MachinesDistance
Longest non-stop flight
41,467.46 km
25,766.685 mi
- Holder
- Steve Fossett, GlobalFlyer
How the record evolved
The last record set in each decade, up to the current record (highlighted).
| Year | Record | Holder |
|---|---|---|
| current | 41,467.46 km | Steve Fossett, GlobalFlyer |
| 40,212.14 km | Richard Glenn Rutan, Rutan Voyager | |
| 20,168.78 km | Major Clyde P. Evely and crew, Boeing B-52H Stratofortress | |
| 18,083.6 km | CDR Tom Davies pilot, Cdr. Eugene Rankin, P2V-1 Neptune | |
| 12,936 km | Regia Aeronautica, Savoia-Marchetti SM.82 | |
| 8,029.44 km | Dieudonné Costes, Breguet 19 Super Bidon Point d'Interrogation | |
| 3,040 km | John Alcock and Arthur Brown, Vickers Vimy | |
| 27.36 km | Henri Giffard, The Giffard airship |
Put them in order
Sort these records from the oldest to the most recent.
- 27.36 kmHenri Giffard, The Giffard airship
- 41,467.46 kmSteve Fossett, GlobalFlyer
- 20,168.78 kmMajor Clyde P. Evely and crew, Boeing B-52H Stratofortress
- 8,029.44 kmDieudonné Costes, Breguet 19 Super Bidon Point d'Interrogation
What to remember
Alone at the controls of the GlobalFlyer, Steve Fossett covered 41,467.46 km non-stop between February 8 and 12, 2006. This record allows no mid-air refuelling.
The history starts a long way back. In 1852, Henri Giffard's airship covered 27.36 km; in 1919, John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew 3,040 km in a Vickers Vimy. Dieudonné Costes, aboard the Breguet 19 Point d'Interrogation, pushed the mark to 8,029.44 km in 1929, and Major Clyde P. Evely's Boeing B-52H Stratofortress reached 20,168.78 km in 1962. In 1986, Richard Glenn Rutan's Rutan Voyager reached 40,212.14 km. From the 1852 airship to the GlobalFlyer, the distance grew by a ratio of 1,515.62.
An American businessman, Steve Fossett made his name as an aviator, sailor and adventurer. He was the first person to fly solo non-stop around the world both in a balloon and in a fixed-wing aircraft. With the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, he broke three of the seven absolute world records for fixed-wing aircraft recognised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
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Sources and licences
- Value, holder and date: Wikipedia article “List of flight distance records” (revision used 1379444830). Data from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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