Airgames

AIRGAMES by Jill McCaw

Billed as the largest aviation sports event in the Southern Hemisphere the AirGames held at the Wanaka airfield on the 27th and 28th December involved ten different Fédération Aviation Internationale (FAI) sanctioned air sports, including gliding. Run by Airsports Live and hosted by Flying New Zealand the Airgames was a full on two days of aviation. It was aimed at bringing air sports into the public eye and was viewed as a trial run for the World Air Games to be held in Turin (Italy) in 2009. The FAI is accepting bids to host the 2011 games as we go to press.

There were two demonstration events but all other activities were competitive, in many cases the first time the sport has had a competitive aspect. The two days of activities were broadcast over the internet with a large outdoor screen providing up close action for spectators on the ground. The Grand Prix glider pilots relocated to Wanaka to take part in the event. The glider race was a GP race, giving the public a great demonstration of fast and furious soaring. Sebastian Kawa repeated his GP victory narrowly beating Ben Flewett who had an equipment failure and was found to have missed a turnpoint.

The other sports were sky diving with pylon racing (a real crowd favourite) and the swoop, ie a swooping arrival and landing. The hot air balloons’ contest was over before most were out of bed. Paramotors turned out to be very photogenic, highly manoeuvrable and very loud. The Tiger Moth race started with a Le Mans start, the pilots sprinting to prop start their aircraft. There were experimental aircraft, helicopters in two different precision contests, paraglider acrobatics and model aircraft races. Off site but shown on the big screen and the internet were paraglider and hang glider cross country races, with the same telemetry as used in our glider racing. A spell binding aerobatic display by world champion Jurgis Kairys of Lithuania closed the event.

Photos John McCaw

AirGames Wanaka, New Zealand