What are FAI Free Flight Model Airplanes

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Category: About Free Flight
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Free Flight Model Airplane are models that fly by themselves without receiving any control input from the outside once that they have been released.  Some have pre-program functions that might change the operation or setting of the airplane during the different phases of the flight but these actions are pre-dtermined beforethe flight starts.

There are many different kinds of Free Flight airplane ranging from simple gliders made out of a couple of pieces of balsa wood to much bigger models powered by gas or electric motors.  Some are flown indoors and some outdoors, Some are flown just for the joy of flying and other are flown in competition. Some are scale models of real airplanes and other are airplanes in their own right.  Information can be about Free Flight from a number of sources, a good place to start is the NFFS (National Free Flight Society) in the USA. Go to their web site at freeflight.org  There is a wide variety of free flight models to suit your particular circumstances , availability of flying sites, budget, available time, physical fitness, ability to construct and maintain models, etc 

This web site is particularly about Free Flight models flown in International competitions. These are called FAI Free Flight Models.  The FAI is the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, it is the World Airsports Federation that governs all kinds Air Sports, Aerobatics, Ballooning, Parachuting, Hang Gliding, Air Speed Records and model airplane flying. You can read about the FAI on their web site here fai.org. The FAI is associated with the International Olympic Organization.  The FAI is associated with a National Aero Club in most countries. The National Aero Club for the USA is called the NAA. The national organization for model airplane flying in the USA is called the AMA or academy of Model Aeronautics. The AMA's web site is at www.modelaircraft.org. the AMA, like the model airplane organization in most countries is concerned with all aspects of flying model airplanes.  Both the the AMA and the NAA are associated with the FAI.  The people who run this web site are members of the Southern California Aero Team, that is a AMA model airplane club that specializes in FAI Free Flight models.