Highest altitute ever reached???

[UnAnswerd]

Does anyone know the word record for the highest altitude ever reached by a conventional fixed-wing aircraft? Exclusions would include anything powered by a rocket-type devise, anything carried to altitude by another aircraft/spacecraft, and anything re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

 

[Ailerongirl]

I did a search, and came up with this website:

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/DanaWollman.shtml

That quoted:

On August 22, 1963, Joseph A. Walker achieved the highest altitude ever gained by an airplane: 107,900 m. (354,200 feet).

 

[Styles]

I did a search, and came up with this website:

http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/DanaWollman.shtml

That quoted:

X-15s were powered by XLR-99 rocket engines


u-2 "above 70,000'," Still top Secret

sr-71 "above 85,000" Still top Secret

 

[banned username 2]

On August 22, 1963, Joseph A. Walker achieved the highest altitude ever gained by an airplane: 107,900 m. (354,200 feet).

SpaceShip One beat that record in October 2004 during its second X Prize Flight... It attained an altitude somewhere around 377,000 ft beating Joe Walker's long standing record by over 20,000 ft... (I can't remember the exact altitude)

 

[mzaharis]

Here's the official records page.

http://records.fai.org/general_aviation/current.asp?id1=21&id2=4
Altitude without payload : 37 650 m (That's 123,524 feet)

Date of flight: 31/08/1977
Pilot: Alexandr FEDOTOV (USSR)
Course/place: Podmoskovnoe Aerodrome (Russia)

Aircraft:
Mikoyan/Gurevitch E-266M (2 RDF, 14 000 kg each)

NOTE: This record was a "Zoom Climb". The record for level flight is approx. 85,000 feet, by an SR-71.

EDIT - Found the SR-71 record:

http://records.fai.org/general_aviation/aircraft.asp?id=779

Sub-class : Absolute (Absolute record)
Not applicable
Altitude in horizontal flight : 25 929 m (85,069 feet)

Date of flight: 28/07/1976
Pilot: Robert C. HELT (USA)
Course/place: Beale Air Force Base, CA (USA)

Aircraft:
Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" (2 Pratt & Whitney, 30 000 lb each)
Registered 'USAF'

 

[mzaharis]

I hate replying to myself, but I'd like to supply some more information.

The FAI, which verifies all record claims, has a number of categories. Aircraft categories generally are determined by propulsion - Piston, Turboprop, Turbojet (including turbofan), and Rocket). Additionally, they break things down by landplane, seaplane, and amphibians. They recognize a bunch of different records by weight class, and weight with a payload.

Generally, unless otherwise specified, the aircraft need to take off and land under their own energy for most airplane records. There was at least one record which was established by the X-15, but the FAI created a special category of "Aeroplane launched from a ship".

For my searches, I started with "Landplanes, Unlimited weight", with "turbojet" engines.

A more complete records page may be found here:

http://www.fai.org/records