January 11, 1935 American pilot Amelia Earhart made a single flight across the Pacific that no one else in the world has been able to do before. It was the peak of the career of the brave American, her most impressive achievement, which transferred Earhart to the category of legendary people. And today we will tell you about the ten most iconic and famous air records throughout the history of aviation.

The history of aviation records is inconceivable without the achievements made by the Wright brothers on December 17, 1903. On this day, they made the first four flights in the world on the Wright Flyer, each of which was a record in relation to the previous ones in terms of range and duration. As a result, we stopped at 260 meters and 59 seconds.

On May 20-21, 1927, American pilot Charles Lindbergh made the most famous flight in the history of world aviation. On a plane with the poetic name "The Spirit of St. Louis", he took off from New York, and after 33.5 hours landed at Le Bourget Airport near Paris. It was the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

The next aviation record of this magnitude was set only in 1935 by Amelia Earhart. A gallant American woman, in her Vega 5b, made the world's first solo flight across the Pacific Ocean, starting from the Hawaiian Islands and landing 18 hours and 16 minutes later in Oakland, California. On July 2, 1937, Earhart died while trying to fly an airplane around the globe.

In those days, the Soviet Union had its own star pilot, comparable in popularity to the Americans Lindbergh and Earhart. We are talking about Valery Chkalov, who on June 18-20, 1937, as part of the crew of Chkalov-Baidukov-Belyakov, made a transcontinental flight from Moscow to the American city of Portland, Vancouver, flying through the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole.

On January 16-18, 1957, three American B-52B heavy bombers made the world's first round-the-world non-stop flight. During the flight, they replenished fuel from a tanker aircraft three times. In 45 hours and 19 minutes, these stratospheric fortresses (as their nickname Stratofortress is translated into Russian) covered a distance of 39,165 kilometers by air.

Sometimes the fact of setting a new record becomes a record in itself. For example, this happened on March 22, 1989 with an aircraft that, during a 3.5-hour flight, immediately set 110 new world achievements, such as maximum cargo weight, maximum takeoff weight, as well as speed, altitude and flight range records for aircraft of this kind. type.

Bertrand Piccard was born into a great family. His grandfather Auguste and father Jacques became famous for their famous submersion in a bathyscaphe to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, many of his relatives are famous conquerors of the air and stratosphere. Yes, and Bertrand himself did not blunder. In 1999, he and Briton Brian Jones made the first ever round-the-world balloon flight. In 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes, they covered a distance of 45,755 kilometers on the Breitling Orbiter 3.

On October 4, 2004, American pilot Brian Binney flew SpaceShipOne to the highest flight in aviation history. He raised his aircraft to a height of just over 112 kilometers above the Earth's surface, thus overcoming the boundary between the atmosphere and space.

The longest flight in an airplane

It's time for new aviation records. Classic aircraft, of course, continue to develop, but aircraft with alternative energy sources are much more promising and interesting. The first such known aircraft was the Solar Impulse sunplane, on which Bertrand Picart and André Borschberg flew in May-June 2013 from the west coast of the United States of America to the east, from San Francisco to New York. In the future, they plan to cross the Atlantic on Solar Impulse, and then make a trip around the world.

The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft, powered by solar panels, has completed its round-the-world trip.

On Sunday, he flew from Cairo in the direction of Abu Dhabi. This 48-hour route became the finish line in the circumnavigation of the world, which began on March 9, 2015. In total, the aircraft covered 35 thousand km, moving at a speed of 60-120 km/h. For 16 months, the plane landed in 15 cities around the world. And last summer, he set the record for the longest non-stop stay in the air, flying continuously for more than 120 hours.

What kind of winged machine is this, which once again clearly proved that science and technology are driving humanity forward faster and faster? The most surprising thing is that Solar Impulse 2 is just a single-seat aircraft, the cockpit of which resembles the interior of a small car. But that's where the usual comparisons end.

So, the aircraft is built of carbon fiber and has huge wings: a span of 72 m. This is slightly less than that of the world's largest passenger aircraft Airbus 380 (79.75 m) and more than the Boeing-747 (68.5 m ). At the same time, the sunflower weighs only 2.3 tons. Recall: the weight of an empty Airbus 380 is 280 tons, and Boeing 747 - 214.5 tons!

The planes of the giant wings and the upper part of the fuselage of the aircraft are covered with solar cells - these are over 17 thousand cells of single-crystal silicon solar cells. The thickness of each is only 135 microns. They are driven by four electric motors with a capacity of 17.5 horsepower. The aircraft can reach speeds up to 140 km/h.

By the way, this is not the first solar-powered aircraft. But, as experts emphasize, Solar Impulse 2 is the most efficient of all such designs. Indeed, five days in the sky without landing is, of course, cool. It can be recalled that the legendary first non-stop flight from Moscow to the USA via the North Pole by the crew of Valery Chkalov in 1937 lasted 63 hours and 16 minutes. And until recently, pilots spent 19 hours on the world's longest non-stop flight from New York to Singapore ... It is clear that comparing the Chkalovsky ANT-25, the passenger Airbus A340-500 and Solar Impulse 2, to put it mildly, is not correct. But the fact remains.

Infographics WG/Anton Peterletchikov/Natalia Yachmennikova

How could pilots survive five days in the tiny cockpit of Solar Impulse 2? Firstly, we trained - we spent 72 hours in special simulators, studied the techniques of yoga, breathing and self-hypnosis. Secondly, the pilot's seat works simultaneously as a reclining bunk, and as a sports simulator, and as a toilet .. The pilot slept for 20 minutes - at these moments he put the plane on autopilot. Parachute, life raft and survival kit are also packed in the back of the seat

At night, the "solar plane" flew on energy-intensive batteries charged during the day. Ammonia-alkaline electrolyte for batteries made it possible to obtain higher energy density, experts explain.

This miracle machine can withstand the weight of only one person. Therefore, two pilots - Swiss psychiatrist Bertrand Picard and businessman Andre Borshberg - flew in turn.

Bertrand Piccard in 1999 made the first non-stop flight around the Earth in a hot air balloon. He belongs to the well-known Picard family. His father, Jacques Picard, was the first to reach the bottom of the Mariinsky Trench in a bathyscaphe in 1960. And his grandfather Auguste Piccard was the first to rise into the stratosphere in a balloon in 1931.

The route was deliberately laid out through favorable weather regions, with the maximum number of sunny days. However, both the organizers of the flight and the pilots themselves were well aware of how high the degree of risk was. Especially when flying across the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic. Even the "worst scenario" was not ruled out - ejection and splashdown into the ocean ...

With our attempt at the first round-the-world flight, no matter how it ends, we want to show the world that clean technologies and renewable energy sources are already making it possible to achieve what was previously considered impossible, Picard said before the flight. “We want governments, leaders and especially young professionals to see that everything that Solar Impulse 2 can achieve in the air can soon be part of everyday life.

However, experts are not so optimistic in their assessments of the prospects for the sunflower: we will not see such commercial aircraft for a very long time. They have little power, they cannot lift a lot of weight into the air and fly at high speeds. The sun does not have enough "energy density" in order to lift planes that should fly somewhere in a reasonably short time, experts say. And one of the aviation authorities bluntly stated: for solar aircraft, the goal is just to be in the air, and not to fly at the right speed. Whatever one may say, the circumnavigation of the world without a drop of kerosene is rather a demonstrator of the possibilities of using solar energy for experimental purposes.

Despite the fact that Solar Impulse 2 will not revolutionize the aircraft industry, there are benefits from the project: for example, engineers had to make aircraft engines extremely efficient. Solar Impulse 2 engines lose only 3 percent of their energy through heat, while in a conventional aircraft this figure reaches 70 percent.

Meanwhile

One of the most promising substitutes for aviation kerosene is biofuel. According to experts, its share in transport by 2020 may reach up to 25 percent. There are already about a dozen variants of products and plants from which a new type of aircraft "fuel" is obtained. Algae, coconuts, Brazil nuts, plants of the genus Jatropha (a woody shrub with large oily seeds), non-food animal fats are used.