The Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett, the FAI World Long Distance Gas Balloon Championship, is the oldest and most prestigious event in aviation and the ultimate challenge for the pilots. It is a story full of adventure, skill, courage, survival and luck. The goal is simple: to fly the furthest non-stop distance from the launch site.

The international competition was initiated by adventurer and newspaper tycoon James Gordon Bennett Jr. in 1906, when 16 balloons launched from the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France. Little did the crowd of 200,000 spectators know that this race was to continue throughout the 20th century. The winning team brings the competition to their country. In 2008 the rule was changed to allow more time for a winning country to organize the cup. Since then the winning team organizes the event 2 years later, thus alternating with the previously winning team.

It is a story full of adventure, skill, courage survival and luck. It is the story of the Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett.