Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
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The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is a standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. This includes man-carrying vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned vehicles (such as model aircraft and UAVs). It is also the international governing body for air sports. It was founded in 1905.
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[edit] Air sports
The FAI is the international governing body for the following air sports:
- Aerobatics
- Aeromodelling
- Astronautical Records
- Ballooning
- General aviation
- Gliding
- Hang gliding
- Microlighting
- Parachuting
- Paragliding
- Rotorcraft
FAI oversees international competitions in these air sports categories at world and continental levels, and also organizes the World Air Games.
[edit] Records
Among the FAI's responsibilities are the verification of record-breaking flights. For a flight to be registered as a "World's 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, 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. [1]
[edit] Classes
The following types of craft have records:
- Class A Free Balloons
- Class B Airships
- Class C Aeroplanes
- Class D Gliders & Motorgliders
- Class E Rotorcraft
- Class F 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 Microlight
- Class S Space Models
- Class U Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
[edit] Some of the records
[edit] Class A: Free balloons
| Date | Measurement | Person | Aircraft | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 21, 1999 | 40,814 km | Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones | Breitling Orbiter | Distance |
| May 4, 1961 | 34,668 m | Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather | Winzen | Absolute altitude |
[edit] Class C: Aeroplanes
| Date | Measurement | Person | Aircraft | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 11, 2006 | 41,467.53 km | Steve Fossett | Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer | Flight distance record unrefuelled |
| July 28, 1976 | 3,529.56 km/h | Eldon Joersz | SR-71 | Flight airspeed record |
| August 31, 1977 | 37,650 m | Alexandr Fedotov | MiG E-266M | Flight altitude record |
| October 22, 1938 | 17,083 m | Mario Pezzi | Caproni 161 bis | Flight altitude record Piston engine without payload |
[edit] Class D: Gliders & Motorgliders
| Date | Measurement | Person | Aircraft | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 30, 2006 | 15,453 m | Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson | Glaser-Dirks DG-505M (modified) | Gliding Altitude |
| January 21, 2003 | 3,008.8 km | Klaus Ohlmann and Gerhard Marzinzik | Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4 | Gliding Distance |
[edit] Class R: Microlights
| Date | Measurement | Person | Aircraft | Type | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 14, 2002 | 187 km/hr | Julian Harris and Bob Sharp | Jabiru UL | 3 axis flight airspeed record | [2] |
[edit] See also
Speed records
Air speed record (Transcontinental) | Land speed record (Railed | Road car | Motorcycle | British) | Water speed record (Underwater)
Sound barrier | Speed of light
Distance records
Flight distance record | Flight altitude record | Ocean depth record | Flight endurance record
Boundary of space
see also: Spaceflight records | List of transport records | FAI records
