 Streett was transferred to Selfridge Field , Michigan , in August 1926 , and appointed commanding officer of the First Pursuit Group Headquarters . He was assigned to Wright Field , Ohio in March 1928 as test pilot and chief of the Flying Branch . Flying the <unk> @-@ 5 on October 10 , 1928 , Streett and Albert William Stevens achieved an unofficial altitude record for aircraft carrying more than one person : 37 @,@ 854 feet ( 11 @,@ 538 m ) ; less than 1 @,@ 000 feet ( 300 m ) short of the official single @-@ person altitude record . At that height they measured a temperature of − 78 ° F ( − 61 ° C ) , cold enough to freeze the aircraft controls . With frozen controls , Streett was unable to reduce altitude or to turn off the engine until some twenty minutes later when it ran out of fuel , after which he piloted the fragile experimental biplane down in a gentle glide and made a deadstick landing . An article about the feat appeared in Popular Science in May 1929 , entitled " Stranded — Seven Miles Up ! " During July 1932 , he was on special assignment as assistant in the preparation of data on performance tests of aircraft . 
