What is the slowest fixed-wing airplane?

Question

It's easy to find information about the fastest airplanes, in different categories (e.g. X-15, SR-71, the Concorde etc), but what is the slowest one? Which powered, manned airplane is capable of sustained level flight at lowest velocity?

A hovering helicopter is an aircraft! An airship is an aircraft. Are you asking only about fixed-wing powered aircraft? — RedGrittyBrick, Jun 27 '17 at 08:57
Nobody has mentioned the military jets such as the Harrier which can hover (or even fly backwards) using vectored thrust. I guess this is "cheating" in the context of this question, or possibly not sufficiently sustained before it consumes a full load of fuel. — nigel222, Jun 28 '17 at 11:26
@nigel222: It needs to be an airplane (sustained by lift from wings, not by thrust) else a helicopter would also be relevant, and maybe Elon Musk rockets. — mins, Jun 28 '17 at 19:06
Note that an autogyro is kept aloft by lift from its wings, which (unlike the rotor blades of a helicopter) are not powered; a separate propeller provides forward thrust to keep the aircraft moving forward,which causes air to flow past the wings. And an autogyro can fly very slow. But since the wings autorotate, the autogyro is not considered a fixed wing aircraft; it's a footnote to this question rather than an answer. — David K, Jun 28 '17 at 21:30
I propose that to solve this puzzle we have a race and see who comes in last, with the owner of that plane receiving a(n) hefty prize... and each person will fly a plane that isn't their own. — Michael, Jun 30 '17 at 23:32
They aren't going to be winners in this competition, but two curiosities that would make a fine addition here would be the "Flying Pancakes" (Vought V-173/XF-5U), which had extremely unusual wing geometry and very low stall speeds by design. The XF-5U, which had been built, taxi-tested but not really flown, would have had stall speeds ~20 kts. — Iwillnotexist Idonotexist, Jul 03 '17 at 02:15
Hmm... This question says "at lowest velocity." Did you perhaps mean "lowest airspeed?" It's quite possible to sustain flight with negative forward velocity (relative to the ground) in a strong headwind in a fixed-wing aircraft. — reirab, Jul 27 '17 at 15:03
I've had people tell me they landed a C42 backwards, so less than 0kts forward speed :) — Cloud, Aug 11 '23 at 09:49

score 95 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 18 '17 at 18:36

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The Gossamer Albatross is a human-powered plane with a top speed of 29 km/h (18mph).

It was used to cross the English Channel and seems to meet the criteria of the question.

edited Jul 18 '17 at 18:36

GypsyCosmonaut

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answered Jun 27 '17 at 13:32

Michael Schumacher

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Well... http://newatlas.com/mow-cycle-human-powered-riding-mower/14491/ – Michael Schumacher Jun 28 '17 at 20:36
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This aircraft is as much powered as... the two bicycles below it ;-) – mins Jun 28 '17 at 22:09
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It's very Kiki's delivery service :) – Fattie Jun 29 '17 at 00:33
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Is there any info about the stall or minimum speed? https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/39327/whats-the-slowest-airplane#comment103345_39373 suggests it can fly at 7mph, but is there anything more definitive? – Peter Cordes Jun 29 '17 at 01:04
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The 7 mph from that answer was for the Gossamer Condor, the predecessor of the Albatross. – Michael Schumacher Jun 29 '17 at 08:06

score 61 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

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The Antonov AN-2 has no stall speed quoted in the operating manual and can fly under full control at about 30 mph. Thus if the headwind is sufficiently large the aircraft will move backwards with respect to the ground.

edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

GypsyCosmonaut

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answered Jun 27 '17 at 06:55

Brilsmurfffje

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DHC-2 Beaver is similar. Normal landing speed is about 45mph, meaning it can be operated significantly slower than that. – jwenting Jun 27 '17 at 08:44
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I've flown one (as a passenger) on a sightseeing flight. Nice machine, albeit not the most comfortable one. – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 27 '17 at 11:22
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@el.pescado me too - just about. It was the first time I had ever been in an aircraft without large tubofans, and if my wife was not with me to relate the tale to my friends after,, I would have bailed out of the thing before the takeoff run:) The rising whine of the inertia-wheel starter brought on a sort of panic attack... – Martin James Jun 27 '17 at 13:50
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@MartinJames it had been my first filght in my life, and it had been years before commercial flights become affordable for average Eastern Europe citizen. That means, until relative recently, my impression of flight was based on that An-2 flight;) – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 27 '17 at 14:13
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Does that mean a 30mph wind will lift the airplane off the ground? – Chloe Jun 27 '17 at 22:07
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@Chloe, that is why they strap-down light aircraft if heavy winds are expected: http://www.pilotweb.aero/polopoly_fs/1.4881486!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/image.jpg – Brilsmurfffje Jun 28 '17 at 10:50
I saw one of these at Cable airport in California in the 90ies. It was huge, and yellow. The best part is that you can fly it with nothing more than a private pilot license and a tailwheel endorsement. – Devil07 Jun 29 '17 at 03:11
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Here you can see it happen; not sure if it actually goes backwards, but comes very close. – Martin Tournoij Jun 30 '17 at 06:10
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if the headwind is sufficiently large the aircraft will move backwards with respect to the ground technically, this is true of all aircraft. – egid Jun 30 '17 at 06:35

score 47 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

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The Harrier, Yak-38, Yak-141, XV-15, and V-22 are all fixed wing aircraft. All can hover in mid air, controlled. So they are in controlled flight at 0 velocity.

At least the Harrier can even be in controlled flight flying backwards, so with negative velocity. The others may as well, I don't know.

edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

GypsyCosmonaut

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answered Jun 27 '17 at 06:01

jwenting

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I should have expected this;) How about "ordinary", non-VTOL aircraft? – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 27 '17 at 06:33
Another trick answer would be - small model aircraft. In fact, do those things fly slowly?? Or does it not scale like that? – Fattie Jun 29 '17 at 00:36
@Fattie the requirement for the airplane to be manned may exclude all but the largest model aircraft, not even considering whether manning them would be safe, legal, feasible, ... – Michael Schumacher Jun 29 '17 at 12:18
Oh sorry - I missed that requirement. – Fattie Jun 29 '17 at 13:58
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You could also use the trick of requiring a very small "man" (see Jessica Dubroff). – hypehuman Jun 29 '17 at 14:31
From what I understand, the fuel consumption per minute on those jets is much higher when they are hovering than when they are cruising. If one were to rank planes by the airspeed that maximizes time aloft per unit of energy, I wonder which plane would rank lowest? – supercat Jun 30 '17 at 21:08
@supercat probably something like a 787 or A350 – jwenting Jul 03 '17 at 14:27
Nah, the velocity is never negative unless it is in relation to a fixed point, such as the destination.... – ivanivan Sep 27 '18 at 02:53
Don't forget the F-35B bro! – JustACoder Aug 10 '23 at 14:49
@JustACoder that one didn't exist at the time this answer was written :) – jwenting Aug 10 '23 at 17:07
Well it actually did exist 4 years before this question was written:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW28Mb1YvwY
– JustACoder Aug 13 '23 at 01:12

tuskiomi · Answer 4 · 2017-06-28T13:58:30.897

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now, if you're looking at modern, more commonly used transportation, powered paragliding would probably take the cake.

^{^{CC BY 3.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13110495}}

Powered paragliders usually fly between 15 and 50 mph (25 and 72 km/h) at altitudes from 'foot-dragging on the water' up to 24,000+ ft (5400 m)

^{^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powered_paragliding}}

The beginners equipment are often the slowest, and with proper skill, and the right weather, can have a stall speed of zero. Whilst being lifted by a thermal, the only thing that will push the glider forward is the natural tilt. naturally, on a still day, the slowest of equipment will stall at below 10mph.

^{Disclaimer: this is not an airplane, but it is a fixed wing vehicle, made to primarily move forward to generate lift, akin to most airplanes.}

edited Jun 28 '17 at 13:58

answered Jun 27 '17 at 15:20

tuskiomi

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Further comments regarding the appropriateness of this answer to the question can be found in chat. – Shog9 Jul 26 '17 at 15:44
"The beginners equipment are often the slowest, and with proper skill, and the right weather, can have a stall speed of zero" is patently wrong. It can have ground speed of zero, but that's true of any wing with sufficiently strong headwinds. But it will never have an air speed of zero (or even infinitesimal) and keep generating lift, which is the only thing referenced when discussing stall speed. – mathrick Jan 20 '22 at 20:43
@mathrick actually, doing special maneuvers can allow you to paraglide backwards, even on days with no wind! depending on what OP means by slowest, this may be allowed! – tuskiomi Jan 20 '22 at 23:38
When you're flying backwards, that's because the wing is either stalled, or sinking. I dunno how paragliders accomplish that, but in parachutes (specifically, BASE canopies), sustained straight-down / backwards flight is accomplished by having bottom-skin vents which allow the wings to pressurise and effectively change the relative wind direction. In non-vented accuracy canopies, straight down (but not backwards) flight is possible in deep brakes, but even then the airspeed is not zero, it's positive and a high angle of attack. Even if it's sinking, the parachute is still not stationary. – mathrick Jan 21 '22 at 20:00
@mathrick Well, here's the thing. From an airspeed prospective, the only thing that paragliders do is sink. I think it may be going over your head how this works. – tuskiomi Jan 21 '22 at 20:01
Sure, and they do it at a non-zero speed, any time the wing is flying. – mathrick Jan 21 '22 at 20:04
@mathrick I think that if we're using the same definition of flying (flight) as the answer with the VTOLs, I don't think that we even have to be moving to be flying. Maybe they're using flight incorrectly. I don't think so. – tuskiomi Jan 21 '22 at 20:08

score 18 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 18 '17 at 15:07

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If you are including historical aircraft, the Wright Flyer averaged 10 fps (approx 6.8 mph or 11 kph) over it's first 120 foot flight in 1903.

Reference: https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/wright-brothers/online/fly/1903/triumph.cfm

edited Jul 18 '17 at 15:07

GypsyCosmonaut

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answered Jun 27 '17 at 14:50

user112358

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Wind did a lot to make this slow speed possible. – Peter Kämpf Jun 27 '17 at 20:08
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What is "kph" for a Unit? Or did you mean km/h? – 12431234123412341234123 Jun 28 '17 at 13:59
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@12431234123412341234123 Yes, kph and km/h are the same thing: kilometers per hour. – GalacticCowboy Jun 28 '17 at 16:38
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Did anyone else see "10 fps" and think "10 frames per second"? – tonysdg Jun 28 '17 at 19:18
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Tony - no, nobody thought that :) – Fattie Jun 29 '17 at 00:35
Peter: I saw no info about wind direction, didn't know if it was a headwind or a crosswind. Since the flight was northbound, I would have assumed crosswind. Per the linked site, subsequent flights had a higher average speed. Tony: funny. :) Highlights the importance of context. – user112358 Jun 29 '17 at 11:55
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@tony, yeah, frame rates were crappy back then – Octopus Jun 29 '17 at 22:31
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When I saw "10 fps", I was thinking "ferrets pedaling slowly". – Keeta - reinstate Monica Jun 30 '17 at 13:27
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@GalacticCowboy The thing with kph is that it's not actually used all that much in countries that use kilometers. In fact, it mostly seems to be used by north Americans who try to to convert mph into metric. – AndrejaKo Jul 01 '17 at 17:42
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@AndrejaKo It's also widely used in the UK; it's a legitimate abbreviation in English. – David Richerby Jul 02 '17 at 02:24

score 15 · Answer 6 · edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

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Gossamer Condor, the first human powered airplane capable of basic maneuvered flight. When it finally won the Kremer prize for a 1 mile figure 8 course it did that course in 7 minutes and 22 seconds.

The later Gossamer Albatross that crossed the English Channel had to be faster.

This assumes that the question criteria was AIRSPEED (not groundspeed) for a fixed-wing, man-carrying aircraft that could take off and land under its own power and maneuver both into and out of the wind (figure 8 maneuver).

edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

GypsyCosmonaut

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answered Jun 27 '17 at 18:37

pbm

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Wow. 7mph! That's slower than most paragliders – slebetman Jun 28 '17 at 03:37

score 14 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

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Building it just for very slow speed does not look practical (if you really need this, use helicopter). Some old planes may be slower, but they do not use the newest technologies and may not be built for slow flight anyway. Some patrol, agricultural planes may benefit from slow flying, but we need something more extreme.

I expect such aircraft to be some specific machine that has a huge wing and low weight for other reasons, and should be recently built to benefit from latest technologies.

Solar impulse looks like a good candidate. It has take-off speed of 35 km/h (22 mph) only. Looks like its minimal speed is about 20.67 mph only. Its large wing holds the solar batteries. It has a wingspan larger than Boeing 747 and the weight close to Cessna 172!

(picture from Wikimedia Commons).

edited Jul 18 '17 at 14:55

GypsyCosmonaut

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answered Jun 27 '17 at 06:46

h22

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Agricultural planes can fly very slow in general – Brilsmurfffje Jun 27 '17 at 06:56
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Even if not designed to fly slow, some airplane simply has to be the slowest one. – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 27 '17 at 07:00
Some aircraft were designed with good low speed performance in mind, either because helicopters didn't exist at the time or because they aren't practical for the job the aircraft was designed to perform. The Tiger Moth comes to mind, and indeed some models of crop duster aircraft. The DHC-2 Beaver was designed with very slow stall speed to allow it to land in remote areas with hardly any flat space to use as a runway. Examples are legion. – jwenting Jun 27 '17 at 08:37
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@el.pescado The math pedant in me wants to add "assuming there are only finitely many airplanes". ;-) – Charles Jun 27 '17 at 17:20
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@Charles actually, there might be infinitely many airplanes, it's only neccessary that every totally ordered subset has lower bound ;-) – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 28 '17 at 04:53
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@el.pescado If the speed of airplane number x (where x is any natural number) is given by the formula 30 + (1/x), which airplane has the lowest speed? – ChrisW Jun 28 '17 at 07:57
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@ChrisW how many mathematicians does it take to fly an aeroplane? ;-) – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 28 '17 at 09:12
@ChrisW BTW that set of airplaines doesn't satisfy Zorn lemma (linked by me) preconditions. – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 28 '17 at 12:13
This is probably actually the answer. – Jun 30 '17 at 07:50
The Gossamer Albatross had a *top speed* of 18mph, and an average speed of 7.8 mph. – abelenky Jul 18 '17 at 15:15

flawr · Answer 8 · 2017-06-27T15:52:45.780

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The Ruppert Archaeoptrix Electro (Wikipedia, official website) apparently has a stall speed of 30 km/h (19 mph / 16 kn), and I think that makes it a candidate for the current "slowest" fixed wing aircraft.

It is a relatively new glider that can be foot launched, but there are also wheeled and motorless configurations, and it can also be launched by towing.

For the motorized version:

edited Jun 27 '17 at 15:52

answered Jun 27 '17 at 13:23

flawr

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Which powered, manned airplane is capable of sustained level flight at lowest velocity? While your answer does not cover "powered" I love the picture. – KorvinStarmast Jun 27 '17 at 14:02
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That plane somehow reminds me of the Flintstones' cars... – el.pescado - нет войне Jun 27 '17 at 14:38
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@KorvinStarmast It has in fact a motor, which is not used in this picture. I recommend taking a look at the manufactureres website =) – flawr Jun 27 '17 at 15:41
Can you find an image of it configured with a motor? – Jun 30 '17 at 08:28
The preview image of the video shows one. It doesn't look that much different, I just has a folding prop sticking out of the back, also e.g. here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Archaeopteryx_electric_motor.jpg – flawr Jun 30 '17 at 11:44
The first picture looks like someone's very elaborate Halloween costume. – FreeMan Aug 10 '23 at 14:45

score 12 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 28 '17 at 10:02

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You should check out planes with custer wings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custer_CCW-5

It was claimed that the aircraft could fly under control at 11 mph (18 km/h) and that it could take off with a 1,500 lb (680 kg) load at 70% power in 90 ft (28 m).

answered Jun 28 '17 at 10:02

Foo

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Welcome. Interesting addition that should be a comment, not an answer. – mins Jun 28 '17 at 10:48
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Seems pretty answery to me, @mins. Addresses all the items in the OP: Powered. Fixed wing. Sustained flight at very slow air(?) speed. Has a link for more info, but provides the necessary facts in case Wikipedia ever dies...;) – FreeMan Jun 28 '17 at 18:41
@FreeMan: The question is about existing airplanes. – mins Jun 28 '17 at 18:56
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@mins: The question isn't very explicit about that. It does use the present tense, but seems to leave the door open for interesting answers about past planes as long as they really flew, and weren't just designs on paper. – Peter Cordes Jun 29 '17 at 01:00
Thank you for your feedback. Even if it's not used anymore in civil or military aviation, the concept of channel wings is still used for modelism or prototypes (Handiwork 181, in 90s). – Foo Jun 30 '17 at 09:22
Feels like this plane has (at least) two relevant airspeeds. The 11 mph is likely not the airspeed inside the channels? – Michael Schumacher Jun 30 '17 at 12:03

score 7 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 27 '17 at 15:21

Slepcev Storch

(A 3/4-size replica of the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, a German WW2 reconnaissance aircraft well known for its slow-speed performance)

36 km/h or 40 km/h (19kn/22kn)

^{Picture Source}

Performance according to Wikipedia:

Maximum speed: 150 km/h (93 mph; 81 kn)

Cruise speed: 133 km/h (83 mph; 72 kn)

Stall speed: 40 km/h (25 mph; 22 kn)

Rate of climb: 6 m/s (1,200 ft/min)

Performance according to ulm.it:

Maximum speed: 150 km/h

VNE: 182 km/h

Stall speed: (flaps out) 36 Km/h

Climb rate: 9,1 m/s (1800 ft/min)

If the question involves non experimental fixed wing aircraft that were actually in general use, the Storch would have been the one I would think of. — tj1000, Jul 19 '17 at 01:07

score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Jul 18 '17 at 19:47

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I was at the Biggen Hill airshow many years ago where not one but two different aircraft flew backwards. One was the AN-2 which was able to nose up into the headwind so far that it actually flew backwards for a short distance down the runway. The other was a Russian super jet, (possibly a Sukhoi 27 or Sukhoi 35?) that did a vertical climb on afterburners that shock the ground then slowed to a stop before falling on its tail while still vertical. It flew tail first towards the ground before lowering the nose.

edited Jul 18 '17 at 19:47

GypsyCosmonaut

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answered Jul 03 '17 at 12:48

Paul Smith

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That manoeuver is called Pugachev's Cobra. – el.pescado - нет войне Jul 03 '17 at 13:16
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@el.pescado Thank you. That was the stunt he flew that left me stunned. As you can imagine, there was no way to hear what the commentator had to say. – Paul Smith Jul 03 '17 at 13:36

score 1 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 29 '17 at 22:35

Alaskan Bush Planes are modified to fly very slowly for short landings:

Features include: "Short runway requirements, typically gained through high aspect ratio wings and high-lift devices such as flaps, slots and slats to improve low speed flight characteristics, allowing shorter ground rolls on landing or takeoff."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_plane

This might be helpful too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_STOL_aircraft

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Nov 23 '18 at 06:51

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Here is a video showing that the Gossamer Albatross flew at lowest speed, 7mph (11.2kmph). Very slow. But the save speed will be 10mph (16.1kmph), as mentioned in that video. It lasted 2 hours to cross England strait from England to France.

answered Nov 23 '18 at 06:51

AirCraft Lover

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score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Aug 09 '23 at 21:12

According to Review of Human Powered Flight to 1990 (PDF) by Chris Roper, the MIT Chrysalis human-powered aircraft "was in fact the slowest aircraft ever to fly," at 8mph. The document covers other human-powered aircraft mentioned in other answers, including the Gossamer Condor and Albatross, so that suggests that the MIT Chrysalis was, in fact, the slowest fixed-wing manned aircraft to fly successfully.

score -1 · Answer 15 · edited Sep 25 '18 at 20:31

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It is the shock ultra by savage. Stalls at 18 mph. 2016 savage produced it and it by far out flies all other planes by a mile in the low and slow cathegory

edited Sep 25 '18 at 20:31

Federico

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answered Sep 25 '18 at 20:10

Mike

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Fairly sure a stall speed of 18mph doesn't beat the An-2's lack of a stall speed. – 0xdd Sep 25 '18 at 20:27
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@Jules, this is a myth. First, An-2 does stall; it just remains somewhat controllable and very stable. This mode is called 'parachuting'; An-2 can 'parachute', fully stalled, to the ground and survive. Second, An-2 can sustain flight at 40 km/h (~21 kt) the lowest (more practically 50-70 km/h, depending on the age and configuration). At anything slower it will descend. – Zeus Sep 26 '18 at 03:01

What is the slowest fixed-wing airplane?

15 Answers15

Slepcev Storch

Linked