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During all the week from June 6 to 14 a very special air show took place in Turin, Italy; three different airports involved, a lot of pilots and flying objects participating, a very broad program, a long wait of 8 years, all mixed together ….. the World Air Game has come back !
In 1995 in order to improve knowledge of the world of air sports, the FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internazionale /The World Air Sports Federation) launched a multi-disciplinary aeronautical initiative, in the spirit of the Olympic movement: the World Air Games. The FAI air sport disciplines include all possible aviation activities from Aerobatics to Aeromodelling without forgetting Parachuting, Gliding, Hang-gliding, Helicopters, Experimental Aircrafts, Ballooning, space and simulated flight.
A lot of races in all these disciplines occurred during the whole week, in a very full program that found its natural end in a very big air show on Sunday. It is impossible to summarize all the races with all the relevant rules but I will try to describe as best as I can the races that more than 35000 spectators, coming from all over the world, could see:
Powered and Glider Aerobatics race Pilots, or better the best pilots, have available a 1 cubic km space - the box - to manoeuvre an unlimited free acrobatic program with their high-performance plane or glider.
The Glider race is a speed race that usually lasts about 2 hours. The race starts when race director opens the start gate, about 10 km far from the airport, and finishes when the glider will come back. The pilots can choose their own route to each of the mandatory way points and the winner is the fastest.
Helicopters: Helicopter enthusiasts could see two different kind of races, both to test the skill of the crew in precision flight. Parallel Slalom is a race between two helicopters. While the crew man hand-holds a bucket of water dangling from the helicopter, each pilot manoeuvres his helicopter to drive the bucket through a series of gates and then to places it on a small target at the end of the course.
Fender Rigging is a race against time. Each crewman carries a boat fender at the end of a length of rope. The pilot flights without viewing the fender and following only the co-pilot instruction. The objective is to drive the fender through gates without striking them and place it inside some containers.
Balloons race: The balloons race is multi-colour race against competitors but also against nature. Relying on wind the pilots have to try to control the streams to earn point during the flight in different tasks as fly high, over pass an obstacle or fly over a target. Three different races involved the Aeromodelling pilots: Radio Controlled Artistic Aerobatics, Hand-Thrown Gliders, Indoor Aeromusicals. In the first race the pilots are evaluated considering precision of flight and the originality and harmony of the manoeuvres, just like actual pilots. The second one is a duration race, during which pilots have to find and use all low altitude thermals. The third race is the most impressive; an in-door race during which pilots manoeuvre their remote controlled plane in a freestyle program set to music.
Hang-gliding: The winner of this event is the pilot who successfully performs cleanly and smoothly a continuous sequence of most difficult manoeuvres. The race of “Flexwing” microlights, also known as “trikes”, is a speed competition along an oval course which is 600m long and marked at each end by two inflated pylons 10 metres tall. The pilots must complete three completed laps as quickly as possible.
Paramotors, that are included by FAI in microlights category, were involved in a precision fly race.
Paragliding: pilots compete in two different disciplines, acrobatic and landing accuracy. In the first race pilots have to perform different manoeuvres as spins, wingovers, helicopters, SATs (where the pilot and wing rotate around a central point), continuous loops and many others more, and they are evaluated by a jury. In the second they have to land in a target as near as possible to the centre. The same race is done by Parachutists. The emotions are not finished. Two races are still pending in parachuting area: canopy formation race and canopy piloting. The Canopy Formation event is an exciting and fast moving competition between teams of four parachutists. Canopy piloting, instead, is a series of tasks designed to test a parachutist’s ability to control his canopy and fly accurately.
Last race involves the “Home made” airplane
constructors: the :Fly-In & Workmanship Competition . Pilots,
flying their own “home made” aircraft are shown to the public and judged
on criteria such as the quality of their construction, their complexity or
innovative design.
This activity is supported by FAI as Public
Aircraft Construction event Last but not least the All the medals of the WAG 2009:
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