Records

The first Cross Channel flight:the earliest was on 25th July 1909 when Louis Bleriot flew his 23 horsepower Bleriot XI 26 miles(41.8 km) from Les Baraques in France to Northfall Meadow near Dover castle in Kent in 36.5 minutes.

Trans Atlantic:the first crossing of the North Atlantic by air was by Lt.Commander(later Rear Admiral) Albert Cushion Read and his crew in May,1919.The flight of 4717 miles(7591 km) lasted 53hrs 58 minutes.

Circumnavigation:Circumnavigation of the globe requires passing throught 2 antipodal points covering a distance of 24,859.7 miles(40,007.8 km).The earliest was by 2 US army Douglas DWC amphibians in 57 'hops' between 6 April and 28 Sept,1924 beginning and ending at Seattle,Washington State.The 'Chicago' was piloted by Lt.Lowell Smith and Lt.Leslie Arnold,the 'New Orleans' by Lt. Eric Nelson and Lt. John Harding.Their flying time was 371 hrs,11 minutes.

Electric Plane:the MB-E1 is the first electrically propelled aircraft.A Bosch 8KW 10.7 horsepower motor is powered by Varta FP25 nickel cadmium 25 Ah batteries.It made it's maiden flight on 21st October ,1973.

Passenger Load:The greatest amount of people in a single plane was 1087 during Operation Solomon in 1991 when Ethopian Jews were being evacuated from Falasha.

Fastest Airliner:The supersonic BAC Aerospatiale Concorde first flown on 26 March 1969 with a design capacity of 128 passengers ,cruises up to Mach 2.2(1450 MPH/2333 KMH)

Most flights by an airliner:Flight International magazine states that the McDonnel Douglas DC-9 had logged 94,159 flights in less than 26 years.This equates to 10 flights on weekdays and 11 on weekends.

Supersonic Flight:The former Soviet Tupolev TU 144,first flew on 31st December 1968 initially only as a Cargo plane

Largest Airport:The $2.1 billion King Khalid International airport outside Riyadh in Saudhi Arabia covers 86 miles squared(225km square/55040 acres).

Oldest Airlines:KLM,the national airlines of the Netherlands opened on May 17,1920.

Stowaway:The most rugged stowaway in an airplane was Socarras Ramirez who escaped from Cuba on 4 june 1969 by stowing away in an unpressurized wheel well in the starboard wing of a Douglas DC8.

Longest Air Ticket:A 12metre air ticket was issued for $4500 to Mr.Bruno Luenen of Brusselsm,Belgium in December 1984 for a 53,203 mile trip(85,623 km) on 80 airlines with 109 stopovers.

Wing Walking:Roy Castle , host of BBC show Record Breakers flew on the wing of a Boeing Stearman aeroplane for 3hrs 23 minutes on 2nd August 1990.

Plane Pulling:Dave Guder single handedly pulled a Concorde ,12.2m(40 feet) across the tarmac of Heathrow airport,London on 11 July 1987.