Aerobatics Legend, Mikhail Mamistov, Takes Record Fifth FAI European Aerobatic Championship

The World Air Sports Federation (FAI) European Aerobatic Championship (EAC) competition was held last week in Moravska Trebova, Czech Republic. While the competition was stiff, Mikhail Mamistov has won the championship, and it’s the fifth time he has won this title.

The Russian aerobatics pilot, who has also been FAI World Aerobatic Champion twice in an international competition career that spans 21 years, was clearly pleased with his flight when he landed on Friday. It was the fourth and last programed aerobatic routine, which lasted10 minutes.

Mamistov was smiling as he refueled and relaxed. “Not the best, not the worst, we will see!” he said, repeating his usual post-flight refrain. In fact, his flight was enough to secure first place in the overall competition. Afterwards he said, “The competition was perfect – very interesting, demanding, and just the right amount of difficulty.”

Martin Šonka came a close second to Mamistov to win the silver medal. Flying early in the day the Czech pilot said his final flight was, “tiring, and difficult for concentration.” However, it added to his solid performance through the week and secured him the second spot on the podium.

French pilot, Olivier Masurel, was third. Looking tired but obviously relaxed after his final flight he pulled down his jumpsuit and headed to the French team tent. “No good. I made plenty of mistakes,” he said about his flight, “But it’s a game, just a game.” In his typical style, Masurel was underplaying his performance and had flown well, and brought home the bronze medal.

Masurel’s French teammate Breitling pilot, Mika Brageot, pushed hard in Program number 4. “[I] gave everything in this flight because it’s the last game and we have to push the limit,” he said immediately after his flight. “It was the last flight of the classic competition after a very long week, but I did everything according to my plan – I’m happy with the performance.”  However, it wasn’t enough to push him onto the podium. He missed it by only 20 points out of 14,700, and finished fourth.

In the Women’s category, Russia’s Svetlana Kapanina managed to hang on to her lead by the slimmest margin; just 0.54 points separated her from second place fellow Russian competitor Elena Klimovitch in the final standings.

Despite Klimovitch’s best efforts it wasn’t enough to lift her into first position in the competition.
Both pilots scored 13,624 points throughout the week-long competition; Kapanina scored half a point higher with 13,624.75 to Klimovitch’s 13,624.21.

The French competitor, Bénédicte Blanchard, placed third with 12,255.09 points.

In the Teams category, France achieved its goal of taking home the gold, with six pilots in the overall top 10. Russia and Germany were in second and third place respectively.

Finally, on the last day of the competition, Martin Sonka delighted a home crowd by winning the FAI European Aerobatic Freestyle Championship. The Freestyle competition consists of only one round: 16 pilots competed over two hours, each flying a four-minute routine. Red Bull Air Race pilot Martin Sonka scored almost 86% to take the win, wowing the crowd below into the bargain.

After his win Sonka said: “I was very happy to win here in my home country, performing before all the fans. It’s a great feeling to do so well.” It was the second European win for Sonka; he previously won the FAI European Aerobatic Freestyle Championship in 2014.

Listing of all category results:

Overall
1. Mikhail Mamistov (RUS), 78.915%
2. Martin Sonka (CZE), 78.061%
3. Olivier Masurel (FRA), 77.645%
Women
1. Svetlana Kapanina (RUS), 71.634%
2. Elena Klimovitch (RUS), 71.631%
3. Benedicte Blanchard (FRA), 64.433%
Teams
1. France, 77.464%
2. Russian Federation, 74.836%
3. Germany, 67.840%
Freestyle
1. Martin Sonka (CZE), 85.827%
2. Mikael Brageot (FRA), 81.993%
3. Castor Fantoba (ESP), 81.771%

Forty pilots from 13 nations took part in the championship competition.

(Image of Mikhail Mamistov and Svetlana Kapanina provided in FAI press release)

FMI: www.fai.org