Plane Facts: Smallest Everything In Aviation
Check out these cool facts about the smallest things in aviation!
It seems natural for humans to go after bigger and better things. The biggest back account, the most populous country, the longest sandwich, the most absurdly large pumpkin at the county fair. In aviation, this inclination to go big or go home has expressed itself with the creation of giant transport planes, blimp hangars, 60,000-hour logbooks and gliders that are twice the size of the planes towing them. But people are funny, and for every person who dreams of creating the world's largest car, there's someone intent on creating the smallest one. Why? Sometimes, it's clearly for bragging rights, though it winds up being a strange kind of backward brag . Be that as it may, the world of aviation is replete with planes and people and places who delight in playing small ball. And more power to them (or is that less?) You know what we mean!
FAA minimum pilot height requirement: None
Air Force pilot minimum height: 64 inches standing (5'4")
Shortest fixed-wing takeoff/landing: Bobby Breeden, 44 ft total
Smallest multi-engine plane: Colomban Cri-Cri, 13 ft long, 16-ft wingspan
Smallest single: Stits DS-1 Baby Bird, 6-ft wingspan, length 11 ft
Smallest successful single (biplane): Stits SA-2A Baby Bird, 10 ft long, 11-ft wingspan
Smallest single that flew: Starr Bumble Bee II, 5'6" wingspan
Number built: One
Number of flights: A few on one day
Crashes: One
Fatalities: Zero
World's shortest airline runway: 1,200 feet, Yrausquin Airport on Saba, a small island in the Caribbean
Lowest airport in the world: Bar Yehuda Airfield, near the Dead Sea, Israel, 1,240 feet below sea level
Lowest airport in the United States: 210 ft below sea level, Furnace Creek, near Death Valley, Inyo County, California
Shortest scheduled airline flight: 1.7 miles, Westray to Papa Westray, Scotland
Shortest duration airline flight ever: Same route, 53 seconds
Shortest distance, U.S. airline flight: San Francisco to Santa Rosa, 62 miles
Even shorter: 12.5 miles (discontinued) Bridgeport, Connecticut (BDR), to New Haven (HVN), Connecticut. (Why? It's a mystery to us, too.)
Smallest rocket to achieve low Earth orbit: Just over 20,000 lbs. (about the same as a Cessna Citation Excel light bizjet)
Smallest airship: Voliris, a small envelope with a hang glider chariot beneath, 2,853 cubic ft (that's really small!)
Smallest hot air balloon: Hopper Balloons, no basket, solo pilot in a harness, around 150 pounds total weight (before the flame gets lit, that is)
Smallest current production-certificated jet engine: Pratt & Whitney PW-610F, 950-lb thrust
Application: Eclipse EA-500 jet
Smallest jet according to Guinness: Bede 5-J, 850 lbs. max weight, 17-ft wingspan
Actual smallest jet and twinjet: Colomban Cri-Cri, 375 lbs., 16.5-ft wingspan
Engines: Two TJ23U Turbojet, 47 lbs. thrust each
Slowest-powered, fixed-wing, non-VTOL aircraft: Gossamer Albatross (human powered), top speed, 18 mph
World's smallest helicopter: GEN H-4
Weight: 154 lbs.
World's way-too-smallest powered aircraft: JetPack Wingsuit, as flown by Yves Rossy (not capable of powered takeoff, though)
Smallest military jet: McDonnell Aviation Goblin XF-84 (parasite fighter
launched from a bomber), 21-ft wingspan
Lightest fixed-wing plane: Soviet X-14 ultralight, 56 lbs, folds into a backpack
Smallest air force: Possibly the Bahamas, which operates a Beechcraft King Air 350 and a Cessna Caravan
Smallest air force with combat planes: Lithuania, 2 planes
Smallest pilot population, U.S. state: 975, Rhode Island
Smallest powered craft capable of self-takeoff and sustained flight: Bell Jet Pack, 32 lbs., 3 ft tall
Slowest plane ever: 0 kts groundspeed. Any slower, it would be going faster!just in the opposite direction.
Want more crazy, fun, or frightening facts about all things aviation? Check out our Plane Facts Archive.
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