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/