New Gliding Competition Format at the FAI World Air Games Dubai 2015

A new and exciting format of gliding competition will be used for the very first time at the FAI World Air Games Dubai 2015: the FAI Gliding Match Racing. Six elite pilots will compete in two identical high performance Discus 18 meter sailplanes. The competitors will race against each of the other pilots in a round robin event for 5 days from 4 to 9 December.

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CIAM Flyer (5-2015) - F1E - Fly an FAI Championship Class

Gliding down the slope – human beings had dreamed about it for almost a million of years. Aeromodellers use the lift generated by the wind uphill for hundred years now, but model aircrafts with reliable magnet steering devices for a stable free flight had first been introduced by the German Hans Gremmer in 1951. These steering systems are simple, sturdy and since 1977 the heart of the FAI Free Flight class F1E. Like other free flight classes F1E is very much popular with competitions, but the training is exiting as well, satisfying the age-old desire.

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FAI Meets with Olympic Channel Team

The FAI today welcomed the Olympic Channel Team in its office in Lausanne to see how both organisations can collaborate for a better visibility of air sports within the future Olympic Channel.

FAI is the first IOC recognised International Federation to meet with the Olympic Channel team.  The discussion aimed at exploring how to optimise the exposure of air sports events.

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2015 Saga International Balloon Fiesta in Saga, Japan

R. Kostiuskevicius (LTU) won this pre-world event - check out the pictures of the podium !

1st FAI WISC, Prague, Czech Republic, 21-24 October 2015 - 1st Day

All the Female teams have jumped round 3 and been judged and the gaps are widening:  USA 1st 82 points. France 2nd 68 points and Great Britain 3rd with 65 points and the home team are in fourth with 59 points.  We are still waiting for round three 4-Way Open and the VFS rounds 1 and 2.  The pace here is hot.

14th Belgrade Cup - 3rd Memorial Desimir Kacavenda

Spectacular pictures of spacemodelling !

11 October 2005: Russian Cosmonaut Krikalev becomes the Absolute Record Holder in Accumulated Space Flight Time

Ten years ago, on October 11th 2005 at 01:10:00 (UTC), the manned transport space vehicle “Soyuz TM - 6” landed in the north of Kazakhstan. Hours before, the eleventh expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) undocked and returned to Earth with the three crew members on board. Amongst them was the Russian pilot-cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev (Сергей Константинович Крикалёв), who completed his sixth orbital space flight mission over the period from 1988 to 2005. By ending this journey, the total cumulative time he spent in space summed up to 803 days, 9 hours, 39 minutes and 9 seconds and set the Absolute World Record in the category “Accumulated Space Flight Time”. In other words and to give a better idea of the dimension of this truly exceptional achievement: Krikalev spent 2 years, 10 weeks, 2 days, 22 hours, 1 minute and 9 seconds in space, including eight Extravehicular Activities (EVAs or space walks).

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Results of the 109th FAI General Conference

The Delegates to the FAI Members gathered in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, to attend the 109^th FAI General Conference organised on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September 2015 by the Royal Netherlands Aeronautical Association. It was preceded by the 2015 FAI Awards Ceremony on Thursday, where the prestigious FAI and FAI-Breitling Awards were presented to the recipients.

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2015 FAI F1E World Championships for Free Flight Model Aircraft in Zlatibor, Serbia

J. Orel (CZE) and M. Stryja in the junior category (POL) are the new Champions !

3rd FAI Women's European Hot Air Balloon Championship in Drenthe, The Netherlands

All the pictures of the competition are on Flickr !