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

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

It is not unheard of for Australian politicians to get free flight upgrades though they are required to declare such gifts, according to Reuters.

From BBC • Oct. 29, 2024

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

The laboratory also possessed the best flight research engineers, who worked closely with test pilots, sometimes as passengers in the vehicle itself, to capture data from planes in free flight.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly