Honoring Richard Abruzzo From U.S. And Sweden’s Hans Åkerstedt

The Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum announced that Richard Abruzzo of the U.S. and Hans Åkerstedt of Sweden are this year’s inductees into the FAI (World Air Sports Federation) Ballooning Commission Balloon and Airship Hall of Fame. The inductees were announced at the Ballooning Commission’s plenary meeting in New Delhi in March 2025.

The Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum hosts the induction ceremony, which will be held this year on October 3, 2025.

Richard Abruzzo was a nationally ranked skier in college and an Academic All-American whose competitive nature and skills brough him much success in ballooning. In 1992, he was invited by Troy Bradley to co-pilot his balloon in the Chrysler Transatlantic Challenge on just his third gas balloon flight which took him from North America to Africa.

In addition to breaking his father Ben Abruzzo’s record, that flight earned the De la Vaulx Medal for an absolute world record. Richard went on to set world records in distance and duration, while also winning numerous events and races in both hot air and gas balloons.

Richard Abruzzo was a champion balloonist who perished too young at 47 when he and Dr. Carol Rymer Davis got caught in a storm and went down in the Adriatic Sea while competing in the 54th Gordon Bennett Cup in 2010.

Hans Åkerstedt is a world specialist in aviation and ballooning who flew in the Swedish Air Force and for Scandinavian Airlines. He has volunteered for the FAI Ballooning Commission for over forty years in numerous positions and has received numerous FAI Awards including the FAI Air Sport Medal, the FAI Bronze Medal, and the prestigious FAI Gold Air Medal.

Åkerstedt founded the Scandinavian Lighter Than Air Society in 1976, and was honored by the FAI Ballooning Commission in 2024 through the establishment of the Hans Åkerstedt Award recognizing twenty-five participations in the Commission’s plenary meetings. His award also contains two diamonds, each representing an additional ten years.

FMI:  www.fai.org/