The CIA Balloon Live project started in 2018 as a follow-up project to replace the FAI Balloon Competition Loggers introduced in 2009 by the CIA New Technology Subcommittee.
The new project has a larger scope. It replaces the existing loggers with a mobile app and an additional sensor box to guarantee a constant and equal quality of the position (GPS) and altitude (GPS and barometric) measurements.
On 24 November 2000, American adventurer and pilot Steve Fossett and his crew Alexander Tai and Pierre d’Avenas broke the record for Speed around the world westbound (805.59 km/h) in a powered aircraft. Twenty years later, this record still stands.
The Plenary Meeting of the FAI Aeromodelling Commission (CIAM) took place online on 14 November 2020.
Traditionally, this event is held in March or April at the FAI Secretariat; previously in Paris, France, and now in Lausanne, Switzerland. This year was to be no different, but the COVID-19 outbreak decided otherwise.
By Maury Sullivan, Event Director, 2020 US National HAB Championship
Story by Jonas Maes, Event Director, Early Birds 2.0 (Belgium)
With 16,000 pilots from 73 nations scored in 2020 despite the pandemic, the CIVL World Online XC Contest (WXC) is an amazing success. Meet Andreas Rieck, the man behind the scenes who, for many years, has been running the WXC.
FAI is in discussion with Hong Kong-based Adventure Air Race Co. Ltd. (WCAR), regarding the development of an air race series to replace the discontinued Red Bull Air Race (RBAR) championship. Adventure Air Race has the endorsement of Red Bull for this project, which will be called the World Championship Air Race.
Sergey Ananov, 55, based in Moscow, has been President and CEO of the Russian Federation of Aeronautical Sports (FAS Russia), an FAI Active Member, since April 2018. He has also been the Vice President of the FAI General Air Sports Commission for several years. A passionate helicopter pilot, he is the holder of five world records in this sport.
Between 8 and 13 October 1930, Italian pilot Marinello Nelli broke three helicopter world records at Ciampino Airport in Rome: duration record (8min 45sec), distance in a straight line (1078m) and altitude (18m).
Pilot Marinello Nelli
On 9 October 1890, French engineer Clément Ader’s Eole (Avion I) aircraft took off from the grounds of Château d’Armainvilliers near Paris for a distance of approximately 50 metres and a height of around 20 centimetres. The performance is generally accepted by historians despite not being officially recorded. Ader claimed that it took place in front of witnesses and recounted the experience in a book that he published several years later.
