The Flight Attendant feels most at home when going as fast as possible and when laying down turns. Our tester grew up riding fully cambered boards like this one and, had he not recently experimented with other designs, may have “Top Picked” this one. It is a great ride that turns well and can pop over obstacles with relative ease, but it's on the heavier side and is stiff, which can equate to less fun.
Scoring a 9 out of 10 in everything edge related, the Flight Attendant exemplifies classic camber and edge precision. The only board to outdo it in this department, scoring a perfect 10 out of 10, was the Lib Tech Travis Rice Pro, but for different reasons. The Flight Attendant reacts well edge to edge and likes to hold on to those faster turns. The Jones Explorer, our Best Buy winner, scored a 9 out of 10 in this metric, and Jones offers an excellent board for an excellent price.
Scoring second lowest in the float in pow category with a 7 out of 10, this board design helps demonstrate how important hybrid base profiles are for staying on top of the soft stuff. Not nearly as floaty as most, but certainly not the worst. The Never Summer Proto Type Two, Lib Tech Travis Rice Pro, Arbor Wasteland, and Rossignol One LF were all top scorers in this metric.
The cambered base profile, weight, and classic edge style all helped achieve the perfect 10 out of 10 score for Stability at Speed. Whether flat-based, or on edge, this board dominated the field instability. Military tanks are stable partly because they're heavy, correct? They are, but they're also badass for this reason. Just saying: don't write this one off just because of the weight. While the Flight Attendant dominated this metric, other contenders, such as the Top Pick Lib Tech Travis Rice Pro, and Best Buy winner Jones Explorer, put up a great fight.
Not every board can perform extraordinarily well in every single metric. We think the same reasons the Flight Attendant is so good on edge and stable at speed enable it to suffer in the Playfulness metric. Weighty cambered boards are just not as nimble as light rockered ones. However, if your definition of playful is limited to high speed carves, then we might be wrong. Six out of 10, with the Burton Custom Flying V, Capita Defenders of Awesome, Arbor Wasteland, and Never Summer Proto Type Two taking the lead.
Med-Stiff Flex+ Camber = 8 out of 10 in pop. All the boards we tested were close in this category, with an 8 out of 10 being the highest score earned. Great pop allows for more stable air on big jumps, better landings from those airs, and the increased probability that you'll clear that stump that you're heading straight for. You have to have strong legs to snap this one though — it's heavy!
This board is made for cruising groomers and hard-pack, hitting larger jumps, and plowing through crud.
This board offers up an excellent value…if it has the qualities that you're looking for.
An awesome board for very powerful riders that prefer camber over rocker.
