivative notional amount							369,000,000	358,400,000	271,300,000	260,700,000													125,000,000
Fair value of foreign currency forwards contracts, liabilities		2,300,000
Fair value of foreign currency forwards contracts, assets			1,500,000
Gain (loss) of foreign currency translation included in other comprehensive income loss																						17,200,000
Amount of interest rate swap agreement					175,000,000															175,000,000
Senior Notes maturity year																					2017
Fixed interest rate of swap agreement																					6.625%
Proceeds from term loan	175,000,000	175,000,000	30,000,000	400,014,000
Gain on termination of interest rate swap	2,900,000
Accumulated gain (loss) on foreign currency translation adjustment		35,397,000	12,272,000	68,600,000
Gain (loss) on foreign currency transactions		1,700,000	3,500,000	13,800,000
Estimated useful lives of property, plant and equipment													15 years	3 years			30 years	10 years
Depreciation expense		55,400,000	52,400,000	42,500,000
Assets under capital leases		47,100,000	38,800,000
Estimated amortization of intangible assets											2 years				20 years
Liability related to environmental remediation at a previously sold business		2,000,000
Loss from Discontinued Operations Attributable to Esterline, Net of Tax		1,300,000
Anti-dilutive shares excluded from computation of earnings per share		162,100	627,475	331,300
Weighted average number of shares outstanding used to compute basic earnings per share		31,173,000	30,749,000	30,509,000
Weighted average number of shares outstanding used to compute diluted earnings per share		31,738,000	31,282,000	31,154,000
Expected integration cost						40,000,000						25,000,000				30,000,000
Business acquired																			45,000,000
Contingent consideration																			$ 5,000,000
Contingent consideration achievement period of certain sales levels																			2 years