Second To Cross The Atlantic

Jamie Beckett

Monday, August 22, 2022 at 10:43 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Aviation records are often complex and defined by specific parameters, not just the overarching achievement.
Charles Lindbergh was not the first person to cross the Atlantic by air, as approximately 80 others had done so before his famous 1927 flight.
Lindbergh's specific record-setting accomplishment was being the first to fly solo and nonstop in a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic.
Amelia Earhart was the second person to achieve this specific feat (solo, nonstop, fixed-wing Atlantic crossing) on May 20, 1932.

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This one gets to the heart of why records can be so hard to wrap one’s head around. What is the record? What are the requirements and limitations and restrictions? Technically, Charles Lindbergh wasn’t the first to cross the Atlantic. Not even close. Before he made his famous crossing in 1927, which mesmerized the world, around 80 others had made the crossing by air, some of them admittedly in groups of aviators and/or in multiple aircraft. He was the first to fly solo and nonstop in a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic, which he did on May 12, 1927. The second person to accomplish that same feat was none other than Amelia Earhart, who pulled it off on May 20, 1932.