An innovative ATC concept for the future in which pilots could use advanced on-board equipment to determine (and keep to) their own route, speed and altitude. The first trials are now taking place in the United States.
A concept being developed by the FAA and the aviation community in which pilots could ultimately choose their own routes, speeds, and altitudes in flight, thus improving safety, while saving fuel, time, and natural resources
a system using advanced technologies and procedures that give air crews more freedom to select flight paths, speeds, and altitudes that are the most direct or otherwise satisfy operational requirements.
The essence of free flight model aircraft is that the model's flight is not controlled by the flyer once the model has been released. These models must be aerodynamically stable. If their flight is disturbed by a gust of wind or rising air current, they must be able to return automatically to a normal flight path.
Free flight is a developing air traffic control method that uses no centralized control (e.g. air traffic controllers). Instead, parts of airspace are reserved dynamically and automatically in a distributed way using computer communication to ensure the required separation between aircraft. This new system may be implemented into the U.S. air traffic control system in the next decade.