Aviation records

Aviation records are officially verified achievements in flight, measured in categories such as distance, speed, altitude, and endurance under defined rules.

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale: The international governing body for air sports that establishes and ratifies world aviation records. It sets the rules and certifies many world aviation records.
Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight: Charles Lindbergh's 1927 nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis. It set a prominent nonstop solo transatlantic flight achievement.
Wright Flyer: The aircraft used by Orville and Wilbur Wright for the first sustained, controlled powered flights in 1903. Its flights began the era in which powered-flight achievements could be compared.
Speed of sound: The speed at which pressure disturbances travel through a medium, varying with the medium and its conditions. Supersonic speed records are framed around crossing this physical threshold.
Aviation record categories: A classification system dividing flight records by aircraft type, performance measure, and other conditions. Category rules determine which achievements can be compared as records.
Rutan Voyager: The aircraft flown by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager on the first nonstop, non-refueled circumnavigation of Earth in 1986. Its flight established a major distance and endurance achievement.
Aéro-Club de France: A French aviation organization founded in 1898 that supported early aviation and record recognition. It helped establish organized rules and recognition for early flight achievements.
Airspeed: An aircraft's speed relative to the surrounding air, measured using onboard instruments. Airspeed differs from ground speed, so the two cannot substitute in every record category.
Flight data recorder: An onboard device that records aircraft operating parameters for later analysis. Recorded flight parameters can help substantiate performance claims.
Steve Fossett: An American aviator who set multiple records, including the first solo nonstop, non-refueled balloon flight around Earth. His flights illustrate record-setting across several aviation disciplines.

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