free flightn.
/ˌfriː ˈflʌɪt/, U.S. /ˌfri ˈflaɪt/ 1. The unrestrained flight of a balloon, glider, etc., that is not moored or being towed.
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society > travel > air or space travel > specific movements or positions of aircraft > aerodynamic forces and concepts > [noun] > free fall
free fall1851
free flight1891
1891 Science 7 Aug. 78/2 The work necessary..may be produced by motors so light as those that have actually been constructed, provided that care is taken to conveniently direct the apparatus in free flight.
1922 Flight 14 147/2 It is probable that the resistance of the supports in free flight can be cut down to one-half the minimum drag of the wing.
1989 M. Owen Hang Gliding 7 A fascinating world of weightlessness—the world of free flight where the experienced pilot can stay airborne for hour after hour.
1998 Time 19 Jan. 12/3 On Nov. 21 [1783], Jean François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes drift over Paris in a Montgolfier, achieving the first manned free flight.
2. Aeronautics and Astronautics. The unpowered flight of an aircraft, missile, or spacecraft, when it is in free fall; an instance of this.
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society > travel > air or space travel > [noun] > a flight through air or space > other types of flight
night flight1830
solo1911
mercy flight1933
cross-country1948
general aviation1952
free flight1954
GA1974
instrument flight1988
1954 N.Y. Times Mag. 29 Aug. 49/1 The Honest John free-flight artillery rocket is this [sc. pre-set] type of missile.
1970 R. Turnill Lang. of Space 48 An Apollo spacecraft is also in ‘free flight’ all the way to the moon and back once it has been injected into the required trajectory.
1995 Vietnam News Sept. 7/1 A satellite..will aim special telescopes at the sun during a 48-hour free flight.
2005 C. Stross Accelerando v. 195 We've got enough gravity wells to play pinball with. I don't want us on a free-flight trajectory that entails lithobraking if we lose power.
Compounds
Aeronautics. attributive. Designating a wind tunnel in which the model is not mounted but supported by aerodynamic forces like an aircraft in flight.
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1937 Science 31 Dec. (Suppl.) 11/1 The world's first ‘free-flight’ wind tunnel for aeronautic research was completed.
1950 Jrnl. Appl. Physics 21 1150/1 Two wind tunnels recently completed at the Ames Laboratory—the 10- by 14-in. supersonic wind tunnel and the supersonic free-flight wind tunnel.
2006 24th AIAA Appl. Aerodynam. Conf. Techn. Papers 1227 Tumbling has been demonstrated in free-flight wind tunnel experiments.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1891