Aircraft Records
Year |
Date |
Altitude |
Person |
Aircraft |
Power |
Notes |
imperial |
metric |
1903 |
December 17, 1903 |
3 ¼ ft |
1 m |
Wilbur Wright |
Wright Flyer |
propeller |
Record uncertified. The Wrights made several more flights, with increasing altitude, in 1904 and 1905, none of which was witnessed by an official body. |
1906 |
October 23, 1906 |
10 ft |
3 m |
Alberto Santos-Dumont |
14-bis |
propeller |
First officially witnessed and certified flight. |
1906 |
November 12, 1906 |
13 ft |
4 m |
Alberto Santos-Dumont |
14-bis |
propeller |
1908 |
December 18, 1908 |
360 ft |
110 m |
Wilbur Wright |
Biplane |
propeller |
at Auovors |
1909 |
July 1909 |
492 ft |
150 m |
Louis Paulhan |
Farman |
propeller |
Douai Air Show |
1909 |
October 1909 |
3,018 ft |
920 m |
Louis Paulhan |
Farman |
propeller |
Lyon |
1910 |
January 9, 1910 |
4,164 ft |
1,269 m |
Louis Paulhan |
Farman |
propeller |
Los Angeles air meet |
1910 |
June 17, 1910 |
4,603 ft |
1,403 m |
Walter Brookins |
Wright biplane |
propeller |
Washington Post; June 18, 1910; Indianapolis, Indiana, June 17, 1910. Walter Brookins, in a Wright biplane, broke the world's aeroplane record for altitude today, when he soared to a height of 4,603 feet, according to the measurement of the altimeter. His motor stopped as he was descending, and he made a glide of 2 miles, landing easily in a wheat field. |
1910 |
October 30, 1910 |
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 |
52 years of records go here. |
1962 |
17 July 1962 |
60 mi |
95.94 km |
Robert Michael White |
X-15 |
rocket plane |
|
1963 |
19 July 1963 |
66 mi |
106.01 km |
Joseph Albert Walker |
X-15 |
rocket plane |
|
1963 |
22 August 1963 |
67 mi |
107.96 km |
Joseph Albert Walker |
X-15 |
rocket plane |
|
2004 |
4 October 2004 |
69 1/2 mi |
111.99 km |
Brian Binnie |
SpaceShipOne |
rocket plane |
|
All Balloons
- 1783 — August — 24 m (80 ft); Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier of France, made the first ascent in a hot-air balloon.
- 1783 — 1 December 1783 — 2.7 km (9,000 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 Pilâtre de Rozier and the chemist Proust in a Montgolfier.
- 1803 — 18 July, 1803 — 7.28 km Etienne Gaspar Robertson and Lhoest in a balloon.
- 1839 — 7.9 km Charles Green and Spencer Rush in a free balloon.
- 1862 — 5 September 1862 — 11.887 km — 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 — Captain Hawthorne C. Gray of the US Army Air Corps. in a balloon.
- 1931 — 27 May 1931 — 15.787 km — Auguste Piccard & Paul Kipfer in a hydrogen balloon.
- 1932 — 16.2 km — Auguste Piccard and Max Cosyns in a hydrogen balloon.
- 1933 - 30 September — 18.501 km USSR balloon.
- 1933 —20 November — 18.592 km Lt. Comdr. T. G. W. Settle (USN) and Maj Chester L. Fordney (USMC) in Century of Progress balloon
- 1934 — 30 January — 21.946 km USSR balloon.
- 1935 — 10 November — 22.066 km Anderson and Stevens in Explorer II.
- 1960 — 16 August — Joseph Kittinger parachutes from Excelsior III over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,333 m). He sets unbeaten (as of 2005) world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16 miles (25.7 km) before opening his parachute; and fastest speed by a human without motorized assistance, 614 mph (982 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. After their ascent, the two landed in the Gulf of Mexico. In the final minutes of the mission, Prather mistakenly assumed he was out of danger and opened the helmet to his pressure suit. As he was climbing the ladder to the rescue helicopter, he fell off and drowned when his suit filled with water
Gliders
The highest altitude obtained in an unpowered aeroplane is 50,699 feet (15,453 m) on 30th 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 (507m). This record was set as part of the Perlan Project. The previous record was 49,009 feet (14,938 metres) on February 17, 1986 by Robert Harris in lee waves over California City, USA. |