Longest human-powered flight recognised by the FAI

What to remember

Iraklion on Crete at the start, Santorini at the finish: on 23 April 1988, Kanellos Kanellopoulos linked the two islands in the Daedalus 88, an MIT aircraft kept in the air by his legs alone. The straight distance, 115.11 km (71.53 mi), is the distance record recognised by the FAI for human-powered flight.

In this kind of aircraft the pilot does not just steer, but also supplies the power. A pair of pedals, much like those of a bicycle, drives a propeller; on earlier prototypes it worked an ornithopter mechanism. Some designs use a hybrid system in which pedalling charges a battery that then runs an electric motor.

Human-powered aircraft have flown over considerable distances, but they are mainly built as engineering challenges rather than for leisure or transport. The Daedalus 88's island-to-island flight shows what a pilot can achieve on muscle power alone.