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.

Aircraft

Piston-driven propeller aeroplane

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 161 driven by a Piaggio XI R.C. engine.

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.

Jet plane

The highest altitude obtained by a manned air-breathing jet propelled aircraft following an uncontrolled ballistic trajectory is 37,650 meters (123,523 feet) set by Alexandr Fedotov, in a Mikoyan Gurevitch E-266M (MiG-25M), on 31 August 1977.

The highest altitude obtained by a manned air-breathing jet propelled aircraft in controlled horizontal flight is 25,929 m (85,069 ft) set by Robert C. Helt and Larry A. Elliott, in a Lockheed SR-71, on 27th/28 July 1976.

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.

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 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—November 1927—13.222 km (43,380 ft)—Captain Hawthorne C. Gray of the US Army Air Corps. in a balloon.
• 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 "CCCP-1".
• 1933—20 November—18.592 km (61,000 ft) Lt. Comdr. T. 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) Anderson and Stevens in Explorer II.
• 1960—16 August—Joseph Kittinger parachutes from Excelsior III over New Mexico at 102,800 ft (31,300 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) 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, a zero-pressure balloon. The balloonists opened their face masks after they reached an elevation where they could breath. 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 out of it, he was able to recover before falling completely into the water. A few minutes later after the helicopter returned, Prather slipped off the rescue hook into the ocean and drowned before Navy divers could rescue him.[3]

Hot air balloons

On November 26, 2005, Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,290 m (69,800 ft). He took off from downtown Bombay, India and landed 240 km (150 mi) south in Panchale. The previous record of 19,811 m (65,000 ft) had been set by Per Lindstrand on June 6, 1988 in Plano, Texas.

Unmanned gas balloon

The altitude record for unmanned balloons was (1991 edition of Guinness Book) 51.8 km (170,000 ft). 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.

In 2002 Japan achieved a new record: 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 kept ascending slowly at a speed of 260 m per minute and successfully reached the altitude of 53.0 km (174,000 ft), establishing a new world record for the first time in 30 years.[4]

Gliders

The highest altitude obtained in an unpowered aeroplane is 50,699 ft (15,453 m) on 30 August 2006 by Steve Fossett (pilot) and Einar Enevoldson (co-pilot) in their high performance research glider, 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

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.
• Balloon World Records Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
• Fédération Aéronautique Internationale -- the international, non-profit, non-government organization that tracks aircraft world records

References