FAI Ballooning Commission (CIA)
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Ninety years since the first round-the-world airship flight
August 2019 marks the 90 year anniversary of the first round-the-world airship journey, made by German pilot Dr Hugo Eckener and his passengers in the rigid airship, Graf Zeppelin.
The Graf Zeppelin was already famous, having already made a 71-hour, 6384.50km journey in 1928, making the FAI record books for distance and duration in an airship; records that still stand today.
A cold day for hot air records
Following FAI Ratification of 3 World Records, American pilot Kim Magee shares her story:
On Saturday, January 19, 2019, planning for over 10 months came together and I set out to achieve a record in a very small hot air balloon. The weather was going to be bitterly cold, -29°C on the surface and much colder aloft. Winds were light for a few thousand feet up from the surface, perfect for an altitude attempt. My goal was to climb to 15,000 feet (4570 meters) Mean Sea Level to obtain the FAI AX-02 world altitude record.
Twenty years since balloonists Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones took off on their record-breaking round-the-world flight
On 1 March 1999, the hot air balloon pilots Bertrand Piccard of Switzerland and Brian Jones of Great Britain took off on an historic, non-stop, 20-day flight during which they circumvented the globe in just 15 days. By the time they landed on 21 March, they had set a total of seven new world records, including Distance, Duration and Altitude across all balloon types and sizes (Absolute category).
