Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

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Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (such as model aircraft and UAVs). It was founded on 14 October 1905.

History

The FAI was founded at a conference held in Paris 12-14 October 1905, which was organised following a resolution passed by the Olympic Congress held in Brussels on 10 June 1905 calling for the creation of an Association "to regulate the sport of flying, ... the various aviation meetings and advance the science and sport of Aeronautics." The conference was attended by representatives from 8 countries: Belgium (Aero Club Royal de Belgique, founded 1901), France (Aéro-Club de France, 1898), Germany (Deutscher Aero Club e.V.), Great Britain (Royal Aero Club, 1901), Italy (Aero Club d'Italia, 1904), Spain (Real Aero Club de España, 1905), Switzerland (Aero-Club der Schweiz, 1900) and the United States (Aero Club of America, 1905).

Activities

The FAI is the international governing body for the following activities:

• Aerobatics through the FAI Aerobatics Commission ("Commission Internationale de Voltige Aerienne" - CIVA)

• Aeromodelling through the FAI Aeromodelling Commission ("Commission Internationale d'Aero-Modelisme" -CIAM)
• Astronautic Records through the FAI Astronautic Records Commission ("International Astronautic Records Commission - ICARE)
• Ballooning through the FAI Ballooning Commission ("Commission Internationale de l'Aérostation - CIA)
• General aviation through the FAI General Aviation Commission ("General Aviation Commission - GAC)
• Gliding through the FAI Gliding Commission ("International Gliding Commission - IGC")
• Hang gliding & Paragliding through the FAI Hang Gliding & Paragliding Commission ("Commission Internationale de Vol Libre - CIVL)
• Microlighting and Paramotoring through the FAI Microlight & Paramotor Commission ("Commission Internationale de Microaviation - CIMA)
• Parachuting through the FAI Parachuting Commission ("International Parachuting Commission - IPC )
• Rotorcraft through FAI Rotorcraft Commission ("Commission Internationale de giraviation - CIG)

The FAI establishes the standards for records in the activities. Where these are air sports, the FAI also oversees international competitions at world and continental levels, and also organizes the World Air Games and FAI World Grand Prix.

Since 1952, the FAI has awarded the Paul Tissandier Diploma for services to aviation.

Records

1971 USSR commemorative stamp depicting Yuri A. Gagarin Gold Medal established by FAI

Among the FAI's responsibilities are the verification of record-breaking flights. For a flight to be registered as a "World Record," it has to comply with the FAI's strict rules, which include a proviso that the record must exceed the previous record by a certain percentage. Since the late 1930s, military aircraft have dominated some classes of record for powered aircraft such as speed, distance, payload, and height, though other classes are regularly claimed by civilians.

Some records are claimed by countries as their own, even though their achievements fail to meet FAI standards. These claims are not typically granted the status of official records. For example, Yuri Gagarin earned recognition for the first manned spaceflight, despite failing to meet FAI requirements. The FAI initially did not recognize the achievement because he did not land in his Vostok spacecraft (he ejected from it), but later it recognized that Gagarin was the first human to fly into space. The FAI then established "The Yuri A. Gagarin Gold Medal", which has been awarded since 1968.

Classes

The following types of craft have records:

• Class A Free Balloons
• Class B Airships
• Class C Aeroplanes
• Class CS Solar-Powered Aeroplanes
• Class D Gliders & Motorgliders
• Class E Rotorcraft
• Class F Model Aircraft

Subclasses for Class F:

• Class F1 - Free flight
• Class F2 - Control line
• Class F3 - Radio control
• Class F4 - Scale model aircraft
• Class F5 - Electrically powered model aircraft

• Class G Parachuting
• Class H Vertical Take-off and Landing Aeroplanes
• Class I Manpowered aircraft
• Class K Spacecraft
• Class M Tilt-Wing/Tilt Engine Aircraft
• Class N Short Take-off and Landing (STOL) Aeroplanes
• Class O Hang Gliding & Paragliding
• Class P Aerospacecraft
• Class R Microlights and Paramotors
• Class S Space Models
• Class U Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Some of the records

Date	Measurement	Person	Aircraft	Type
Class A: Free balloons
31 March 1999	40,814 km.	Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones	Breitling Orbiter	Distance
4 May 1961	34,668 m	Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather	Winzen	Absolute altitude
Class C: Aeroplanes
11 February 2006	41,467.53 km	Steve Fossett	Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer	Flight distance record (without refueling)
28 July 1976	3,529.56 km/h	Eldon W. Joersz	SR-71	Flight airspeed record
31 August 1977	37,650 m	Alexandr Fedotov	MiG E-266M	Flight altitude record
22 October 1938	17,083 m	Mario Pezzi	Caproni Ca.161	Flight altitude record (piston engine without payload)
Class CS: Solar-Powered Aeroplanes
7 July 2010	9,235 m	André Borschberg	Solar Impulse (Prototype)	Solar powered Flight altitude record
Class D: Gliders & Motorgliders
29 August 2006	15,460 m	Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson	Glaser-Dirks DG-505M (modified)	Gliding Altitude
21 January 2003	3,008.8 km	Klaus Ohlmann and Karl Rabeder	Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4	Gliding Distance
Class E-1: Helicopters
11 August 1986	400.87 km/h	John Trevor Egginton	Westland Lynx (G-LYNX) (modified)	Speed over a straight 15/25 km course
Class O: Hang Gliding & Paragliding
12 December 2008	501.1 km	Nevil Hullett	Mac Para Magus	Straight distance with a paraglider
Class R: Microlights
14 February 2002	187 km/h	Julian Harris and Bob Sharp	Jabiru Aircraft UL	3 axis flight airspeed record.|
17 August 2011	130.3 km/h	Edina Sz. KOLESZÁR	Dudek Nucleon 23	Distance in a closed circuit with limited fuel

Awards

• Awards for Ballooning:
  • The Montgolfier Ballooning Diploma
  • The Santos Dumont Gold Airship Medal
• Awards for General Aviation:
  • The Charles Lindbergh General Aviation Diploma
• Awards for Gliding:
  • The Lilienthal Gliding Medal
  • The Pelagia Majewska Gliding Medal
  • The Pirat Gehriger Diploma
• Awards for Rotorcraft:
  • The FAI Gold Rotorcraft Medal
• Awards for Parachuting:
  • The FAI Gold Parachuting Medal
  • The Leonardo Da Vinci Parachuting Diploma
  • The Faust Vrancic Medal
• Awards for Aeromodelling:
  • The FAI Aeromodelling Gold Medal
  • The Andrei Tupolev Aeromodelling Medal
  • The Alphonse Penaud Aeromodelling Diploma
  • The Antonov Aeromodelling Diploma
  • The Andrei Tupolev Aeromodelling Diploma
  • The Frank Ehling Diploma
• Awards for Aerobatics:
  • The Leon Biancotto Aerobatics Diploma
• Awards for Astronautics:
  • The Yuri A. Gagarin Gold Medal
  • The V.M. Komarov Diploma
  • The Korolev Diploma
  • The Odyssey Diploma
• Awards for Hang Gliding:
  • The Pepe Lopes Medal
  • The FAI Hang Gliding Diploma
• Awards for Microlight Aviation:
  • The Colibri Diploma
  • The Ann Welch Diploma
• Awards for Aviation and Space Education:
  • The Nile Gold Medal
• Awards for Amateur-Built Aircraft:
  • The Phoenix Diploma
  • The Phoenix Group Diploma
  • The Henri Mignet Diploma

See also

• Hot air ballooning

External links

• Official FAI website