The 19th FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championship Is A 10-Day Competition Taking Place At Matko Airport In Hungary

Airplanes and aviation as we know them started with glider flying, and it continues today as one of the highest forms of recreational aviation. It has also grown into an international sport, which has led to international competition. The FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championship competition started this week and will continue to the end of July.

A dual-competition, it will see two world champions crowned. Running in parallel, the 19th FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championship and the 7th FAI Advanced Glider Aerobatic World Championship have been organized by the Hungarian Aeronautical Association and the Hungarian Aerobatic Club.

Contest Director Tamás Abranyi said the whole team was “working hard” to prepare. “The last days are the busiest … We have to pray now for suitable weather too.”

Glider Aerobatics is a high-adrenalin, highly visual air sport. Pilots compete in specially built gliders to successfully complete a series of high-G maneuvers.

Gliders are towed up into a performance zone – the ‘box’ – at 1,250m above the ground. The box is a 1,000m x 1,000m x 1,000m invisible cube in the sky. It is marked out by GPS, as well as white stripes on the ground. These measurements convert to an altitude of about 4,000 feet above the ground and the box measurements convert to about 3,300 feet.

Pilots then have to complete a complex aerial routine within the boundaries of the box. Six programs have to be flown during the championships.

An international jury of judges scores each program, penalizing pilots for altitude infringements or incomplete sequences. The programs are a mix of set routines and free programs, where pilots are free to invent their own sequence.

Fifty-nine pilots from 15 nations are competing. The biggest teams are Poland, with 11 pilots, Hungary, with nine, Germany with eight, and France, Czech Republic and Italy with five pilots each.

The President of the FAI Aerobatics Commission (CIVA) Nick Buckenham announced a week before the competition started that there will be brand new trophies for the competition. He said: “We have been able to create a brand new trophy for each category. Each trophy carries the full history of Glider Aerobatic champions. The trophies feature a glider in bronze mounted on a wooden stand.

Recreational glider flying has been a starting place for many pilots, and it’s also a way for pilots rated in powered aircraft to sharpen their skills. If you have never tried flying a glider, it’s something you should look into.

(Glider image from file)

FMI: www.wgac2016.hu