2008 Airship Competition Comes To St. Petersburg
The 8th FAI World Hot Air Airship
Championship will take place in Saint Petersburg, Russia on June
21-28, 2008. This marks the first time that Russia will host the
championship and the first time in seven years since the last World
Hot Air Airship Championship has been held.
In addition to the hot air airship competitions an International
Balloon Fiesta will also be held. About 20 hot air airships are
going to participate in the World Hot Air Airship Championship. The
International Balloon Fiesta will unite more than 80 hot air
balloons, with both normal and special shape categories.
Russian organizers convinced the FAI Ballooning Commission (CIA)
to approve Russia and award the right to stage the 8th World Hot
Air Airship Championship during the annual plenary meeting of the
Fédération Aéronautique International at
Luxembourg in March, 2007.
Russian organizers promise to make the event exciting as pilots
perform different tasks which may require refueling stops and
logistics by ground crews. Teams will compete in point to point
races, declared time races, precision task races and the
slalom.
The balloon slalom is a speed race on a slalom course of
approximately 1 km with gates to be passed each 50 to 100 meters.
Pilots have to move their airship of a mass of about 4.5 tons
around the poles as quick as they can.
Pylons will be installed on Neva River in the center of Saint
Petersburg and airships will fly three to five times around a
triangular course timed for maximum speed.
"We plan to combine a race with a "Le Mans" start. It means that
pilots run by foot towards their airships and try to be the first
in the air", says 8th FAI World Hot Air Airship Championship Sports
Director Pit Thibo (Luxembourg).
In June 21-28, 2007 at a pre-championship competition, Saint
Petersburg hosted the MegaFon World Hot Air Airship Cup with
International Balloon Fiesta "MegaFon - Rise Above the Clouds"
which was held in Pushkin at the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum
Complex.
These events were held as a trial run for the World Championship
and helped the Russian organizers to ensure that all of the
necessary conditions for hosting a FAI Category One competition in
2008 are in place.
Russia has also hosted events like the MegaFon World Cup and
International Balloon Fiesta where more than 40 crews from 18
countries participated in the flights.