Flight altitude record

These are the records set for going the highest in the atmosphere from the age of ballooning onward. Some records are certified by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

Fixed-wing aircraft

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Year	Date	Altitude		Person	Aircraft	Power	Notes
		imperial	metric
1903	December 17	10 ft	3 m	Wilbur Wright, Orville Wright	Wright Flyer	propeller	Photographed and witnessed unofficially.
1906	October 23	10 ft	3 m	Alberto Santos-Dumont	14-bis	propeller	First officially witnessed and certified flight.
1906	November 12	13 ft	4 m	Alberto Santos-Dumont	14-bis	propeller
1908	December 18	360 ft	110 m	Wilbur Wright	Biplane	propeller	at Auovors
1909	July	492 ft	150 m	Louis Paulhan	Farman	propeller	Douai Air Show
1909		3,018 ft	920 m	Louis Paulhan	Farman	propeller	Lyon
1910	January 9	4,164 ft	1,269 m	Louis Paulhan	Farman	propeller	Los Angeles air meet
1910	June 17	4,603 ft	1,403 m	Walter Brookins	Wright biplane	propeller
1910	October 30	8,471 ft	2,582 m	Ralph Johnstone	Wright biplane	propeller	International Aviation Tournament was at the Belmont Park race track in Elmont, New York
1915	January 5	11,950 ft	3,640 m	Joseph Eugene Carberry	?	propeller
1920	February 27	33,113 ft	10,093 m	Major Rudolf Schroeder	LUSAC-11	propeller
1921	September 18	34,508 ft	10,518 m	Lieutenant John Arthur Macready	LUSAC-11	propeller
1930	June 4	43,168 ft	13,158 m	Lieutenant Apollo Soucek, USN	Wright Apache	propeller
1932	September 16	43,976 ft	13,404 m	Cyril Unwins	Vickers Vespa	propeller
1933	September 28	44,819 ft	13,661 m	Gustave Lemoine	Potez 50	propeller
1934	April 11	47,354 ft	14,433 m	Renato Donati	Caproni Ca.113	propeller
1936	September 28	49,967 ft	15,230 m	Squadron Leader Francis Ronald Swain	Bristol Type 138	propeller
1938	June 30	53,937 ft	16,440 m	M. J. Adam	Bristol Type 138	propeller
1938	October 22	56,850 ft	17,330 m	Lieutenant Colonel Mario Pezzi	Caproni Ca.161	manned propeller record to date
1953	May 4	63,668 ft	19,406 m	Walter Frame Gibb	English Electric Canberra B.2	Turbojet	fitted with two Rolls-Royce Olympus engines.
1953	Dec 12	74,200 ft	22,600 m	Charles Elwood "Chuck" Yeager	Bell X-1A	Payload Deployed Rocket Plane	Powered by the XLR-11 liquid fuel rocket engine.
1955	August 29	65,876 ft	20,079 m	Walter Frame Gibb	English Electric Canberra B.2	Turbojet	Olympus powered.
1957	August 28	70,310 ft	21,430 m	Mike Randrup	English Electric Canberra B.2	Turbojet/rocket	with Scorpion Rocket Motor
1959	December 6	98,557 ft	30,040 m	Commander Lawrence E. Flint Jr	McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II	Turbojet
1962	July 17	59.6 mi	95.9 km	Robert Michael White	X-15	rocket
1963	July 19	65.8 mi	105.9 km	Joseph Albert Walker	X-15	rocket
1963	August 22	66.9 mi	107.7 km	Joseph Albert Walker	X-15	rocket
1973	July 25	108,720 ft	33.14 km	A. Fedotov	Russian Ye-155	Jet plane record	Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type
1977	August 31	123,520 ft	37.65 km	A. Fedotov	Russian Ye-155	Jet plane record	Under Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) classification the Ye-155 type
2001	August 14	96,863 ft	29.524 km	Unmanned	NASA Helios HP01	propeller	solar-electric aircraft — record for non-rocket plane
2004	October 4	69.6 mi	112.0 km	Brian Binnie	SpaceShipOne	rocket plane

Piston-driven propeller aeroplane

The highest altitude obtained by a piston-driven propeller UAV (without payload) is 67,028 ft. It was obtained in 1988-1989 by the Boeing Condor UAV.

The highest altitude obtained in a piston-driven propeller aeroplane (without a payload) was 17,083 m (56,047 ft) on October 22, 1938 by Mario Pezzi at Montecelio, Italy in a Caproni Ca.161 driven by a Piaggio XI R.C. engine.^{[citation needed]}

The highest altitude for horizontal flight without a payload is 14,301 m (46,919 ft) set on November 15, 2003 by Bruce Bohannan flying his Bohannon B-1 driven by a Mattituck/Lycoming IO-540 (350 hp) engine over Angleton, Texas.^{[citation needed]}

Jet plane

The highest current world absolute general aviation altitude record -General Aviation World Records- achieved by a manned air-breathing jet propelled aircraft is 37,650 meters (123,523 feet) set by Alexandr Fedotov, in a Mikoyan Gurevitch E-266M (MiG-25M), on 31 August 1977.

Rocket plane

The highest altitude obtained by a manned aeroplane (launched from another aircraft) is 111,996 m (367,441 ft) by Brian Binnie in the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne (powered by a Scaled Composite SD-010 engine with 18,000 lb of thrust) on 4 October 2004 at Mojave, CA. The previous (unofficial) record was 107,960 m (354,199 ft) set by Joseph A. Walker in an X-15 on August 22, 1963.

The highest altitude obtained by a rocket propelled aeroplane (self-launched—i.e. not launched from another aircraft) was 24,217 m (79,452 ft) on May 2, 1958 by Roger Carpentier over Istres, France in a Sud-Ouest Trident II aircraft.

Rotorcraft

On June 21, 1972, Jean Boulet of France piloted an Aérospatiale Lama helicopter to an absolute altitude record of 12,442 meters (40,814 ft). At the extreme altitude the engine flamed out and the helicopter had to be (safely) landed via another record breaker — the longest-ever autorotation in history. The helicopter had been stripped of all unnecessary equipment prior to the flight to minimize its weight and the pilot was breathing supplemental oxygen.

All balloons

(see discussion page for correct altitude values)

• 1783—August—24 m (79 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier of France, made the first ascent in a hot-air balloon.
• 1783—1 December 1783—2.7 km (8,900 ft); Jacques Alexandre Charles and his assistant Marie-Noel Robert, both of France, made the first flight in a hydrogen balloon to about 610 m. Charles then ascended alone to the record altitude.
• 1784—4 km (13,000 ft) Pilâtre de Rozier and the chemist Joseph Proust in a Montgolfier.
• 1803—18 July 1803—7.28 km (23,900 ft) Etienne Gaspar Robertson and Lhoest in a balloon.
• 1839—7.9 km (26,000 ft) Charles Green and Spencer Rush in a free balloon.
• 1862—5 September 1862—11.887 km (39,000 ft)—Coxwell and Glaisher in a balloon. Both lost consciousness during the ascent due to the low air pressure and cold temperature of −11 °C (12 °F).
• 1927—4 November 1927—13.222 km (43,380 ft)—Captain Hawthorne C. Gray of the (United States Army Air Corps) in a helium balloon. Gray dies when he exhausts his oxygen.
• 1931—27 May 1931—15.787 km (51,790 ft)—Auguste Piccard & Paul Kipfer in a hydrogen balloon.
• 1932—16.2 km (53,000 ft)—Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns in a hydrogen balloon.
• 1933 30 September—18.501 km (60,700 ft) USSR balloon USSR-1.
• 1933—20 November—18.592 km (61,000 ft) Lt. Comdr. Thomas G. W. Settle (USN) and Maj Chester L. Fordney (USMC) in Century of Progress balloon
• 1934—30 January—21.946 km (72,000 ft) USSR balloon Osoaviakhim-1. Pilots killed in crash.
• 1935—10 November—22.066 km (72,400 ft) Captain O. A. Anderson and Captain A. W. Stevens (United States Army Air Corps) ascended in the Explorer II gondola from the Stratobowl, near Rapid City, South Dakota, for a flight that last 8 hours 13 minutes and covered 362 kilometres (225 mi).
• 1956—8 November—23.165 km (76,000 ft) Malcolm D. Ross and M. L. Lewis (United States Navy) in ONR Strato-Lab I, using a pressurized gondola and plastic balloon developed by Winzen Research, taking off near Rapid City, South Dakota, and landing 282 km (175 mi) away near Kennedy, Nebraska.
• 1957—2 June—29.4997 km (96,784 ft) Captain Joseph W. Kittinger (United States Air Force) ascended in the Manhigh 1 gondola to a record-breaking altitude.
• 1957—19 November—31.212 km (102,400 ft) above sea level, Major David Simons (United States Air Force) ascended from the Portsmouth Mine near Crosby, Minnesota in the Manhigh 2 gondola for a 32-hour record-breaking flight. Simons landed at 5:32 PM on 20 November, in an alfalfa field in northeast South Dakota.
• 1960—16 August—Joseph Kittinger parachutes from Excelsior III over New Mexico at 102,800 ft (31,300 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2010) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (26 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 614 miles per hour (988 km/h).
• 1961—4 May—34.668 km (113,740 ft); Commander Malcolm D. Ross and Lieutenant Commander Victor A. Prather, Jr. (US Navy) in Strato-Lab V, using an unpressurized gondola and balloon developed by Winzen Research. After descending, the gondola containing the two balloonists landed in the Gulf of Mexico. A hovering helicopter lowered a rescue hook, and although Ross slipped partially out of it, he was able to recover before falling completely into the water. A few minutes later Prather slipped off the rescue hook into the ocean and drowned in spite of heroic efforts by Navy divers to rescue him.

Hot air balloons

Year	Date	Altitude		Person	Aircraft	Notes
		imperial	metric
2004	December 13, 2004	4.1 mi (22,000 ft)	6.614 km (6,614 m)	David Hempleman-Adams	Boland Rover A-2	Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record for hot air balloon as of 2007
1783	15 October 1783	0.016 mi (84 ft)	0.026 km (26 m)	Pilâtre de Rozier	Montgolfier	tethered balloon

On November 26, 2005, Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,290 m (69,850 ft). He took off from downtown Bombay, India and landed 240 km (150 mi) south in Panchale. The previous record of 19,811 m (64,997 ft) had been set by Per Lindstrand on June 6, 1988 in Plano, Texas.^{[citation needed]}

Unmanned gas balloon

In 1893 French scientist Jules Richard constructed sounding balloons. These unmanned balloons, carrying light, but very precise instruments, approached an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).

The U.S. (and for a while, the world) altitude record for unmanned balloons was 51.8 km (170,000 ft) (according to a 1991 edition of Guinness Book of World Records). The vehicle was a Winzen-Balloon with a volume of 1.35 million cubic metres, which was launched in October 1972 in Chico, California, USA.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002 an ultra-thin-film balloon named BU60-1 made of polyethylene film 3.4 µm thick with a volume of 60,000 m³ was launched from Sanriku Balloon Center at 6:35 on May 23, 2002. The balloon ascended at a speed of 260 m per minute and successfully reached the altitude of 53.0 km (173,900 ft), breaking the previous world world record set in 1972.

Gliders

The highest altitude obtained in an unpowered aircraft is 50,671 ft (15,445 m) on 30 August 2006 by Steve Fossett (pilot) and Einar Enevoldson (co-pilot) in their high performance research glider, a modified DG-500, breaking the previous record by 1,662 ft (507 m). This record was set as part of the Perlan Project. The previous record was 49,009 ft (14,938 m) on February 17, 1986 by Robert Harris in lee waves over California City, USA.

See also

• High-altitude airship
• High altitude balloon
• Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

Bibliography

• Andrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London:Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.
• Angelucci, Enzo and Peter M. Bowers. The American Fighter. Sparkford, UK:Haynes Publishing Group, 1987. ISBN 0-85429-635-2.
• "Eighteen Years of World's Records". Flight, 7 February 1924, pp. 73–75.
• Lewis, Peter. British Racing and Record-Breaking Aircraft. London:Putnam, 1971. ISBN 0-370-00067-6.
• Owers, Colin. "Stop-Gap Fighter:The LUSAC Series". Air Enthusiast, Fifty, May to July 1993. Stamford, UK:Key Publishing. ISSN 0143-5450. pp. 49–51.
• Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965-66. London:Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1965.
• "The Royal Aero Club of the U.K.: Official Notices to Members". Flight 16 December 1920.

External links

• Excelsior III Details of Kittingers' Jump from a stratospheric balloon in 1960
• Iowa State University - High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology
• Eng, Cassandra (1997). "Altitude of the Highest Manned Balloon Flight". The Physics Factbook. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1997/CassandraEng.shtml. 
• Balloon World Records Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
• Fédération Aéronautique Internationale -- the international, non-profit, non-government organization that tracks aircraft world records
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