free flight

American  

noun

1. unassisted or unconstrained flight, as the flight of a rocket or missile without guidance or after fuel exhaustion or motor cutoff.

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free flight British  

noun

1. the flight of a rocket, missile, etc, when its engine has ceased to produce thrust

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Etymology

Origin of free flight

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

The airline spokesperson said the flight had been held to allow customers extra time, and it had provided "free flight transfers to those affected".

From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026

JetBlue didn’t appear to respond on a woman’s post claiming it had failed to deliver a promised free flight to Italy after her original booking was canceled, even as comments like “ewwww” accumulated.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

This is the first study relating to the behavior of blood in free flight.

From Science Daily • Mar. 8, 2024

The practice has its critics, who argue that free flight exposes pet birds to dangers including predators, power lines and bad weather.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 16, 2023

Regardless of whether the engineers conducted a test in a wind tunnel or in free flight, the output was the same: torrents, scads, bundles, reams, masses, mounds, jumbles, piles, and goo-gobs of numbers.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly