Flight Airspeed Record

An air speed record is the highest speed attained by an aircraft of a particular class.The rules for all official aviation records are defined by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), and they also ratify any claims.

The SR-71 "Blackbird" holds the official Air Speed Record for a manned airbreathing jet aircraft with a speed of 3,529.56 km/h (2,194 mph). It was capable of taking off and landing unassisted on conventional runways. The record was set on 28 July 1976 by Eldon W. Joersz near Beale Air Force Base, California, USA

However for some people the term 'air speed record' implies simply the fastest aircraft. Other aircraft have flown faster without breaking the official air speed record. This is because they do not comply with FAI rules. For example, experimental high-speed aircraft are often unable to take off under their own power, and require a carrier aircraft.

The Space Shuttle is the fastest aircraft, but it is unable to take off solely under its own power, requiring two solid rocket boosters during its ascent to orbit. During its ascent through the atmosphere the Shuttle's airspeed is under Mach 2. However, during re-entry it flies into the atmosphere at 28164 kilometres per hour (17,500 miles per hour) because of its residual orbital velocity, making it easily the fastest manned aircraft (in this case a glider).

The Boeing X-43A has been claimed to be the fastest air-breathing aircraft by NASA, having travelled at 11,200 km/h (7,000 mph), or Mach 9.68, on November 16, 2004. However, it is an unmanned test vehicle, and relies on a carrier aircraft to reach altitude, and a discardable booster rocket to reach the operating speed of its scramjet engine. It is incapable of landing. Australian scramjet test vehicles have also reached Mach 10, but since they were purely research vehicles no record claim has ever been made for them. If this sort of projectile counts as an aircraft then early experiments with gun-accelerated projectiles might also be considered.

The rocket-powered X-15 was the fastest powered, manned aircraft, reaching a top speed of 7,274 km/h (4,510 mph) on October 3, 1967. However, it was a rocket-powered test aircraft incapable of taking off from the ground and was launched at altitude from a carrier aircraft and operated at the margins of the atmosphere.