This is the second time that drone racing has made an appearance at The World Games and for the FAI it’s an important opportunity to showcase air sports to the outside world. With the next edition of the Games taking place in Chengdu in August 2025, the spotlight on emerging disciplines like drone racing is set to grow even brighter.
by Lynne Newton, Exhibitions Curator, Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum
Twenty years ago on 14 May 2005, Didier Delsalle flew an Ecureuil AS 350 B3 helicopter to the top of Everest and gained an FAI World Record for highest take-off in a helicopter at 8848m.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the achievement, Delsalle participated in an interview with FAI:
20 years ago, on 14 May 2005, French pilot Didier Delsalle took a helicopter to the top of the world and gained the FAI record for highest take-off - from the peak of Everest at 8,848m.
After Jean Boulet made his FAI absolute altitude record in 1972 by reaching 12,442m in the Aérospatiale SA 315 Lama, certain members of the helicopter industry in France began to ponder the possibility of putting an aircraft to the ultimate test of landing on the world’s highest mountain.
Few air sports have enjoyed such a rapid rise as drone racing. It made its debut at The World Games 2022 just over a decade after the first hobbyists began racing drones in Germany and it’s back on the programme of the upcoming World Games in Chengdu (13–16 August).
As the technology around drones has risen steeply, the sport itself has grown, with a large following among young audiences around the world, particularly Asia.
The FAI Ballooning Commission's 2025 Plenary and Subcommittee & Working Group took place from 12-15 March at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi, India, reports Japan's Hiromi Furukawa from the FAI Ballooning Commission (CIA) Public & Media Relations Sub-Committee.
It was the first visit to India for many of the Plenary participants.
Story by: Thomas Fink, Germany
Not many people are fortunate enough to reach the age of 100 in good health. And among those, who can look back on 69 years of ballooning?
FAI Member organisation, the Venezuelan Association of Aeronautical Sports (AVDA), has donated emergency medical equipment to a newly-established rescue group operating in Canaima National Park, a remote area of Venezuela only accessible by water or air.
The initiative was instigated by air sports pilots and athletes whose work and sporting adventures in this vast and isolated rainforest region between Guyana and Brazil have given them a unique insight into the importance of emergency medical assistance in this isolated region.
