Flight endurance record#Aeroplane
{{Short description|Length of time an aircraft of a particular category spent in flight without landing}}
{{Incomplete list|date=September 2010}}
File:Voyager aircraft.jpg]]The flight endurance record is the longest amount of time an aircraft of a particular category spent in flight without landing. It can be a solo event, or multiple people can take turns piloting the aircraft, as long as all pilots remain in the aircraft. The limit initially was the amount of fuel that could be stored for the flight, but aerial refueling extended that parameter. Due to safety concerns, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) no longer recognizes new records for the duration of crewed airplane or glider flights and has never recognized any duration records for helicopters.
Airplane
=Non-refueled, crewed=
=Refueled, crewed=
| Image:Timm-Cook Cessna 172 LV NV.jpg |
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration ! Date ! Location ! Pilots ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 64:22:19:05
|December 4, 1958, to February 7, 1959 |Robert Timm and John Cook |Cessna 172 |Refueled from moving truck on ground |[http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2008/endurance0803.html AOPA Pilot], March 2008 |
| 50:00:18:20
|August 2, 1958, to September 21, 1958 |Dallas, Texas, US |Jim Heth and Bill Burkhart |Cessna 172 |Refueled from moving truck on ground |{{usurped|[https://web.archive.org/web/20180521104606/http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/technology/motor/aeronautics/general/1958.htm "Robinson Library"]}}, May 2017 |
| 46:20:00:00
|August 24 to October 10, 1949 |Yuma, Arizona, US |Bob Woodhouse and Woody Jongeward |Aeronca 15AC Sedan |Attempted to persuade government officials to reopen Yuma Army Air Field |
| 42:00:02:00
|March 15 to April 26, 1949 |Dick Riedel and Bill Barris |Aeronca 15AC Sedan | |
| 30:06:00:00
|October 1–30, 1939 |Wes Carroll and Clyde Schlieper |Piper J-3 Cub floatplane | |[https://web.archive.org/web/20121103103517/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/461845232.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+30,+1939&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune+(1923-1963)&edition=&startpage=7&desc=TWO+FLYERS+LAND+AFTER+726+HOURS+ALOFT%3B+A+RECORD Chicago Daily Tribune], October 30, 1939[http://theoldmotor.com/?p=58982], September 15, 2012 |
| 22:07:45:00
|October 1- 23, 1939 |Muncie, Indiana, US |Robert McDaniels and Kelvin Baxter |Piper Franklin 50 Cub Miss Sun Tan |Jim Fidler provided on-air coverage of flight through WLBC broadcasts. Pilots met Eleanor Roosevelt following flight. | |
| 27:05:34:00
|June 4 to July 1, 1935 |Brothers Al and Fred Key |Curtiss Robin |Invented a spill-free mid-air refueling nozzle. Inaccessible recording altimeter verified duration. |
| 23:01:41:30
|June 11 and July 4, 1930 |Chicago, Illinois, US |Brothers John and Kenneth Hunter |Stinson SM-1 Detroiter | |
| 17:12:17:00
|July 13–30, 1929 |St. Louis, Missouri, US |Dale Jackson and Forest O'Brine |Curtiss Robin | |
| 10:06:43:32
|July 2–12, 1929 |Loren W. Mendell and Roland B. Reinhart |Buhl CA-5A Airsedan | |[https://web.archive.org/web/20101027211306/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,732705,00.html Time], July 22, 1929Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, [http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=9571 Record 9571] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306144856/http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=9571 |date=2016-03-06 }}, accessed August 21, 2010 |
| 07:06:00:00
|June 30 to July 6, 1929 |Cleveland, Ohio, US |Roy Mitchell and Byron K. Newcomb |Stinson SM-1 Detroiter |Not recognized as an official record by FAI because it did not exceed previous record by at least 1%. |Dailey, Franklin. [http://www.daileyint.com/flying/flywar1.htm The Triumph of Instrument Flight] |
| 07:04:31:01
|May 19–26, 1929 |Ft. Worth, Texas, US |Reginald Robbins and James Kelly |{{nowrap|Mahoney-Ryan B-1 Brougham}} | |
| 06:15:40:00
|January 1–7, 1929 |Van Nuys Airport, California, US |Maj. Carl Spaatz, Capt. Ira Eaker, 1st Lt. Harry A. Halverson, 2nd Lt. Elwood Quesada, and Sgt. Roy W. Hooe |Atlantic-Fokker C2A | |
| 02:12:07:00
|June 1–4, 1928 |Tirlemont, Belgium |Louis Crooy and Sgt. Victor Groenen | |
| 01:13:15:14
|August 27–28, 1923 |Rockwell Field, California, US |Capt. Lowell Smith and 1st Lt. John Paul Richter |First refueled flight to surpass the non-refueled record |
=Airline, scheduled=
Not an FAI category. See Longest Flights
=Airplane, uncrewed=
FAI does not differentiate between non-refueled and solar aircraft. Class U : Experimental
Helicopter
=Crewed, non-refueled=
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration (hhh:mm:ss)
! Date ! Location ! Pilot ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 15:08:00
|April 6, 1966 |Culver City, California, US to Ormond Beach, Florida (2,213.04 mi) |Robert G. Ferry |As a nonstop non-refueled trip this flight also holds the record for the longest distance flown in a helicopter without landing. FAI category: "Great circle distance, without landing". |
=Uncrewed=
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration (hhh:mm:ss)
! Date ! Location ! Pilot ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 32:08:00
|October 2017 |unknown |Uncrewed | |{{Cite web|url=https://www.auvsi.org/industry-news/aerovels-unmanned-flexrotor-sets-vtol-endurance-record|title=Aerovel's unmanned Flexrotor sets VTOL endurance record|date=16 October 2017|access-date=2021-10-10}}{{Cite web|url=https://aerovel.com/flexrotor-vtol-endurance/|title=Aerovel Flexrotor Sets VTOL Endurance Mark|date=15 October 2017|access-date=2021-10-10}} |
| 22:29:38
|Aug 9–10, 2016 |unknown |Uncrewed | |
| 18:41:28
|May 15, 2008 |Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, US |Uncrewed | |
Free balloon, crewed
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration (dd:hh:mm:ss)
! Date ! Location ! Pilot ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 19:21:47:00
|March 1–21, 1999 |Château-d'Œx, Switzerland; circumnavigation |Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones | |
| 14:19:50:00
|June 19 – July 3, 2002 |Northam, WA (Australia) circumnavigation |Cameron Balloons R-550 (N277SF) |Longest solo flight in any type of aircraft |
| 11:04:20:00
|July 12–23, 2016 |Northam, WA Australia; circumnavigation |Cameron Balloons R-550 |Shortest time around the world |
| 03:10:05:00
|September 9–12, 1995 |Wil, Switzerland to Lucincik, Ukraine (1.395,4 km) |Johann Fuerstner and Gerald Stuerzlinger |D-OSTZ Graf Zeppelin |3rd place in Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race |
Airship
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration (dd:hh:mm:ss)
! Date ! Location ! Pilot ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 11:00:12:00
|March 4 to March 15, 1957 |Naval Air Station South Weymouth, Massachusetts, US to Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, US |Cmdr. Jack. R. Hunt |"Snowbird" ZPG-2 |via Europe, Africa |Grossnick, Ross. "Kite Balloons to Airships: The Navy's Lighter than Air Experience," 2004 |
| 03:23:05:00
|November 21 to November 25, 1917 |Jambol, Bulgaria to Jambol, Bulgaria |LtCdr. Ludwig Bockholt |L95 (LZ104) Type W Zeppelin |originally destined for the Makonde Plateau, mission aborted at 16° 30′ N, 30° 0′ E, near Khartoum, Sudan after areas fit for landing were captured by British forces |
| 02:23:00:00
|October 29 to November 1, 1928 |Lakehurst, New Jersey, US to Friedrichshafen, Germany | |
Glider
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration (dd:hh:mm:ss)
! Date ! Location ! Pilot ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 02:23:05:00
|July 28–30, 1961 |Honolulu, Hawaii, US |Geza Vass and Guy Davis | |
| 02:08:15:00
|April 2–4, 1952 |Romanin les Alpilles near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France | |[http://soaringweb.org/Soaring_Index/1955/PDF/1955_May-Jun_24.html Soaring], May–June 1955, p. 24 |
Space station, crewed
Duration that a specific person continuously occupies the spacecraft while in orbit.
See Also Timeline of longest spaceflights, List of spaceflight records
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration (ddd:hh:mm:ss)
! Date ! Location ! Astronaut ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 437:17:58:17
|January 8, 1994, to March 22, 1995 |Low Earth orbit; Baikonur Cosmodrome to near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan |Russian space station Mir | |
Aerospacecraft, orbital, crewed
| class="wikitable" |
| Duration (ddd:hh:mm:ss)
! Date ! Location ! Astronaut ! Aircraft ! Comments ! Reference |
|---|
| 17:15:53:17
| November 19 to December 7, 1996 |Low Earth orbit, Kennedy Space Center |Kenneth D. Cockrell, Kent V. Rominger, Tamara E. Jernigan, Thomas D. Jones, and F. Story Musgrave |Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-80 | |
See also
Notes
{{reflist|group=note}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
{{Extreme motion}}
{{Aviation lists}}
{{Portal bar|Aviation}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flight Endurance Record}}