Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

The FAI was founded at a conference held in Paris 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."[4] The conference was attended by representatives from 8 countries: Belgium (Aero Club Royal de Belgique, founded 1901), France (Aéro-Club de France, 1898), Germany (Deutscher Aero Club e.V.), Great Britain (Royal Aero Club, 1901), Italy (Aero Club d'Italia, 1904), Spain (Real Aero Club de España, 1905), Switzerland (Aero-Club der Schweiz, 1900) and the United States (Aero Club of America, 1905).

On 2 February 2017 the FAI announced its new strategic partnership with international asset management firm Noosphere Ventures. FAI Secretary General Susanne Schödel, FAI President Frits Brink and Noosphere Ventures Managing Partner Max Polyakov signed the agreement, making Noosphere Ventures FAI's Global Technical Partner.[5][6]

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

• Aerobatics through the FAI Aerobatics Commission ("Commission Internationale de Voltige Aérienne" – CIVA)[7]
• Aeromodeling and drones through the FAI Aeromodelling Commission ("Commission Internationale d'Aéro-Modélisme" – CIAM)[8]
• Ballooning through the FAI Ballooning Commission ("Commission Internationale de l'Aérostation" – CIA)[9]
• General aviation through the FAI General Aviation Commission ("General Aviation Commission" – GAC)[10]
• Gliding through the FAI Gliding Commission ("International Gliding Commission – IGC")[11]
• Hang gliding & Paragliding through the FAI Hang Gliding & Paragliding Commission ("Commission Internationale de Vol Libre – CIVL)[12]
• Human-powered aircraft through the FAI Amateur-Built and Experimental Aircraft Commission ("Commission Internationale des Aéronefs de Construction Amateur – CIACA")[13]
• Microlighting and Paramotoring through the FAI Microlight & Paramotor Commission ("Commission Internationale de Microaviation – CIMA)[14]
• Skydiving through the FAI International Skydiving Commission[15]
• Rotorcraft through the FAI Rotorcraft Commission ("Commission Internationale de giraviation – CIG)[16]

The FAI establishes the standards for records in the activities. Where these are air sports, the FAI also oversees international competitions at world and continental levels, and also organizes the World Air Games and FAI World Grand Prix.

The FAI organises the FAI International Drones Conference and Expo. This event offers a platform for organisations, businesses and individuals to discuss how drones are used today and to create a framework for how they will be used and impact on life in the future.

The FAI also keeps records set in human spaceflight, through the FAI Astronautic Records Commission ("International Astronautic Records Commission – ICARE)[17]

1971 USSR commemorative stamp depicting Yuri A. Gagarin Gold Medal established by FAI

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 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 (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.[19]

Classes

Record flight diploma issued by the FAI

The following types of craft have records:[20]

• Class A Free Balloons
• Class B Airships
• Class C Aeroplanes
  • Class CS Solar-Powered Aeroplanes
• Class D Gliders & Motorgliders
• Class E Rotorcraft
• Class F Model Aircraft
  • Class F1 – Free flight
  • Class F2 – Control line
  • Class F3 – Radio control
    • F3K - Discus Launch Glider
    • F3F - Slope Soaring
  • Class F4 – Scale model aircraft
  • Class F5 – Electrically powered model aircraft
  • Class F8 - Autonomous flight (created by CIAM in 2006, later retired)
• Class G Parachuting
• Class H Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) 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 Microlights and Paramotors
• Class S Space Models (Model rockets)
• Class U Unmanned aerial vehicle

Some of the records

Date	Measurement	Person	Aircraft	Type
Class A: Free balloons
31 January 2015	160 hours 34 minutes.[21]	Troy Bradley (USA)  Leonid Tyukhtyaev (RUS)	Two Eagles Balloon	Duration
31 March 1999	40,814 km.[22]	Bertrand Piccard (SUI)  Brian Jones (GBR)	Breitling Orbiter	Distance
4 May 1961	34,668 meters	Malcolm Ross (USA)  Victor Prather (USA)	Winzen	Absolute altitude
Class C: Aeroplanes
11 February 2006	41,467.53 km	Steve Fossett (USA)	Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer	Flight distance record (without refueling)
28 July 1976	3,529.56 km/h	Eldon W. Joersz (USA)	Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird	Flight airspeed record
31 August 1977	37,650 m	Aleksandr Vasilyevich Fedotov (SUN)	MiG E-266M	Flight altitude record
22 October 1938	17,083 m	Mario Pezzi (ITA)	Caproni Ca.161	Flight altitude record (piston engine without payload)
Class CS: Solar-powered aeroplanes
7 July 2010	9,235 m 26 h 10 m 19 s	André Borschberg (SUI)	Solar Impulse (Prototype)	Solar powered Duration and Flight altitude record[23]
25 May 2012	1116 km	André Borschberg (SUI)	Solar Impulse (Prototype)	Solar powered Distance
Class D: Gliders & motorgliders
3 September 2017	15,902 m	Jim Payne (USA)  Morgan Sandercock (AUS)	Windward Performance Perlan II	Gliding Altitude[24]
2 September 2018	23,202 m	Tim Gardner (USA)  Jim Payne (USA)	Windward Performance Perlan II	Gliding Altitude (to be ratified)[24]
21 January 2003	3,008.8 km	Klaus Ohlmann (GER)  Karl Rabeder (AUT)	Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-4	Gliding Distance
Class E-1: Helicopters
11 August 1986	400.87 km/h	John Trevor Egginton (GBR)	Westland Lynx G-LYNX (modified)	Speed over a straight 15/25 km course[25]
Class G-2: Parachuting performance records
14 October 2012	1357.6 km/h[26]	Felix Baumgartner (AUT)	Red Bull Stratos	Vertical speed
8 February 2006	400 Skydivers [27]	World Team	5 Lockheed C-130	Largest Skydiving Formation
Class I-C: Manpowered aeroplane
23 April 1988	115.11 km 3h 54mn 59s	Kanellos Kanellopoulos (GRE)	MIT Daedalus 88	Human powered Distance and Duration
Class O: Hang Gliding & Paragliding
13 October 2016	564.3.0 km	Donizete Baldessar Lemos (BRA)  Rafael Monteiro Saladini (BRA)  Samuel Nascimento (BRA)	Ozone Enzo 2 Ozone Enzo 2 Gin Boomerang 10	Straight distance with a paraglider[28][29][30][31][32]
Class R: Microlights
14 February 2002	187 km/h	Julian Harris (GBR)  Bob Sharp (GBR)	Jabiru Aircraft UL	3 axis flight airspeed record.[33]
17 August 2011	130.3 km	Edina Sz. KOLESZÁR (HUN)	Dudek Nucleon 23	Distance in a closed circuit with limited fuel[34]

Diplome Paul Tissandier

The FAI Gold Air Medal was established in 1924 and was first awarded in 1925. It is reserved for those who have contributed greatly to the development of aeronautics by their activities, work, achievements, initiative or devotion to the cause of Aviation. The FAI has also awarded the Paul Tissandier Diploma since 1952 to those who have served the cause of aviation in general and sporting aviation in particular.[19]

The FAI also makes awards for each of the following air sports.

• 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
  • 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[19]

The FAI Young Artists Contest[35] is an international painting competition for youngsters between the ages of 6 and 17. Each FAI Member Country organises the contest in their country, and the national winners are submitted to the International Jury each year.

• Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
• Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme
• Hot air ballooning
• List of spaceflight records

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

• Official website
• Documents and clippings about Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW