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If you try to fly the typical outdoor model airplane (rubber-band or electric powered) in your living room or school gymnasium one thing becomes quickly obvious; they fly much too fast and will quickly run out of room to maneuver and soon crash into a wall or ceiling. Outdoor models are built to be relatively sturdy (i.e. heavy) to cope with the stresses imposed on the model by the wind and weather conditions found outdoors. Even a slight breeze imparts considerable force on the the model and the model must have enough mass and sufficient power to counteract it. An outdoor model by necessity needs to fly relatively fast both to lift the heavier load and overcome the force of the wind.
Indoor models however are built to a different set of criteria from the typical outdoor flying model. Flying indoors eliminates the adverse environmental factors encountered outdoors and allows the structure of the model to be built much lighter which inturn allows the model to fly much, much, slower. So slow in fact that for some of the lightest models (which weigh as little as half the weight of a one-dollar bill) they seem to almost hover motionless in mid-air and gives indoor models a special character and magic.
If you have never seen an indoor model airplane in flight check out some of the videos listed on the Links Page.
Freeflight models can be built to almost any size or shape but most are built to satisfy a particular set of class rules or specifications as set by the two primary model airplane regulatory bodies; the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) or the Federation Aeronautique International (FAI). Building to a particular class allows one to enter competitions flying against similar models where in most cases the primary criteria is to maximize the flying time of the model.
The many types and classes of indoor models are too numerous to catalog here in detail but some of the more popular classes of models that are built and flown by the groups in Colorado are described and illustrated on the following pages. | 
