This is a list of notable flights across the English Channel.
| Date | Crossing | Participant(s) | Aircraft | Departure point Arrival point | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 January 1785[1] | First crossing by air | Jean Pierre François Blanchard (France) John Jeffries (US) | balloon | Dover, England Calais, France | — | |
| 15 June 1785 | First air crash | Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (France) Pierre Romain (France) | Rozière balloon combination hydrogen & hot-air balloon | Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France — | Balloon blown back over French soil and crashed, both killed. | |
| 9 September 1883 | First E-W crossing | François Lhoste | Ville-de-Boulogne gas balloon | Boulogne, France Ruckinge, Kent | Lhoste had made five previous attempts, and succeeded on the sixth.[2] [3] | |
| 30 September 1906 | First Gordon Bennett Cup Winner | Frank P. Lahm, Henry Blanchard Hersey (the United States of America) | Gas balloon | Tuileries, Paris Fylingdales, Yorkshire | Gas balloon traveled 641 km in 22 hours and 15 minutes [4] [5] | |
| 25 July 1909 | First person to cross the channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft | Louis Blériot (France) | Blériot XI | Calais, France Dover, England | Encouraged by £1000 prize offered by the Daily Mail for first successful flight across the Channel. Flight time 37 minutes. | |
| 2 June 1910 | First person to make a double crossing of the Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft[6] | Charles Stewart Rolls (UK) | Short Wright biplane | Swingfield Downs, Kent Sangatte, France | — | |
| Sangatte Eastchurch, Kent | ||||||
| 23 August 1910 | First aircraft flight with passengers | John Moisant (US) | Blériot XI | Calais, France Deal, England | Passengers were mechanic Albert Fileux and Moisant's cat. | |
| 4 November 1910 | First airship crossing | Ernest Willows (UK)Frank Goodden (UK) | City of Cardiff airship | Wormwood Scrubs, London, EnglandCorbehem, near Douai, France | Departed at 3:25pm on 4 November 1910. Night-time crossing, landed at 2:00am on 5 November 1910. Arrived at Paris on 28 December 1910.[7] | |
| 16 April 1912 | First woman to fly across the Channel | Harriet Quimby (US) | Blériot XI | Dover A beach near Neufchâtel-Hardelot, France | Flight time 59 minutes. Her accomplishment did not receive much media attention, as the RMS Titanic sank the evening before. | |
| 18 September 1928 | First flight across the Channel by autogyro | Juan de la Cierva (SPA) | Cierva C.8 | Achieved as part of the first flight by autogyro between London and Paris.[8] | ||
| 19 June 1931 | First crossing in a glider | Lissant Beardmore (UK) | RRG Professor glider | Aero-tow from Lympne to an altitude of 14000feet Saint-Inglevert Airfield, Pas-de-Calais.[9] | ||
| 6 September 1945 | First helicopter crossing | Helmut Gerstenhauer (Germany)Flt Lt. Dennis (UK) Flt. Lt. Morris (UK) | Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 | Cherbourg, France RAF Beaulieu, England | Helicopter was piloted by Gerstenhauer, with two Royal Air Force officers acting as observers.[10] | |
| 13 April 1963 | First crossing by hot air balloon | Don Piccard & Ed Yost (US) | “Channel Champ”[11] [12] | Rye, England Gravelines, France | First to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon. | |
| 9 May 1978 | First powered hang-glider to cross the Channel | David Cook (UK) | Volmer VJ-23E | Walmer, England Calais, France | Powered by a 9 hp (6.6 kW) McCulloch 101 engine.[13] Aircraft is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester.[14] | |
| 12 June 1979 | First human-powered aircraft to cross the Channel | Bryan Allen (US) | Gossamer Albatross | Folkstone, England Cap Gris Nez, France | Won a £100,000 Kremer Prize; Allen pedalled for three hours to propel the 55-pound (25 kg) aircraft | |
| 7 July 1981 | First crossing by electric aircraft[15] | Stephen Ptacek (US) | Solar Challenger | Pontoise Aerodrome, France RAF Manston, England | ||
| 22 August 1981 | First crossing by hybrid energy balloon[16] | Julian Nott (UK) | G-BAVU (aircraft registration number) | North-west of Dover, England Tournehem-sur-la-Hem, France[17] | Solar-powered lift | |
| 31 July 2003 | Felix Baumgartner (Austria) | wingsuit and a carbon fibre wing | ||||
| First crossing with a jetpack | Yves Rossy (Switzerland) | Crossing completed in less than ten minutes[18] | ||||
| 6 August 2009 | First crossing with an electric driven aircraft with onboard energy | Gerard Thevenot | Gerard Thevenot crossed the channel with his HYNOV, an electric driven trike aircraft with hydrogen as source of energy [19] | |||
| 28 May 2010 | First crossing by helium balloon cluster | Jonathan Trappe (US) | The Channel Cluster | Challock, Kent, England Les Moëres, France | Completed in 4 hours. He crossed the Channel dangling beneath a cloud of coloured helium balloons and controlled his altitude by cutting the balloons free one by one with a pair of scissors.[20] [21] | |
| 9 July 2015 | First crossing by battery-powered electric aircraft[22] [23] [24] | Hugues Duval | Colomban Cri-cri | Air-launched | ||
| 9 July 2015 | First battery-powered electric aircraft to takeoff and fly over the Channel | Didier Esteyne | Airbus E-Fan | |||
| 16 February 2016 | First quadcopter drone to fly across the Channel in a single flight.[25] | Richard Gill | Enduro 1 | Wissant, FranceShakespeare Beach, Dover | Drone launched from beach in France and flew back to UK. The total flight time was 78 minutes at an average speed of about 10 m/s. The flight was conducted with the approval of the French DGAC and British CAA. | |
| 14 June 2017 | First crossing by flying car.[26] | Bruno Vezzoli, Jérôme Dauffy | Pégase Mark II | Ambleteuse, FranceEast Studdal, near Dover | Pegase developed by Vaylon company took off from France and flew to UK. Total flight time: 85 minutes Distance 72,5 km which 33,3 km over the channel. |
