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 On February 7, 2005 the Ramenskoye airfield saw the world record in speed of hot-air airship flight set by two Russian sportswomen.The female crew consisting of the pilot-in-command Natalia Volodicheva (Moscow) and the second pilot Yekaterina Kochetkova (Zhukovsky) has set the world record among women in speed of flight in a BX-4 subclass hot-air airship (envelope volume 1600- 3000 cu. m ). The airship accomplished 1-kilometer distance, or ground speed course, several times. The mean speed was derived from the two consecutive flights - downwind and upwind. The airship took-off at 16.20 and landed at 16.50; in those 30 minutes it passed over the marked-out runway 3 times. The "purity" of the record process was watched by official observers - sports commissioners Sergey Kiselyov, the General Secretary of Russian Federation of Air Sports, and Yuri Vetrov - with the help of ground registering instrumentation. The chief of the flight planning and air traffic control department of the Ramenskoye aerodrome N. Shmatov also was among the observers. Flights were carried out at an altitude of 30 metres and governed by the chief of the flight test department of the Augur Aeronautical Centre Leonid Putintsev, who said that weather conditions had been almost too difficult for this type of airships. The record-holders briefly commented on their accomplishment. "The flight was interesting", Natalia Volodicheva said, " under certain conditions we are ready to improve our results and set records in duration and distance of flight." Yekaterina Kochetkova continued by saying, "If we go at it, we shall break the record."
Hot-air airships belong to a rather young generation of lighter-than-air vehicles. They appeared on the scene in the last decades of the 20th century and instantly drew attention of business circles that lost no time in estimating the great possibilities of such unusual and attractive advertising carriers. Gliding at a low speed these aircraft arrest all sights. However, tardiness - compared to gas airships - of these sky giants attracted professional aeronauts. The register of the International Federation of Aeronautics (FAI) with the headquarters in Lausanne (Switzerland) has been keeping count of records of such lighter-than-air vehicles for twenty years. Among them there is a Russian record-holder Nikolay Galkin who in winter of 2004 established the world record in duration of flight in the AV-1 hot-air airship constructed by the Czech company Kubicek Balloons in cooperation with the Augur Aeronautical Centre. By the way, it is Nikolay Galkin who instructed Natalia and Yekaterina. The absolute world speed record of this type of airships belongs to the Englishman David Hempleman-Adams who completed 1-kilometer speed course at 25.71 km per hour in the Cameron Balloons DP-70 airship.
According to the rules established by FAI, Russian sportswomen took record positions in several classes: not only in BX-4, but also in BX-5, BX-6, BX-7, BX-8, BX-9, and BX-10. This precedent never yet seen by Federation allows Natalia and Yekaterina claiming world records in distance, duration, and altitude of flight among women.
Record registration procedure consists of two stages: first it must be registered in a national organization, namely Russian Federation of Air Sports, and then the claim goes to FAI. The General Secretary Sergey Kiselyov notes: "All the necessary documents for the world record registration are sent to the FAI headquarters."
The record flight was organized by the Augur Aeronautical Centre, Russian Federation of Aeronautics and Russian Aeronautic Society. In the near future Russian sportsmen are planning to establish a number of world records in hot-air and gas airships.
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