Helicopter World Cup Spitzerberg
Chris Ufkes
An overview of the airfield with most participating helicopters visible. All photos in this article have been made by Robert Erenstein. Between 7 and 10 September 2017, Spitzerberg airfield in eastern Lower Austria hosted the 6th stage of the world-class FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) helicopter racing world championships. The airfield is a traditional gliding area, which belonged to RedBull for some time. It is located near ancient Roman settlements on a windy hill. Strong winds seriously hampered the competition the first two days, but by showing flexibility, the competition could be held and came to a conclusion. The professional and well-trained Russian teams appeared to be unbeatable, with occupying place one to three in the two different competitions. A total number of 30 teams from 10 countries participated in this championship this year. For this round of the competition, a number of teams could not join. Therefore, 14 crews from 5 nations participated in Spitzerberg. Below is a list of the participants: Team number Call-sign Pilot & Co-pilot Country Type OE-XMO
Thomas Morgenstern & Stefan Seer
Austria
R44
2
Martin Kumric & Markus Percht
Austria
3
OE-XHK
Manfred Moser & Jürgen Meixner
Austria
R44
4
OE- XMS
Matthias Medl & Bernhard Fröch
Austria
R44
5
OE-XJG
Günter Paar & Anita Paar
Austria
AB206A
6
OK-BRI
Eduard Malina & Monika Fidro
Czech Republic
Cabri G2
7
OK-RAN
Marek Vastak & Jan Hajek
Czech Republic
R44
8
D-HELL
Andreas Rübner & Holger Wolff
Germany
R44
9
OE-XHK
Linda Lilleng & Karoline Anker
Norway
R44
10
RA-07356
Alexandr Zhuperin & Nikolay Burov
Russia
R44
11
RA-07356
Elena Zhuperina & Nikolay Rodionov
Russia
R44
12
RA-07356
Andrey Orekhov & Vadim Sazonov
Russia
R44
13
RA-07356
Yuri Yablokov & Konstantin Podoinitsyn
Russia
R44
14
RA-07356
Maxim Sotnikov & Aleh Puajukas
Russia
R44
In addition to the competition, an unknown police helicopter and S-70 (6M-BH) of the Austrian Air Force were present. An unknown ÖAMTC rescue helicopter performed a typical mountain rescue with a long rope. The Red Bull Bo105 D-HTDM was also seen on the airfield. Bell 206A OM-XRB performed sightseeing tours on the 9th. The helicopter carried Sperrer Motorsports titles and was being operated by Aerial Helicopter.
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copyright Chris Ufkes @ 2017
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Thomas Morgenstern, the owner of Robinson R44 OE-XMO teamed up with Stefan Seer for the competition. The Russian teams used the all white R44 with registration RA-07356.
copyright Chris Ufkes @ 2017
From Czechia two teams participated. Eduard Malina & Monika Fidro used Cabri G2 OK-BRI, registered to LION Helicopters. Marek Vastak & Jan Hajek used Robinson R44 OK-RAN, registered to Pondus Air. The Norwegian participants used a helicopter owned by Stefan Seer. Due to the distance they were not able to fly to the event. Unfortunatly they will not be in Poland for this years final. Spitzerberg was their first try at this competition but hopefully they participate in more events next year. Spitzerberg was regarded a success by both organizers and participants. The finals were held in Poland. Credits: Robert Erenstein, deutscher-hubschrauberclub, Wolf-Dietrich Tesar, Heliteam-Austria.
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