20th Anniversary Of Airship Speed Record By Steve Fossett | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-07.14.25

Airborne-NextGen-07.15.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.16.25

Airborne-FlightTraining-07.17.25

AirborneUnlimited-07.11.25

Fri, Nov 01, 2024

20th Anniversary Of Airship Speed Record By Steve Fossett

Adventurer And Pilot Held 89 Air Sports Records

October 27th marked the 20-year anniversary of Steve Fossett’s record-setting flight in Friedrichshafen, Germany, when he flew a Zeppelin NT at 115 km/hr, beating the previous record of 92.8 km/hr.

The standing record had been set in 2000 by James Dexter and Michael Kendrick.

Fossett did not have a license to fly the Zeppelin until just a few weeks before his flight. His instructor and eventual copilot was Hans-Paul Stroehle. The two spent a number of sessions together in late summer 2004 making sure Fossett knew all the requirements in the flight training handbook. He passed his flight examination in early October and began looking for a suitable day to attempt the record.

The dates for the first attempt were chosen to be October 27/28 at Friedrichshafen Airport (ICAO: EDNY). At 08:21 a.m. local the morning of the first attempt, weather was suboptimal, with winds above 10 knots and at an angle to the runway course to be flown in the record attempts.

The Zeppelin NT took off with Fossett at the controls, Stroehle was the copilot, and the FAI observers aboard were champion balloonist Uwe Schneider and Christian Michel. Initially the Zeppelin made several runs so the observers could test their method of measuring the speed.

In record-setting attempts, the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) specifies that the airship must fly a defined linear course of 1,000 meters in both directions while maintaining altitude and course. The time is averaged to account for the wind and determines the average speed, which is what is used for the record.

They made 9 passes along the runway and landed at 09:43 a.m. The observers congratulated the pilots for setting the record and everyone celebrated!

FMI:  www.fai.org/

 


Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (07.15.25): Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach

Charted Visual Flight Procedure Approach An approach conducted while operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan which authorizes the pilot of an aircraft to proceed >[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (07.15.25)

“When l became the Secretary of Defense, I committed to rebuild our military to match threats to capabilities. Drones are the biggest battlefield innovation in a generation, >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (07.15.25)

Aero Linx: Stearman Restorers Association Welcome to the Stearman Restorers Association. The Stearman Restorers Association is an independent “Not for Profit” 501C-3 Co>[...]

NTSB Final Report: Kjelsrud Gary Kitfox

Airplane Exhibited A Partial Loss Of Engine Power When It Was About Halfway Down The Runway Analysis: The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane was departing from his pr>[...]

NTSB Prelim: Cessna A150L

The Flight Path Was Consistent With Low-Altitude Maneuvering On June 18, 2025, about 0922 mountain standard time, a Cessna A150L airplane, N6436F, was substantially damaged when it>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC