Safety was on the agenda at the FAI International Drones Conference and Expo in Lausanne today. Conference heard from eight speakers in a busy morning session which focused on the issues around organising airspace to ensure safe operation of drones wherever they fly.
Well done to the South Korean women’s team and the Japanese men’s team, who claimed the first Cross Country Paragliding gold medals ever given out at the Asian Games last week.
They were joined on the podium by, in the men’s event, the Nepalese and Indonesian teams, and, in the women’s competition, by the teams from Japan and Indonesia.
Andre Borschberg gave the keynote address at the second FAI International Drones Conference and Expo in Switzerland, where he said that the world of drones would “open a new world” in aviation.
The pilot, who with Bertrand Piccard famously circumnavigated the world in a solar-powered plane in 2015/16, was talking about the increasing role of drones in the world of aviation in front an audience of drone industry professionals at the EPFL in Lausanne.
The second FAI International Drones Conference and Expo kicked off in Lausanne on Friday – with a session on the new world of Drones and Sport.
Speakers from across the world of drones converged on the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland to hear about the latest cutting-edge developments in the drone ecosystem.
“The magic of drone sports is firing imaginations around the world,” said FAI President Frits Brink as he welcomed delegates to the first day of the three-day conference.
A unique marathon event took place in Berlin on 26 August 2018 – not for runners, but drones.
Teams from across Europe came together to participate in the third DroneMasters Dronathon, the only marathon for industrial drones.
The pilots navigated the drones – which had to be built for applications in industry – around a horseracing track in Berlin-Karlshorst 30 times in order to achieve the classic marathon distance of 42.195km.
Officials from the FAI were present.
Great news air sports fans! We have a brand new FAI Hot Air Balloon World Champion: the British pilot Dominic Bareford.
The young Briton took on a huge field of the best balloonists in the world to finish in first place at the 23rd FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship in Groß Siegharts in Austria.
He was joined on the podium by Stefan Zeberli of Switzerland in silver medal position, and Russia's Sergey Latypov in third place.
Meeting at the Drone Days (at which the FAI will be presenting the second International Drones Conference and Expo), 64 top drone pilots will compete against each other in the EPFL Drone Racing Cup.
The audience around the specially-designed track will witness spectacularly fast races as drones navigate at speeds of up to 150kmph.
After 3 qualification stages, the very best acro paragliders in the world will compete at the Sonchaux Acroshow, to be held at Villeneuve, Switzerland from 24-26th August.
The city of Copenhagen is gearing up for a fun-filled weekend of skydiving action, as the Swoop Freestyle FAI World Championships 2018 drop – or rather plummet – into town.
Kicking off on Friday August 24, the two-day event marks the second time the championships have been held in the Danish capital, which also hosted the first-ever Swoop Freestyle FAI World Championships last year.
When drones race they can hit speeds of 150km/h in seconds. That makes watching a drone race exhilarating as up to six drones at a time race through the course. But it also makes it a potential technological nightmare – how do you score a race where everything is moving so quickly?
