One hundred and ten years ago on 28 March 1910, Frenchman Henri Fabre achieved successful lift off of an aircraft not from the ground, but from the water, and also landed it back on the water – a first in the history of aviation.

An engineer born in 1882 in Marseille, France, Fabre came from a family of ship owners. After studying science and engineering, he spent four years designing, building and testing his seaplane (hydravion) with the help and expertise of two mechanics and a naval architect.

Due to the uncertainty of future travel restrictions and national restrictions affecting gliding the following changes are being made to the 2020 FAI Sailplane Grand Prix (SGP) events schedule.

FAI/SGP FRANCE 2020 RION-DES-LANDES

Previously 2nd to 9th of MAY 2020  
This will now be held 2nd to 8th of May 2021

FAI/SGP SWEDEN 2020 BORAS

Previously 10th to 15th May 2020
This will now be held from 9th to 15th of May 2021

The Coronavirus situation is causing widespread disruption in the organisation of air sports competitions.

The 4th Pan-American Paragliding Championship has come to an end in a famous Brazilian flying site Baixo Giandu.

It was held from March 7th till March 14th and has 5 valid tasks. 

The new Pan-American Champions (top photo):

1    RAFAEL SALADINI    (BRA)
2    FRANK BROWN    (BRA)
3    CRISTIANO RICCI DA SILVA (VERMELHO)     (BRA)

Following FAI Ratification of 3 World Records, Kim Magee shares her story -

The 2020 season of the FAI Drone Racing World Cup will start with a bang at the Race of Drones Oulu in Finland this Friday 13 March.

The Finnish competition will gather an array of world-class pilots from around the world, including Korea, the Philippines and Morocco, for a total number of 43 registered competitors. It will include last year’s winner of the 2019 FAI Drone Racing World Cup series, Tomass Pētersons of Latvia.

The FAI is following the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, as it might be disruptive to meetings, competitions and travels in general.

Travel advisories are in place for some 'hotspots', but the situation can change overnight.

The FAI recommends anyone wishing to travel to a meeting or a competition to visit the following websites, as well as to check their travel and/or health insurance coverage:

Suitable for courses involving children and young adults.

Anyone with a serious interest in rubber motorpowered model aircraft will sooner or later encounter the P-30 Class. P-30 are models that are built and flown according to strictly prescribed rules. The competition class originates from the USA and is popular throughout the world.

One hundred and ten years ago today, on 8 March 1910, Frenchwoman Elise Deroche, aka Baroness Raymonde de Laroche, became the first woman pilot in the world to earn an airplane pilot licence.

The Aero Club de France, FAI Founding Member, issued Laroche’s licence. Aero clubs started to grant licences in 1910, with very few women receiving them.

Alicia Hempleman-Adams, 30, from Bath, England, flew her hot air balloon (Class AX-04: 600 to 900 m³) to the remarkable altitude of 4604m. The FAI is waiting for the record file to ratify this performance as a new world record. If ratified by FAI, she will have broken the female world altitude record currently held by Pauline Baker since 2008 (4272m).

The flight took place in Calgary, Canada, on 7 February 2020. To achieve this height, she was in the air for 1 hour and 46 minutes, and had to endure temperatures of down to -30 degrees Celsius.