Editing Aircraft (section)

== Size and speed extremes ==
=== Size ===
{{Main|List of large aircraft}}The largest aircraft by dimensions and volume (as of 2016) is the {{cvt|302|ft|m}} long British [[Airlander 10]], a hybrid blimp, with helicopter and fixed-wing features, and reportedly capable of speeds up to {{cvt|90|mph|km/h kn}}, and an airborne endurance of two weeks with a payload of up to {{cvt|22050|lbs|kg}}.<ref name="telegraph">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/17/worlds-largest-aircraft-the-airlander-takes-first-flight/ "World's largest aircraft the Airlander makes maiden flight in UK,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122224818/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/17/worlds-largest-aircraft-the-airlander-takes-first-flight/ |date=22 November 2016}} 16 August 2016, London 'Daily Telegraph' via Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref><ref name="airlander_cbs">"Airlander 10, the world's largest aircraft, takes off for the first time," 19 August 2016, CBS News (TV) retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref><ref name="crash_cnn">Kottasova, Ivana [https://money.cnn.com/2016/08/24/technology/worlds-largest-aircraft-crash-airlander-10/ "The world's largest aircraft crashes after 2nd test flight"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122224325/https://money.cnn.com/2016/08/24/technology/worlds-largest-aircraft-crash-airlander-10/ |date=22 November 2016}}, 24 August 2016, ''CNN Tech'' on [[CNN]], the Cable News Network. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref>

The largest aircraft by weight and largest regular fixed-wing aircraft ever built, {{as of|2016|lc=y}}, was the [[Antonov An-225 Mriya|Antonov An-225 ''Mriya'']]. That Soviet-built ([[Ukrainian SSR]]) six-engine transport of the 1980s was {{cvt|84|m|ft}} long, with an {{cvt|88|m|ft}} wingspan. It holds the world payload record, after transporting {{cvt|428834|lbs|kg}} of goods, and has flown {{cvt|100|t|lbs}} loads commercially. With a maximum loaded weight of {{cvt|550-700|t|lbs}}, it was also the heaviest aircraft built to date. It could cruise at {{cvt|500|mph|km/h kn}}.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=July|first1=Dyre|title=Fly Drive Aanbiedingen|url=https://www.flydrivereizen.nl/aanbiedingen/|website=flydrivereizen.nl|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104014121/https://www.flydrivereizen.nl/aanbiedingen/|archive-date=4 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="biggest_fox">[https://www.foxnews.com/tech/watch-the-worlds-biggest-plane-land-in-australia/ "Watch the world's biggest plane land in Australia,"]  16 May 2016, Fox News. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref><ref name="biggest_chron">{{cite news|last=Rumbaugh|first=Andrea|url=http://www.chron.com/business/article/World-s-largest-airplane-lands-at-Bush-airport-10622046.php#item-38488|title=World's biggest airplane lands at Bush airport|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123052928/http://www.chron.com/business/article/World-s-largest-airplane-lands-at-Bush-airport-10622046.php|archive-date=23 November 2016|date=18 November 2016|work=Houston Chronicle}}</ref><ref name="worlds_largest_might_lose_smithsonian_2015">Lewis, Danny, [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/worlds-largest-aircraft-might-lose-its-title-blimp-180956677/ "The World's Largest Aircraft Might Lose its Title to a Blimp,"], 18 September 2015, ''Smart News'', Smithsonian.com, [[Smithsonian Institution]], Washington, D.C.. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref><ref name="largest_aero">[http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0188.shtml "Ask Us – Largest Plane in the World,"] Aerospaceweb.org. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref> The aircraft was destroyed during the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shead|first=Sam|title=Photos show world's largest cargo plane destroyed in Ukraine|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/04/antonov-an-225-wreckage-worlds-largest-plane-destroyed-in-ukraine.html|access-date=25 January 2023|website=CNBC|date=4 April 2022}}</ref>

The largest military airplanes are the Ukrainian [[Antonov An-124 Ruslan|Antonov An-124 ''Ruslan'']] (world's second-largest airplane, also used as a civilian transport),<ref name="2nd_nasa">[https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_028_Antonov.html "World's Second Largest Aircraft,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122222701/https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_028_Antonov.html |date=22 November 2016}} 28 July 2013, [[NASA]]. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref> and American [[Lockheed C-5 Galaxy]] transport, weighing, loaded, over {{cvt|380|t|lbs}}.<ref name="largest_aero" /><ref name="wide_nasa">Loftin, Laurence K., Jr., [https://history.nasa.gov/SP-468/ch13-5.htm "Wide-Body Transports"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607034616/http://history.nasa.gov/SP-468/ch13-5.htm |date=7 June 2013}}, in Chapter 13, "Jet Transports," in Part II, "The Jet Age," in ''Quest for Performance: The Evolution of Modern Aircraft'', NASA SP-468, 1985, Scientific and Technical Information Branch, [[NASA]], Washington, D.C., Updated: 6 August 2004. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref> The 8-engine, piston/propeller [[Hughes H-4 Hercules|Hughes H-4 ''Hercules'']] "Spruce Goose"&nbsp;— an American [[World War II]] wooden flying boat transport with a greater wingspan (94m/260&nbsp;ft) than any current aircraft and a tail height equal to the tallest (Airbus A380-800 at 24.1m/78&nbsp;ft)&nbsp;— flew only one short hop in the late 1940s and never flew out of [[Ground effect (aerodynamics)|ground effect]].<ref name="largest_aero" />

The largest civilian airplanes, apart from the above-noted An-225 and An-124, are the [[Airbus Beluga]] cargo transport derivative of the [[Airbus A300]] jet airliner, the [[Boeing Dreamlifter]] cargo transport derivative of the [[Boeing 747]] jet airliner/transport (the 747-200B was, at its creation in the 1960s, the heaviest aircraft ever built, with a maximum weight of over {{cvt|400|t|lbs}}),<ref name="wide_nasa" /> and the double-decker [[Airbus A380]] "super-jumbo" jet airliner (the world's largest passenger airliner).<ref name="largest_aero" /><ref name="airbus_times">[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/business/worldbusiness/29iht-airbus.4.12438349.html "Airbus reviews A380 schedule,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002211/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/business/worldbusiness/29iht-airbus.4.12438349.html |date=2 February 2017}} 29 April 2008, ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 22 November 2016.</ref>

=== Speeds ===
{{Main|Flight airspeed record}}
The fastest fixed-wing aircraft and fastest glider, is the [[Space Shuttle]], which re-entered the atmosphere at nearly Mach 25 or {{cvt|17,500|mph|km/h}}<ref name="regimes">{{cite web|editor=Benson, Tom|url=https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/BGH/hihyper.html|title=Speed Regimes: Hypersonic Re-Entry|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161123052843/https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/BGH/hihyper.html|archive-date=23 November 2016|url-status=live|publisher=Glenn Research Center, [[NASA]]}}</ref>

The fastest recorded powered aircraft flight and fastest recorded aircraft flight of an air-breathing powered aircraft was of the [[NASA X-43]]A ''Pegasus'', a [[scramjet]]-powered, [[Hypersonic speed|hypersonic]], [[lifting body]] experimental research aircraft, at [[Mach number|Mach]] 9.68 or {{cvt|6,755|mph|sigfig=4}} on 16 November 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-aircraft-air-breathing-engine|title=Fastest aircraft, air-breathing engine: X-43|date=16 November 2004|work=Guinness World Records}}</ref>

Prior to the X-43A, the fastest recorded powered airplane flight, and still the record for the fastest manned powered airplane, was the [[North American X-15]], rocket-powered airplane at Mach 6.7 or 7,274&nbsp;km/h (4,520&nbsp;mph) on 3 October 1967.<ref name="manned_guinness">{{cite web|url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/78491-fastest-aircraft-rocket-powered|title=Fastest speed in a non-spacecraft aircraft|work=Guinness World Records|date=3 October 1967}}</ref>

The fastest manned, air-breathing powered airplane is the [[Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird]], a U.S. [[reconnaissance]] jet fixed-wing aircraft, having reached {{cvt|3529.56|km/h|adj=ri0|sigfig=4}} on 28 July 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fai.org/record/8879|date=28 July 1976|title=current record, Powered Aeroplanes, Absolute, Speed|publisher=[[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale|FAI]]}}</ref>