List of firsts in aviation

This is a list of firsts in aviation. For a comprehensive list of women's records, see Women in aviation.

First person to fly The first flight (including gliding) by a person is unknown. A number have been suggested:

In 559 A.D., several prisoners of Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, including Yuan Huangtou of Ye, were said to have been forced to launch themselves with a kite from a tower, as an experiment. Only Yuan Huangtou survived, only to be executed later.

In the 9th century, the Andalusian Abbas ibn Firnas attempted a short gliding flight with wings covered with feathers from the Tower of Cordoba but was injured while landing. [100f.]

In the early 11th century, Eilmer of Malmesbury, an English Benedictine monk, attempted a gliding flight using wings. He is recorded as travelling for more than a furlong [201 metres] before breaking his legs on landing.William of Malmesbury – ed. and trans. R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom (1998–99). Gesta regum Anglorum / The history of the English kings. Oxford Medieval Texts.

According to some accounts, during the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644), Wan Hu is said to have attempted to fly unsuccessfully, by means of forty-seven rockets and two kites attached to a chair.

In c. 1509, the Italian alchemist and abbot of Tongland, John Damian, is said to have made an attempt at human-powered flight off the walls of Stirling Castle in the Kingdom of Scotland, if a satirical account in two poems by the poet William Dunbar is based on facts.

Between 1630 and 1632, Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi is said to have glided over the Bosphorus strait from the Galata Tower to the Üsküdar district in Istanbul.

In 1633 his brother Lagari Hasan Çelebi may have survived a flight on a 7-winged rocket powered by gunpowder from Sarayburnu, the point below Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.Winter, Frank H. (1992). "Who First Flew in a Rocket?", Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 45 (July 1992), p. 275-80

None of these historical accounts are adequately supported by corroborating evidence nor have any been widely accepted. The first confirmed human flight was accomplished by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier in a tethered Montgolfier balloon in 1783.

Lighter than air (aerostats) First animals to fly in a balloon: A sheep called Montauciel, along with a duck and a rooster were sent on a balloon flight by the Montgolfier brothers on September 19, 1783.

First manned flight: Étienne Montgolfier went aloft in a tethered Montgolfier hot air balloon on October 15, 1783.

First manned free flight in an untethered balloon: Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes flew in a Montgolfier hot air balloon from the Château de la Muette to the Butte-aux-Cailles, Paris, on November 21, 1783.

First manned gas balloon flight: Professor Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert flew from Paris to Nesles-la-Vallée in a hydrogen-filled balloon on December 1, 1783.

First women to fly: The Marchioness and Countess of Montalembert, the Countess of Podenas, and Miss de Lagarde ascended in a tethered balloon over Paris, on May 20, 1784.

First woman in free flight in an untethered balloon: Élisabeth Thible flew over Lyon singing arias on June 4, 1784, in order to entertain Gustav III of Sweden.

First flight in a steerable balloon (or airship): On July 15, 1784, the Robert brothers (Les Frères Robert) flew for 45 minutes from Saint-Cloud to Meudon with M. Collin-Hullin and Louis Philippe II, the Duke of Chartres, in an elongated balloon designed by Jacques Charles, following Jean Baptiste Meusnier's suggestions (1783–85), but the oars did not work. First primitive airmail: John Jeffries dropped four letters from a balloon over London on November 30, 1784.

First flight across the English Channel: Was made by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries in a balloon on January 7, 1785.

First aviation disaster: Occurred in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, when a hot air balloon caused a fire that burned down about 100 houses on May 10, 1785.

First known fatalities in an air crash: Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and Pierre Romain died when their Rozière balloon deflated and crashed near Wimereux in Pas-de-Calais, on June 15, 1785.Fulgence, Marion. "Part 2, Chapter 10: The Necrology of Aeronautics". Wonderful Balloon Ascents. Cassel Petter & Galpin.

First blood chit equivalent carried by an airman: By Jean-Pierre Blanchard (who did not speak English) on the first balloon flight in America, on January 9, 1793.

First jump from a balloon with a parachute (claimed): Jean-Pierre Blanchard claimed to have used a parachute in 1793 to escape his hot air balloon when it ruptured, but there were no witnesses.

First jump from a balloon with a parachute (observed): Andre Jacques Garnerin in Paris in 1797.Davy 1937, p.46

First balloon ascent on horseback. Pierre Testu-Brissy ascended from Belleville Park in Paris.Ballooning History, Who's Who.

First woman to jump from a balloon with a parachute: Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse jumped from an altitude of on October 12, 1799.

First woman to pilot her own balloon: Sophie Blanchard flew solo from the garden of the Cloister of the Jacobins in Toulouse on August 18, 1805.

First woman to be killed in an aviation accident: Sophie Blanchard was killed when her hydrogen balloon ignited on July 6, 1819.

First successful steerable powered balloon: The Giffard dirigible was developed and flown by Henri Giffard, from the Paris Hippodrome to Trappes on September 24, 1852.

First balloon mail service: Passed vital information over Prussian lines during the 1870–71 Siege of Paris.Loving, Matthew (2011). Bullets and Balloons: French Airmail during the Siege of Paris. Franconian Press.

First flight in an airship powered by an internal combustion engine: Was made by Alberto Santos Dumont in 1898.

First flight of a rigid airship: Was made by the Zeppelin LZ 1 from Lake Constance (the Bodensee) on July 2, 1900.

First woman to pilot a powered aircraft: Rose Isabel Spencer, in Stanley Spencer's Airship Number 1, at Crystal Palace, London on July 14, 1902.Motoring Illustrated, August 2, 1902, pp 215–216

First trans-Atlantic rigid airship flight: Was made by the R34 from RAF East Fortune to Mineola, New York from July 2 to July 6, 1919.The Transatlantic Voyage of R.34 Flight 10 July 1919, pp. 906–10 This flight carried the first trans-Atlantic stowaways: William Ballantyne and his tabby cat, Wopsie. Wopsie and two homing pigeons were the first animals to cross the Atlantic in an aircraft, with Wopsie being the first quadruped known to have flown across a major body of water.

First helium-filled rigid airship to fly: Was the USS Shenandoah on August 20, 1923, although it did not make a powered flight until September 24, 1923.

First people to reach the stratosphere: Were Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer, who ascended to the height of in a hydrogen balloon on May 27, 1931.

First crossing of the Atlantic by balloon: Was made by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman in the helium-filled Double Eagle II, on August 17, 1978.

First non-stop balloon crossing of North America: Maxie and Kris Anderson in the helium-filled Kitty Hawk, on May 12, 1980.

First trans-Pacific crossing by balloon: Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman, Ron Clark and Rocky Aoki, in gas-filled Double Eagle V, in November 1981.

First balloon flight on another planet: Was conducted by the Soviet Vega 1 Balloon in the skies above Venus between June 11, 1985, and June 13, 1985. This was the first flight of any man-made object in another planet's atmosphere.

First non-stop balloon circumnavigation of the Earth: Was made by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones who flew from Château d'Oex, Switzerland, to Egypt, on Breitling Orbiter 3, between March 1 and March 21, 1999, in 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes.

First solo non-stop balloon flight around the Earth: Steve Fossett, in the Spirit of Freedom, circumnavigated the globe between June 19 and July 3, 2002.

Heavier than air (aerodynes) Pioneer era 1853–1914

First manned glider flight: Was made by an unidentified boy in an uncontrolled glider launched by George Cayley in 1853.

First confirmed manned powered flight: Was made by Clément Ader in an uncontrolled monoplane of his own design, in 1890.

First controlled manned glider flight: Was made by Otto Lilienthal in a glider of his own design, in 1891.

First controlled, sustained flight in a powered airplane: Was made by Orville Wright in the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, covering .

First circular flight by a powered airplane: Was made by Wilbur Wright who flew in about a minute and a half on September 20, 1904.

First aircraft to fly using ailerons for lateral control: Was Robert Esnault-Pelterie's October 1904 glider, although ailerons were only named that in 1908 by Henry Farman.Gunston, 1992, p.62

First flight of an aircraft with pneumatic tires: Was Traian Vuia's March 18, 1906 flight with his Vuia 1, travelling at a height of about for about .

First heavier-than-air unaided takeoff and flight of more than in Europe: Was made by Alberto Santos-Dumont, flew a distance of in his 14-bis to win the Archdeacon Prize on October 23, 1906.

First flight certified by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI): Was made by Alberto Santos Dumont, when he flew his 14-bis, without liftoff aid, over a distance of in the presence of official observers from the newly founded FAI on November 12, 1906.

First airplane passenger: Was Léon Delagrange, with pilot Henri Farman, on March 29, 1908.

First use of the modern aircraft flight control system: Was in the Blériot VIII, which took to the air with Robert Esnault-Pelterie's control layout, using a joystick for pitch and roll control, and a foot-bar for lateral control, in April 1908.

First person to die in a crash of a powered airplane: Was Thomas Etholen Selfridge, a passenger on an aircraft flown by Orville Wright which crashed on September 17, 1908. Wright was badly injured, and was hospitalised for seven weeks.

First return flight between two towns: Was made by Louis Blériot, who flew from Toury to Artenay, and back on October 30, 1908, for a total distance of .Gunston, 1992, p.58

First official pilot's licence: Was licence number 1, which was issued to Louis Blériot by the Aéro Club de France on January 7, 1909.Gunston, 1992, p.66

First aircraft to fly with a rotary engine: Was a Farman III biplane, in April 1909.

First ditching of an airplane: Was made by Hubert Latham, while attempting to complete the first powered flight across the English Channel in an Antoinette IV monoplane, but experienced an engine failure on July 19, 1909.

First airplane flight across the English Channel: Was completed by Louis Blériot in a Blériot XI on July 25, 1909, to win a £1,000 Daily Mail prize.

First animal to fly on an airplane: Happened when John Moore-Brabazon, in the Short Biplane No. 2 (not a Voisin as sometimes reported) took a pig later named Icarus II aloft on November 4, 1909, as a joke to prove the adage that pigs could fly.

First flight in Latin America: Dimitri Sensaud de Lavaud, flies a São Paulo Airplane constructed with help of his assistant Lourenço Pellegatti, he flew a distance of in Osasco-Brazil, on January 7, 1910. First flight in complete darkness: Henry Farman, flies a Farman biplane without the benefit of moonlight, on March 1, 1910.Gunston, 1992, p.80

First woman to earn a pilot license: Was Raymonde de Laroche, on March 8, 1910.Air Trails, July 1953. "The Brave Baroness – First Licensed Ladybird" by Harry Harper.

First flight in Asia: Was made by Giacomo D'Angelis, in a biplane built by D'Angelis entirely from his own designs, experimenting with a small horse-power engine, on March 29, 1910, in Chennai, India (formerly known as Madras).