Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is the world governing body for air sports

Air sports

The term Air sports covers a range of aerial activities such as:* Aerobatics* Ballooning* General aviation including Air racing* Gliding* Hang gliding* Human powered aircraft* Model aircraft* Parachuting* Paragliding...

and aeronautics

Aeronautics

Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...

and astronautics

Astronautics

Astronautics, and related astronautical engineering, is the theory and practice of navigation beyond the Earth's atmosphere. In other words, it is the science and technology of space flight....

world records. Its head office is in Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons

Balloon (aircraft)

A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....

to spacecraft

Spacecraft

A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....

, and unmanned aerial vehicles (such as model aircraft

Model aircraft

Model aircraft are flying or non-flying models of existing or imaginary aircraft using a variety of materials including plastic, diecast metal, polystyrene, balsa wood, foam and fibreglass...

and UAVs

Unmanned aerial vehicle

An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...

). It was founded on 14 October 1905.

History

The FAI was founded at a conference held in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

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

Aéro-Club de France

The Aéro-Club de France was founded as the Aéro-Club on 20 October 1898 as a society 'to encourage aerial locomotion' by Ernest Archdeacon, Léon Serpollet, Henri de la Valette, Jules Verne and his wife, André Michelin, Albert de Dion, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe, and Henry de...

, 1898), Germany (Deutscher Aero Club e.V.), Great Britain (Royal Aero Club

Royal Aero Club

The Royal Aero Club is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom.The Aero Club was founded in 1901 by Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Vera and the Hon Charles Rolls , partly inspired by the Aero Club of France...

, 1901), Italy (Aero Club d'Italia, 1904), Spain (Real Aero Club de España, 1905), Switzerland (Aero-Club der Schweiz

Aero-Club der Schweiz

The Aero-Club der Schweiz is Switzerland's national aero club, based in Luzern. It claims an active membership of 21,000, amongst some 350 local groups. The club commissioned the Ultimate EA230 aerobatics plane from Walter Extra.-External links:...

, 1900) and the United States (Aero Club of America

Aero Club of America

The Aero Club of America was a social club formed in 1905 by Charles Glidden and others to promote aviation in America. It was the parent organization of numerous state chapters, the first being the Aero Club of New England. It thrived until 1923, when it transformed into the National Aeronautic...

, 1905).

Activities

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

Aerobatics
Aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in normal flight. Aerobatics are performed in airplanes and gliders for training, recreation, entertainment and sport...

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
Balloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....

through the FAI Ballooning Commission ("Commission Internationale de l'Aérostation - CIA)
General aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

through the FAI General Aviation Commission ("General Aviation Commission - GAC)
Gliding
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...

through the FAI Gliding Commission ("International Gliding Commission - IGC")
Hang gliding
Hang gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider ....

& Paragliding
Paragliding
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...

through the FAI Hang Gliding & Paragliding Commission ("Commission Internationale de Vol Libre - CIVL)
Microlighting through the FAI Microlight Commission ("Commission Internationale de Microaviation - CIMA)
Parachuting
Parachuting
Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal...

through the FAI Parachuting Commission ("International Parachuting Commission - IPC )
Rotorcraft
Rotorcraft
A rotorcraft or rotary wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine that uses lift generated by wings, called rotor blades, that revolve around a mast. Several rotor blades mounted to a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The International Civil Aviation Organization defines a 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

Air sports

, the FAI also oversees international competitions at world and continental levels, and also organizes the World Air Games

World Air Games

World Air Games is an international air sports event organized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale , inspired by the Olympic Games and held every four years.-Competitions:*Aerobatics*Aeromodeling...

and FAI World Grand Prix

FAI World Grand Prix

FAI World Grand Prix is a Grand Prix aerobatics series led by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.Since 1990th run as Breitling Series up to 1995....

.

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

Records

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

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....

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

Vostok spacecraft

The Vostok was a type of spacecraft built by the Soviet Union. The first human spaceflight in history was accomplished on this spacecraft on April 12, 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin....

(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
Balloon (aircraft)
A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner....
Class B Airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...

s
Class C Aeroplanes
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
Class CS Solar-Powered Aeroplanes
Class D Glider
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Some gliders, known as motor gliders are used for gliding and soaring as well, but have engines which can, in some cases, be used for take-off or for extending a flight...

s & Motorgliders
Motor glider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: A fixed wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion ,...
Class E Rotorcraft
Rotorcraft
A rotorcraft or rotary wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine that uses lift generated by wings, called rotor blades, that revolve around a mast. Several rotor blades mounted to a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The International Civil Aviation Organization defines a rotorcraft...
Class F Model Aircraft

Subclasses for Class F:

Class F1 - Free flight
Free flight (model aircraft)
The segment of model aviation known as free flight is the original form of the aeromodeling hobby, extending back centuries.- Description :...
Class F2 - Control line
Control line
Control line is a simple and light way of controlling a flying model aircraft. The aircraft is connected to the operator by a pair of lines, attached to a handle, that work the elevator of the model. This allows the model to be controlled in the pitch axis...
Class F3 - Radio control
Radio-controlled aircraft
A radio-controlled aircraft is controlled remotely by a hand-held transmitter and a receiver within the craft...
Class F5 - Electrically powered model aircraft

Class G Parachuting
Parachuting
Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal...
Class H Vertical Take-off and Landing Aeroplanes
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
Class I Manpowered aircraft
Class K Spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
Class M Tilt-Wing/Tilt Engine Aircraft
Tiltrotor
A tiltrotor is an aircraft which uses a pair or more of powered rotors mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles at the end of a fixed wing for lift and propulsion, and combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft...
Class N Short Take-off and Landing (STOL) Aeroplanes
STOL
STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of...
Class O Hang Gliding
Hang gliding
Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider ....

& Paragliding
Paragliding
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...
Class P Aerospacecraft
Class R Microlights and Paramotor
Paramotor
Paramotor is a generic name for the propulsive portion of a powered paraglider . It consists of a frame that combines the motor, propeller, harness and cage...

s
Class S Space Models
Class U Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle
An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity...

Some of the records

Date	Measurement	Person	Aircraft	Type
Class A: Free balloons
31 March 1999	40,814 km.	Bertrand Piccard Bertrand Piccard Bertrand Piccard is a Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist.Born in Lausanne, Vaud canton, Bertrand Piccard, along with Brian Jones, was the first to complete a non-stop balloon flight around the globe... and Brian Jones Brian Jones (aeronaut) Brian Jones is an English balloonist.Brian Jones, along with Bertrand Piccard, co-piloted the first successful uninterrupted circumnavigation of the world on board the balloon Breitling Orbiter 3...	Breitling Orbiter Breitling Orbiter Breitling Orbiter was the name of three different Rozière balloons made by Cameron Balloons to circumnavigate the globe, named after the sponsor Breitling...	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 Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett was an American commodities trader, businessman, and adventurer. Fossett is the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon...	Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer The Scaled Composites Model 311 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is an aircraft designed by Burt Rutan in which Steve Fossett flew a solo nonstop airplane flight around the world in a time of 67 hours 1 minute from February 28, 2005 until March 3, 2005...	Flight distance record Flight distance record -Non-commercial powered aircraft:-Commercial aircraft:-Other types of aircraft:-References:* Mikesh, Robert C. and Abe, Shorzoe. Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941. London:Putnam, 1990. ISBN 0-85177-840-2.... (without refueling)
28 July 1976	3,529.56 km/h	Eldon W. Joersz Eldon W. Joersz Major General Eldon Wayne Joersz is an American pilot, who jointly holds the World Air Speed Record.Joersz and Ltc George T. Morgan Jr. set the air speed record on July 28, 1976 in an SR-71 Blackbird at Beale Air Force Base. They went to 2,194 mph , breaking the record of Daniel Andre and Robert L...	SR-71	Flight airspeed record
31 August 1977	37,650 m	Alexandr Fedotov	MiG E-266M	Flight altitude record 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.-Fixed-wing aircraft:-Piston-driven propeller aeroplane:...
22 October 1938	17,083 m	Mario Pezzi Mario Pezzi Mario Pezzi was an Italian aviator known worldwide for his flight in which he achieved greater height than any other pilot in a propeller-powered airplane.- Biography :...	Caproni Ca.161 Caproni Ca.161 \|-See also:...	Flight altitude record 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.-Fixed-wing aircraft:-Piston-driven propeller aeroplane:... (piston engine without payload)
Class CS: Solar-Powered Aeroplanes
7 July 2010	9,235 m	André Borschberg André Borschberg An engineer by education and a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management, André Borschberg has solid experience in creating and managing companies...	Solar Impulse Solar Impulse Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range solar powered plane project being undertaken at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, by Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg. The project eventually hopes to succeed in the first circling of the earth with a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar... (Prototype Prototype A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,... )	Solar powered Flight altitude record 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.-Fixed-wing aircraft:-Piston-driven propeller aeroplane:...
Class D: Gliders & Motorgliders
29 August 2006	15,460 m	Steve Fossett Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett was an American commodities trader, businessman, and adventurer. Fossett is the first person to fly solo nonstop around the world in a balloon... and Einar Enevoldson Einar Enevoldson Einar K. Enevoldson is the director of the Perlan Project. He was a civilian research pilot for NASA's Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. from 1968 until 1986...	Glaser-Dirks DG-505M Glaser-Dirks DG-500 \|-References:*... (modified)	Gliding Gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s... Altitude
21 January 2003	3,008.8 km	Klaus Ohlmann Klaus Ohlmann Klaus Ohlmann, born 1952 in Neustadt, Germany is a German glider pilot who has established 36 world records approved by FAI. Among these is the record for a free distance flight with up to 3 turn-points by flying 3,009 km from Chapelco Airport at San Martín de los Andes in a Schempp-Hirth Nimbus 4... and Karl Rabeder Karl Rabeder Karl Rabeder is an Austrian businessman who founded the non-profit organization MyMicroCredit in 2009, which aims to reduce poverty in Central and South America...	Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4 Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4 The Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4 is a family of high-performance FAI Open Class gliders designed by Klaus Holighaus and manufactured by Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH in Kirchheim, Germany...	Gliding Gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s... Distance
26 July 1970	1,153.82 km	Ben Greene and Wally Scott Wally Scott Wallace Aiken Scott was an American aviator and author, a holder of several international sailplane records, and a multi-time recipient of the Lewin B. Barringer trophy awarded for the longest, free-distance, sailplane flight of each year made in the United States...	Schleicher ASW-12 Schleicher ASW 12 \|-References:...	Gliding Gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s... Distance
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 Jabiru Aircraft Jabiru Aircraft Pty Ltd is an Australian aircraft manufacturer that produces a range of kit- and ready-built civil light aircraft in Bundaberg, Queensland. The company also designs and manufactures a range of light aircraft engines... UL
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
  Lilienthal Gliding Medal
  Lilienthal Gliding Medal – the highest soaring award in the world, established by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 1938 in honor of Otto Lilienthal, a German pioneer of human aviation. It aims "to reward a particularly remarkable performance in gliding, or eminent services to the sport of...
- 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

External links

Official FAI website

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