Rocket Glider & Free Flight Airplanes | Flite Test
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- We love our electronic foamies. But have you ever heard of rubber band balsas?
See our full scale glider adventure: flitetest.com/a...
More rocket fun: flitetest.com/a...
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When I say I loved this episode, it's a total understatement. Freaking awesome . . loved everything about it and it brought back lots of memories . . mind you my rubber powered models were nothing like this at all.
Thanks! :)
My father saw me watching this episode and said the same thing. He used to play with the thin balsa wood planes.
I have a small balsa rubber band fighter sitting on my desk now waiting to be finished, I wanna see the other kind f1d- id like to get into that as well
I totally agree with you
I was thinking of building a balsa wood plane myself. I was wondering what that tissue paper-looking stuff around the frame of the planes was.
You know when I was younger I dismissed free flight as a waste. But now I 've changed my tune.
This episode was stupendous! Loved it! Long live the free flite Goose!!
Bill, thanks so much, and come join in the fun! You can find out more at freeflight.org
Also, the way this gentleman's models fly just illustrates the supreme modeler he is. He is an artist! I bow in honor sir!
Really beautiful planes. So intricate detail and they are so fragile. This guys smile just lets you know how much he loves flight. Brightened my day!! Awesome
One of the best videos I've watched on 2020. Love that rocket launch glider
Orville and Wilbur would be so proud! One of the coolest video so far no doubt.
Next day: I had to watch this again. So cool.
What's popcorn have anything to do with flight?
This is my favorite episode of Flite Test!
Do you have any idea how difficult free flight is?!? Everything on that plane has to be absolutely perfect to fly that well. This guy makes it look so easy, but it's not!! He's a national treasure.
+Scott Wolford I was thinking the same thing, about him, I am sixty years old, and I did not know all of the things that had happened to the hobby besides all the shops closing down, my city sold the only flying field we had, it has been a bummer, but now I am excited again, I want to bring this to all the disadvantaged kids in our city!
Free flight is only difficult because no one does it any more. Back in the forty's and fifty's it was the norm and not that hard to do. My brother and I learned all this stuff back in the 60's as kids building Guillows balsa and tissue models, it was great fun...especially after we discovered Cox baby-bee and Tee-dee glow engines!!! I used to fly those microfilm covered free flights in the Kodak Gymnasium in Rochester NY back in the 80's, they took A LOT of patience to build properly!
I still do it with a group of friends and my physics teacher
What a lovely couple! So ingenious and talented.
my jaw was on the floor when they launched that spruce.. thanks again for this episode
These planes are just beautiful. You can see how delicate they are in how smoothly they fly.
I would like to see a little nitro, scratch-built (or balsa kit) planes. Stuff that predates the ARF-era of RC.
Thanks for the suggestion, such episodes are in the works!
Never thought you would be on here !
Charlie Anderson I enjoy this channel. It's kind of a Mythbusters/Top Gear vibe but without all the fluff to fill a 60 minute slot!
FliteTest ***** I second this, I'd really like to see you guys attempt a scratch build using balsa, it's not as flimsy, or difficult to work with as most people raised on foamies believe.
I really enjoyed building the planes as much as flying them. I love the smell of the castor oil exhaust too...
this man is the bob ross of gliders. he even says "remember every flight is just a test flight"
Just wonderful. Almost in tears here at the beauty of these machines.
Pussy
Art with Kevin hes a pussy your the one with the earbuds in your nose dumbass
When he’s ready to start selling, I’m ready to start buying! What a great design.
That Spruce Goose is amazing
I may be a tough dude but damn it warms my heart how happy these fragile planes make that guy and how proud he is of his creations. What a pro too, all his stuff worked straight out of the box and he had his little tools and gizmos like the styrofoam holder. A craftsman who had put a lot of work into his little babies.
What amazing planes.this guy is a genius.
And a great family... what would I give to have never met my ex-wife.. I would have been happier all that time... ha-ha-ha
"that is exactly right"
Amazing little freeflight planes and the amazing folks who came up with the rocket launches and build these aircraft.
Kudos to them and to you for showing this fantastic almost forgotten hobby of freeflight.
I LOVE THIS! So frikin AWESOME! No control yet they fly beautifully. He is a flying genius. Get this guy on your team PLEASE!!!!
This is the grass roots of our hobby and I must admit I have forgotten about free flight, but it is how most of us started. Very nostalgic and enjoyable to re-visit those memories of balsa building a free flight aircraft. I think I might go to my local hobby store and visit the back shelf thats covered in dust and pick out a "kit"
"wait here, I've got a plane to catch"
Niiiice one
...and call 911 if i haven't come back in 30 minutes ...
Hold my beer! ;D
josh is the most calm badass ever
This guy is as much an engineer as an artist
This is awesome engineering! I'm loving how you're branching out into different types of model flight 😃 👍 (that transparent rubber-band plane at the end was gorgeous!)
Those indoor planes at the end were incredible. I would never have thought something could fly so slowly and so precisely in such a small area.
That is so cool! I really like the Spruce Goose! Even tho it's rubber band powered, that took some real engineering!
Rubber band airplanes was the first thing I started with at around the age of 10 I think. So nice to see this being still going strong out there. Thank you for the review!
Sick and home and watching Flite test
Me too ... cool episode
me too man
Hahah, me too!
true
Me too
Watching the rocketry and free flight planes on this episode was like a trip back to my childhood. Thats how I started. Rubber band powered free flight planes from the supermarket. Larger glider style free flight planes. Rocketry in third grade. To a gas powered ugly stik in 6th grade. This was a great episode honoring the roots that got many of us into RC. Thanks Flitetest!
Amazing , the first plane i ever flew was a rubber powered balsa plane....I than spent months and years building gas powered balsa planes that i never actually flew more than a few seconds, only to watch them shatter. Today's electric technology has allowed this old man to have his childhood dream come true. A couple years ago i had successful flights and few crashes. ( most crashes was experimenting with multiple models ), I have a larger hanger now...To see this Video bought back some memories. Thanks Guys for sharing this video. Those rocket powered ones were neat.
Out standing! He doesn't need to "trust" his models, it is his skill that makes them fly so well. A master. Great clip people.
Still waiting on the Windestal FPV Blimp! Thanks for all the great videos!
Awesome idea traveling around the country and seeing what other mad scientists exit out there.
My first flying model plane was a free flight plane. This video brought back memorys. Thanks you :D
One of the best videos in a long time! The amount of time, ingenuity and engineering put into those is absolutely astounding.
Very good video. I really want that aircraft you showed in the end that can fly slow for a long time. I literally just want it flyin around in my living room.. Could you get some of these in your stock to buy? I really do want it :/
They are going to be expensive since every single one is finely hand crafted and tuned to perfectio.
It would be nice to have a general price for the kit and then a RTF one, even if just a price range, as "expensive" can vary greatly form person to person. ie Chad & JB.
Yes I would love to have it as a kit and hell I would pay 80 dollars or whatever for this if it's really good quality like it seems to be.
James York the closest thing to that right now is the Ikara Butterfly. The ultralights like the ones shown in the video are completely a scratch build affair. Several of us in the indoor community are exploring ways to produce kits, but it is a pretty big undertaking. The models are extremely fragile (the one you saw flying in the video weighs about as much as a paper clip) and in most cases use extremely thin balsa for key components. This thin balsa is currently only available from one individual who lives in the UK, and his operation is 100% custom order. I would direct anyone interested to indoornewsandviews.com and the forum at hippocketaeronautics.com, where you can find out how to build them and where to obtain parts.
Hey an better idea, is to buy some balsa, the thinnest you can find, find a drawing of one, get that film they use, and a rubber band. And build it.
They are all hand-built by humans, and I guess you are a human too. Just an idea, I built a free-flying glider of some scrap balsa I had. Just google a glider drawing on the net and found one. Bad design on that drawing, the wing was not properly placed, CG way of. But that is easy to test while building and adjusting accordingly.
i was absolutely awestruck! I don't know what impressed me the most, The spring loaded wings of the rocket plane or the Spruce Goose. Awesome!!!
Great episode, the new host is doing a good job!
Eric is pretty rad. :D
(At least we think so) -AF
***** I think it would be fun to add a small servo, receiver and a 1S LiPo ala Eflite so that you could steer the glider away from those kite-eating trees.
Classic I’ve watched this 3 x over the years it keeps getting better!
This is a ... engine, just like what you would buy at Walmart"
The most exciting thing I have found at an English supermarket is a tape dispenser :/
that made me laugh to. yeh i'll just pop to waitrose and pick up their biggest rocket motor. potato yes, rocket motors no! lol
+Matthew Miller what about the fireworks?
Yeah, but you need ID for the tape dispensers with the metal cutters.
Supermarkets don't sell fireworks year round.
your walmarts dont have a little model rocket section? They do in canada!
fantastic, my father builds balsa wood planes and I showed this to him, he has never flown any of them and this brought a smile to his face.
Genius, very impressed
Genius indeed. I've never seen anything like those folding wing glider rockets. Porn for free-flight enthusiasts!
Thanks for the post Gary.
Genius! I've got to share this!
Yep, just like porn, you get exited watching the rocket go up, then the "thingy" pops out. lol
What a wonderful video! Great husband and wife team! Love their smiles and their amazing flying machines! Thank you for sharing!
TH-cam Algorithm:
2015: nope
2016: nah
2017: too early
2018: no but soon
2019: *yes why not recommend it!*
name_people This is starting to get overused.
What a wonderful side to the hobby that people may not consider.
I love, love, LOVE that "Flite Test" is not just RC. It's full scale, it's free flight, it's anything airborne.
I love it. Well done!
Very cool!
If you want to look into the free flight stuff, I highly recommend you look into the DC Maxecuters clubin the MD/DC area.
I used to hang out with some of the hobby legends in the 80s like Don Srull, Tom Schmitt, Pat Daily and Dave Rees to name a few and I learned a _lot_ from them. Super nice folks and outstanding human beings.
Sadly the legend that is Dave Rees is not with us anymore.
Glenn, I used to fly with Dave. What an incredible man he was!
All of those guys were and are exceptional people.
If we've lost Dave Rees, that'd be a shame...but he taught many things and I don't doubt it will keep being passed on to the reliable small percentage of young people who find their way to this hobby.
There's never been a better time to be in R/C, and with those numbers soaring I'm sure some will want to make the crossover, likely more than ever before!
Glenn Horowitz Glenn, yeah, Dave passed away a couple years ago. He is missed by a lot of us, but we're carrying on the legacy of his super light scale models. I've never been able to achieve that wandering flight pattern his models had, though. His wife's models flew the same way. It was like they had minds of their own. Don, Tom, and Pat are all still flying very actively though. If I'm not mistaken, Don is still flying that DO-X he built for the nats so long ago. It's since been converted to R/C.
Those were brilliant. I especially liked the Spruce Goose and the fragile indoor plane near the end.
I believe there was a documentary called "Float" that looked at these types of aircraft. Not sure of the status of it though.
www.floatdocumentary.com/
Float is unfortunately rather stalled out at the moment. Ben Saks seems to be busy pursuing other ventures right now. I look forward to it finally being made public, but in the meantime, we've got awesome folks like Flite Test showing the world what it's all about. Hopefully they can get something organized to capture footage of indoor flying at one of the big sites like Lakehurst or West Baden.
I just watched the video. Really interesting stuff that I never knew about before this. Thanks Rickshaw and FT!
Thanks for sharing this episode on free flight and rocket launched gliders. I'm hopked on your inexpensive electric foamies, but the creativity and building skills evident here are awe inspiring. This is great stuff, and I'd love to see more of it.
You guys need to get one of those pop out wing ones and then put micro servos on it and make it controlled
Rocket launched glider, that would be awesome. Instead of DLG, now ok I find DLG fun too. Just need to get one of those also.
What can you say about this video, except WOW !.
A big thank you to the guys who put this video together and to Joshua for sharing his amazing planes with us.
Awesome episode this week..
This brings back great memories of time that I got to spend with my Dad. I can remember getting out the large board, covering it with wax paper and then using sewing pins to place the balsa pieces in place. Then we would open up the light brown colored glue in the foil tube and glue all of the pieces together. It always seemed to clog up and you had to open it up again with a sewing needle. I can still remember the smell of both the glue and the dope that we would put on the tissue paper covering the frames. We would fly the planes with rubber bands that we would wind with a hand drill at our local high school ball field. I also remember a Cox Free Flight helicopter with a 0.020 engine that would free fly up to about 500 feet and then auto rotate back down. I had an electric plane called an 'All Star??' or "SuperStar" that had a gear like drive that would rotate to provide rudder control left and right as it went through its free flight. This was one of my favorite new episodes. Pure joy and ingenuity. Please post pictures of their new baby!
can you shoot those things with a bow?
that is such a good idea!! id love to see that happen!!!
Fyre lol I make a styrofoam glider and I shoot it with dart
Fyre OR SHOT THE PLANE FROM A BOW
I got my start in model planes with a Comet rubber-band, balsa Piper J-3. Spent a lot of time retrieving it from trees. Noticed Mr. Finn has a special stick for getting his models down. Kudos sir...kudos.
Nice...these kinds of rocket gliders are more complcated than the 'pop pod' variety. And you have to be careful with the srength, lest ye exceed what we rocketeers call 'the speed of balsa'.
Bringing back the memories rockets and gliders, rockets and gliders, but mine weren't quit this cool. Wow just fantastic stuff. This is why I watch your channel. Anyone can review the latest offering from DJI but you guys found this.... Outstanding!
What about turbine powered air planes now? :)
That would be really cool!
I think so too!!! :)
agreed! need
Joshua Jerred agree!!!
Turbine powered rc planes already exist.
This and the episode on indoor free flight were brilliant. Thanks guys and thanks to Josh and Hope.
I'd like to see Ornithoptors and/or Gyrocopters ina flite test video :) Please?
Stay tuned. Your wish will soon be fulfilled (at least on the ornithopter part).
joshuawfinn Brilliant! I would like to ask if you/ the team Flite Test would be interested to take a look at a RC Flight Simulator I have created? I'll give a free copy to anyone intersted/willing to review it of course. I'm planning to add Gyrocoptors/Ornithoptors into it :)
I love your channel/videos!
I'd recommend registering on the Flite Test forum (it's free) and putting it out there for the community to have a look at. Unfortunately I have zero experience with R/C flight simulators (limited experience with simulators in general), so I'm probably not the best person for the job.
joshuawfinn Cool thanks for the advice :)
I love seeing the diversity of this hobby. Also, how a simple aircraft can bring so much entertainment value.
I own a full on DJI 450 with naza on it and i love it but, i also own a umx radian and I have just as much fun with it also.
It really comes down to simple things brings more joy.
I actually live about 7 min away from the real sprouce goose at the evergreen aviation museum
lucky you. there is a little BD plane there too. and of course,t he sr-71
the sr-71 blackbird is soo cool
Energy REFLEX What state is that?
oregon
This was a great episode! I've never seen free flight planes before. The way this man engineers is the real breath of fresh air. Can't wait to see what you guys make after all this.
Also, the 30 minute free flight ultralight planes at the end, I cannot wait to see that!
Can we skip the lovey dovey stuff? Otherwise, great content. Would be fun to see more indoor free flight material. Perhaps a build video and showing us where to get the light weight films they use.
The next video will present extensive information on the indoor aspect. You can also find out where to get most of the indoor supplies (and how to use them) in the Indoor Free Flight forums at Hip Pocket Aeronautics.
joshuawfinn After about 20 minutes of searching, I found some information. Is Ultrafilm the most common film used for super light indoor aircraft? At 10:04 in this Flite Test video, they mention a F1D episode they made? I couldn't find it on the Flite Test TH-cam page. Do you know if Flite Test will be putting out another video about this area of the indoor hobby?
Do you have any build videos on your channel talking about F1D? Perhaps for beginners? I'll search your channel tonight :-) Thanks
RoboTekno Super Ultrafilm is the stuff to get for learning. Once you've mastered that, you'll want to get OS film for F1D's: hobbyspecialties.com/index.php?cPath=28
Flite Test has not yet released the video on F1D...expect it in a couple weeks at the latest. I personally have no build tutorials on F1D, but the best tutorial ever made on indoor is here: www.hippocketaeronautics.com/hpa_forum/index.php?topic=4553.0
Tim is a master craftsman and went perhaps a little over the top (he was after all using super ultrafilm, so weight was an issue) for a first build, but it's good information. Also visit indoornewsandviews.com, the ultimate repository of all indoor knowledge.
joshuawfinn Thanks Josh. I think that build thread is just what I was looking for. Thanks for the OS Film tip as well. I'm just looking for a good starting point :-)
This is over 4 years old and I enjoy it every time it pops up .. thanks Flite Test
4:20
- So, who is she?
- This is my wife Hope...
I swear to God I did not pay attention to her and I thought it was his daughter or some 13-year-old niece.
Then I saw her in more detail, and I see that she is much older, lol...
This video brought tears to my eye this is what I love about your videos, there is so much going that is trying to tear down the traditional love of family and marriage and family this young man found his soul mate and they are enjoying life together, I know that he has had his ways since he was growing up but he pursued his passions and found someone who wanted to share them with him and of course his passion is mine too, so that made it so much better, I am into paper airplanes right now but I am trying to gleen as much info from you guys to move to the next step. I remember trying to get into the balsa and tissue paper planes, but I sucked and when I found out about foamies from you and dave I knew it was time. Thank you for all the videos and all the different areas that you have visited in this hobby Please keep up the good work.
Went to Indoor here in South Aus one day, and checked out some of these freeflight birds after I was finished. They are the most fragile things I have ever seen. Awesome engineering... good to watch. :)
I did manage to get my wife to help me tape and glue up a foam wing for slope soaring, I was pretty proud of her. :)
Wow, these aircraft have a definite historical value, lots of ingenuity put into them, and are all works of aviation art!! well done on the Spruce Goose! quite an epic flight! Thank you
I've watched this a dozen times, never gets boring.
One of my favorite FT vids yet. That guy was pretty fun to watch.
Modellbau vom feinsten!!! Kein ready to fly, sondern Eigenbau! Ein echter Modellbauer, der auch gerne experimentiert! Vielen Dank für das großartige Video!!! ;)
Really good taking in other branches of model airplanes. Great to see Josh's techie type rocket planes but his appreciation for classic and vintage...
So much fun guys! I'm also a fan of Josh and Hope. Great people, great model engineering! Thanks 👍.
That Spruce Goose is a thing of beauty. I don't imagine he flies it much, so very skillfully trimmed.
stick model and balsa airplanes is a great way to cure boredom, I tried it years ago but was not really that good at flying gliders but this guy really knows what he is doing. loved the video.
Great episode guys ! Hats off to Joshua what an amazing talent this gentleman has.
love your passion for your hobby, the community that you're building and the quality of your productions. Communication and Education. Keep doing that voodoo that you do!
my great grandpa rode in the spruce goose as an engineer for it's one mile flite, i'm so happy they mentioned it.
I'm a few years late but that guy is a freaking artist, much love and respect to his work.
I normally recoil in horror when people mention free flight, but good to see this coverage of an under reported aspect of the hobby and the ingenuity on show was truly impressive.
That was just unbelievable. The Spruce Goose is off the charts.
That man was amazing with his passion for the hobby! The two videos on this aspect of the hobby were great!!!!!
My father was a lifelong pilot and when I was young, he'd build balsa wood airframes and cover them with tissue. Somme would be hand-launch gliders, some would have rubber bands, just as shown in this video. I remember several with very lightweight landing gear. Thanks for reminding of my fantastic childhood. TH
Very nice episode. It's nice to have some "side trip" videos like this and the winch-glider one to learn about other aspects of flight. Looking forward to the F1D episode.
Good show. Those rocket glider designs are excellent and the spruce goose flight was awesome!
Seeing the planes transform in the air... It's the most amazing thing ever!
There is no other video channel in the world that does it better than you guys. Thank you so much!
Excellent skills . Just to trim to fly so well free flight is a testament to his commitment... Well done that man.
This has to be one of my favorite Flite test videos, I've never seen anything quite like these, Incredible models and a very talented guy. Would love to see some more of his amazing models! :)
Thanks for the video. The rubber powered free flight stuff really takes me back to when I was a kid in the 50's and 60's. I built (what seemed like) a ton of rubber powered FF stuff because it was affordable. Balsa, tissue, and rubber power was the way you got started. Of course, if they had been available, we'd definitely have thrown in a micro receiver and servo to keep things out of the trees!
Flite Test was just on the TV show "Right This Minute" They featured this episode. Way to go guys!
With the scissor wing rocket, the trick is in the balance and trim. I built one in 1970 with plans from Model Rocket News. I was a teenager and not patient enough to do the serious work of trim. This brings back memories. Mine flew not nearly as well.
Enjoying the variety of flying you guys are bringing to the show. Congrats! Another winner!
I literally just started learning about free flight. At least beyond the little store bought balsa kits, which I just bought one of those a couple of days ago for fun. I couldn't picture what was being described with the launches but this video made it all clear. Seriously, awesome job ya'll.
This is so nostalgic for me, I started this hobby with rubber wound planes and chuck gliders too. Great episode!
Wonderful,I almost cried remember my childhood when we flew just free flight plane models with my father,thanks.
This was a great episode guys! Really cool to see something a bit different than usual. The rubber powered spruce goose was a work of art.
Beautiful planes. Congratulations to rhe ideas and the passion
this is so incredibly nerdy, but i really enjoy this kind of stuff. Such simple free flight designs, but they work soo good.
That is incredible, i never thought rubber band planes could be so cool.