What is the FAI World Records database?
The official records database of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, founded in Paris in October 1905 following a resolution of the Olympic Congress in Brussels, and the body that certifies aeronautical records internationally — and, by long-standing arrangement, human spaceflight records too.[1] [2]
What does it cover?
Records only — not rankings, and not routine competition results. Searchable by category and sub-class across powered aeroplanes, parachuting, gliding, ballooning, hang gliding and paragliding, rotorcraft, aeromodelling, microlights, airships, human-powered aircraft, UAVs and space, with distance, altitude, speed, duration and time-to-climb marks, and both current and superseded records browsable.[1]
Why does it matter?
Because air sports have no equivalent of a season ranking — the record is the achievement. Claims are filed through the claimant's National Airsport Control, verified against GPS logger traces, instrumentation and official observers, and then ratified by the relevant Air Sport Commission, so records appear only once ratified and there is a real lag between the flight and the entry.[1] [2]
References
- FAI — records. Accessed August 2026.
- FAI — World Air Sports Federation. Accessed August 2026.