FAI Amateur-Built & Experimental Aircraft Commission (CIACA)

Five years ago, on 23 June 2016, the explorer and innovator Bertrand Piccard made the world’s first Atlantic solar-powered flight, flying from New York, USA to Seville, Spain on the 17^th leg of the Solar Impulse 2 project’s historic round-the-world voyage.

The flight, which used no fossil fuels and made zero emissions, broke four FAI records for distance, speed and altitude.

Children across the world have enjoyed playing with a simple mechanical toy that uses a twisted rubber band to give propulsion to a winged aircraft, yet not many realise that it was the French inventor Alphonse Pénaud who first used twisted rubber to power a flying model in 1870 and adopt its successful propulsion effect to make a lasting impact on the future of aviation.

On 23 November 2020, smartflyer Ltd. received the InnoPrix of the Swiss “Baloise Bank SoBa Solothurn” for the development of its innovative aircraft project.

The award ceremony was broadcast live on radio and TV from a hangar at Grenchen Airport (SUI).