Update: Reno Air Races 2009

Hello everyone!  The Reno Air Races finished without incidents but with a big success.  The great stuff that happened there you can see in the short video below. Taken from the live broadcast on September 20th, the story describes how the races unfolded in each race class.

Take a look!!! Click on the following link.  Reno Air Races Highlight

Celebrities involved in air sports

 

Greedy to be in the spotlight everytime, celebrities have always tried all kinds of extreme sports. Nowadays many actors got into aviation business and obtained a pilot licence.

Maybe some of you are aware of John Travolta as one of a kind actor, but also a one of a kind pilot.  With over 5000 flying hours he obtained a pilot certificate and a very significant contract with Breitling for advertising their watches. In case of Breitling and John Travolta, it is deep passion for aviation and great experience in the field.

The Sun announced that Michael Jackson’s kids had tried indoor skydiving in a flight simulator. Both Prince Michael and Paris were visiting Hollywood’s Universal Studios (accompanied by aunt La Toya) and decided to try their hand at the skydiving. They couldn’t stop laughing as they defied gravity when their bodies floated on a cushion of air.

Another famous pilot is Angelina Jolie. Yes!  The Tomb Raider’s actress owns a 360,000 dollar Cirrus SR-22 and has been spotted taking  Brad Pitt and kids Maddox, Zahara and baby Shiloh for trips in the speedy jet. Harisson Ford is a private pilot of both planes and helicopters. In March 2004, Ford officially became chairman of the Young Eagles program of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Paris Hiloton is “addicted” to skydiving – after jumping from a plane to celebrate her birthday in 2007.

Other personalities involved in aviation (that have a pilot licence for exemple): Clint Eastwood, Senator John Forbes Kerry, Actor Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, Ex-American President George W. Bush, and many others.

Art from the air

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artist Steve Tack has created a lot of art works using oil on canvas and his imagination about aviation. In his paintings and litographs you can usually see aviation elements of all kinds: Red Arrows, Snowbirds, air force aviation, air sports (like the Tail Chase picture) are just a few of his muse. Some of his works are in memory of brave men of aviation around the world (for example: the painting  The air above is in memory of USN Commander Michael T. “Storm” Norman).

Take a look at his website an convince yourself about the great aero art!

A bit of history – part 1

Air Sports have different biginnings. In the following set of articles we’ll try to cover all great over time aspects of air sports. The first one is about hot air balloons.

Hot air balloons

The first clearly recorded instance of a balloon carrying (human) passengers used hot air to generate buoyancy and was built by the brothers   Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier in Annonay, France. After experimenting with unmanned balloons and flights with animals, the first tethered balloon flight with humans on board took place on October 19, 1783 with the scientist Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, the manufacture manager, Jean-Baptiste Réveillon and Giroud de Villette, at the Folie Titon in Paris.

Modern hot air balloons, with an onboard heat source, were pioneered by Ed Yost beginning in the 1950s which resulted in his first successful flight on October 22, 1960. The first modern day hot air balloon to be built in the United Kingdom (UK) was the Bristol Belle in 1967. Today, hot air balloons are used primarily for recreation. Today balloon festivals are a great way to see hot air balloons close up, and are an enjoyable family outing.

 

WOW:  Hot air balloons are able to fly to extremely high altitudes. On November 26 2005, Vijaypat Singhania set the world altitude record for highest hot air balloon flight, reaching 21,290 meters (69,852 feet, almost two times more than a passanger plane normal altitude).

COMPETITIONS: Balloon competitions are often called “races” but they’re most often a test of accuracy, not speed. For most competitive balloon flights, the goal is to fly as close as possible to one or more exact points called “targets”. Once a pilot has directed the balloon as close as possible to a target, a weighted marker with an identifying number written on it is dropped. The distance between a pilot’s marker and that target determines his or her score.

Exemple of competitions that include hot air balloons: Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett, Tochigi Hot Air Balloon International Championship & Hot Air Balloon Honda Grand Prix Final Round, World air Games 2009.

How air sports work?

Want to try, but it’s kinda risky. Want to experience but you don’t know everything about it. Some good infos about how some air sports work you can find on this website. They have some good explanations about some of the air sports. For exemple: in the site you will see how hang gliding started as an air sport and they explain what’s a hang glider, how you can start practicing the sport and so on. If we made you curious you should check the site and see with your own eyes.

Record,record,record!

I think it’s a posibillity that you came across these facts on our Airsports.tv headlines.

On October 28, 2009 a skydiving event was held at Gorak Shep. During the event, world skydiving champion Wendy Smith from New Zealand, Global Angels ambassador and tandem master Tom Noonan and Wing Commander Jai Kishan from the Indian Air Force, made a successful landing at the Gorak Shep, Kala Patthar plateau, lying at an altitude of 17,192 feet (5,242m), right beside Mt. Everest. This is believed to be the highest skydiving stunt performed over highest drop zone in the world.

Picturest from the event here! http://www.everest-skydive.com/

Video here

 

70 skydivers will attemp to set a new World Record!

After Jump for the Cause event in September this year, a team of 70 specially-qualified wingsuit skydivers will attempt to set the official US Wingsuit Formation Skydiving record in Lake Elsinore, California, today, November 11th 2009. The formation will be visible from the ground and spectators are encouraged to attend.

According to Raise the Sky website:

,, To achieve the record, the team will fly in a huge, evenly spaced, predetermined formation like a flock of birds, exiting four separate aircraft from 13,000 feet above the ground and flying for more than two miles before deploying parachutes and landing. Two judges from the United States Parachute Association (www.uspa.org) will officially ratify the record when it is complete.”

Raise the Sky is donating all benefits from the event to City Year Los Angeles.  By doing something that seems impossible to most humans, the team wants to inspire at-risk youth in Los Angeles to stay in school.

We are keeping in touch with some of the brave skydivers and will come up with updates and news about this event! So stay tunned!

 

Human body flying

What’s the most dangerous thing about flying?

Overloaded aircraft engine?  Skydiving from a high altitude? Gliding? Maybe not! A recent personal and careful documentation showed that wingsuit flying is the most scarry one!

Wingsuit flying is a form of base jumping, using a special suit and no other equipment. According to the ,,greatest” Wikipedia, ,,Wingsuit flying is the art of flying the human body through the air using a special jumpsuit, called a wingsuit, that shapes the human body into an airfoil which can create lift. The wingsuit creates the airfoil shape with fabric sewn between the legs and under the arms. It is also called a birdman suit or squirrel suit.”

A bit of history: Since 1930’s,  after many failures, Jari Kuosma of Finland and Robert Pecnik of Croatia teamed up to fulfill their dream of creating a wingsuit that was safe and accessible for all skydivers when they established BirdMan, Inc in 1998.  BirdMan’s Classic, designed by Robert Pecnik, was the first wingsuit offered to the general public.

So you’re completly carried by wind, as well as a bird and try to avoid obstacles in your way, like big rocks and trees:). At first sight I think everyone of you asks himself who has the courage to do this? I’m afraid many we know, many of our friends or people u  just met! It’s a dangerous sport but a very cool one!

Wanna try to do some wingsuit flying? Check out these links for more infos (how wingsuit flying works, wingsuit competition). Watch video below and see the real adventure:

Watch more related videos here.

 

Make yourself and your adventure known

Hello everyone and when I say everyone I mean every pilot, air racer, skydiver, media press for sports,base jumper, speed rider, parachutist or air sports fan. We know you like adrenaline, powered aerobatics, adventure, speed, and most of all you enjoy flying! We like this as well especially when we read every piece of adventure you’ve been part of.

Flying and basic air sports stories are very exciting and that’s why we come up with the idea of sharing them with others. There are many people out there that wanna give it a try doing skydiving, hang gliding, aerobatics, basic flying or evan base jumping! That’s why you guys should ,,teach” this people and try to motivate them to start!

Certainly every one of you has a true, amazing story from his/her last escapade. Maybe you always wanted to publish it but nobody thought it’s too interesting, or maybe you never got the chance to speak about the last adventure you had.

Publish your story, article,adventure,topic or editorial on our website. Allow everyone to read! You never know who might see it. Maybe your next fan? Maybe a great publication for air sports that wants YOU on their next cover? Maybe your friends and family!

Get in touch with us and find out how can you publish your article!  www.airsports.tv/press.asp

Hot Air Balloons over Anderson City

The hot air balloons Festival held in Anderson City is almost a volunteer event. The brains behind this action are Steve and Connie Lambert, owners of a hot air balloon company named SkyScapes of America, LLC along with Jack and Margaret Cothran and Debby Porter. They combined knowledge and love of ballooning to bring this festival back to Anderson, SC. This year the event takes place between 6th and 8th November. After the Albuquerque Fiesta where hunderds of colourful balloons took of from the airfield zone, Anderson Festival will be a another way to have fun and enjoy the view. All day at the event, incredible attractive elements will keep everybody up for fun. Flying Tigers Parachute Jumps, Remote Control Air Plane Show, Kite Show and Display, Balloon Artist,Glow Begins (Half the balloons will glow) and so on… Take a look at the entire schedule for the event here.

 

Photo updates from British Skydiving Championships

This years British Skydiving Championships were held in Lincolnshire between 5th and 17th August. It was a great event and one full of adventure.

The competition followed a record-breaking skydive which took place at Skydive Chicago, Illinois USA on 1^st August. Eight British athletes were part of a group of 108 skydivers who completed the largest ever head down formation skydive, reaching speeds of 180 mph.  The first event of the UK nationals is the popular 4-way formation skydiving category in which up to fifty teams are expected to enter, the national champions this year will also qualify to represent the UK at the next World Championships in 2010, British Team Storm, are the current female world Champions and Team GB also took bronze at the recent World Air Games in China, in the freefly artistic category.

Skydiving in the UK has grown in popularity in recent years, with 5,000 regular skydivers and up to 40,000 participating in their first jump each year. With the introduction of new styles and techniques to the sport, it has meant that it is easy to find a discipline that really inspires new skydivers. As an example, Vertical Formation Skydiving is a discipline that has only been recognised at national competition-level since 2008, but is already proving popular amongst competitors.

Meanwhile we have some cool photos for you from this year British Skydiving Championships. Feel free to visit the official website at www.skydivingchampionships.com and the British Parachute Association’s website at www.bpa.org.uk for more infos.

ParaHawking

Have you ever been wondering how’s like to be a bird,to fly all over the places without borders and fear less? The following thing might surprise you but such experience exists for people!!! And it requires a hawk and some paragliding! The air sports’s name is Parahawking and this because it involves flying with hawks!!! Falconer Scott,one of the sport practitioners:

,,it’s the closest you can get to actually interacting with a bird of prey in it’s own environment, to be able to see through their eyes and be a part of their world, all the while harnessing their natural ability to conserve energy. I suppose it’s like the aerial equivalent of swimming with dolphins!’

If we’ve made you curious about flying with birds, why don’t you book a parahawking flight here?  Or maybe interact with the sports professionals? Hawks had always been misterious birds and very,very interesting hunters. I think this sport makes you feel more closer to them and experience how it is to be like a hawk, how’s like to fly with a hawk on your hand and think you are a hunter like it? Quite amazing!

More details about this air sport here and great images here.

Airman, from the book to the Hang Gliding movie!

A new project in movie’s industry is about to break some records. Disney / ImageMovers along with director  Robert Zemeckis (Polar Express,Beowulf)  and Gil Kenan will put on screens an adaptation of Airman Novel by Eoin Colfer. Hang Gliding story is the thing which makes us more excited about. Ann Peacock, who wrote the adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is penning an adaptation of the Eoin Colfer novel Airman. The novel was the bestseller historical adventure book  set in 19th century. The book was released in UK and Europe in 2008. The production is in developement and the buget looks good ($150 milion). The story is pretty amazing if we consider Colfer was inspired to write the book after a frightening skydiving experience. If interested about the adventure you might need to buy and read the book first:

Conor constructs a hang-glider and adopts the persona of the Airman, a flying French swordsman. By night, Conor makes flights to Little Saltee, terrorizing the guards (including Billtoe) and digging up his bags of smuggled diamonds. Conor’s goal is to use the diamonds to start a new life in the United States of America.

The adventure is very interesting and I am sure the movie will be a sucess, especially when we talk about this experienced directors and crew.

UPDATE: 2009 FAI European Aeromodelling Championship(F5B/F5D)

(the original article…) The event that took place at Cisnadie, Romania, this year was a complete succes for the Italians both Team and Individual (Frattini Remo – individual category). Airsports.tv was there and as we promissed, we came up with a nice video for you! check it out here.

For the past year aeromodelling events, you can watch some more videos here or here.

32 Base Jumpers – 180m

How it is not be scared about hights? I think pretty normal. But hights that measure 180m?

32 base jumpers thrilled the crowd in Penang with their skydiving skills as they leaped off Komtar’s 62nd and 64th floors. That was a 180m jump! Kinda’ scary for anyone who is not in the business:) The jumpers took turns taking off from the two floors from 8.30am(very early !!!!!)  to 5.30pm on the 18th of October as the crowd was watching. Cool! One of the jumpers, Australian Gary Cunningham, started jumping since he was 16.

,,When I first started doing the jumps, it felt like my soul was separated from my body.

I was very scared but after a number of jumps, I managed to overcome the fear,, , he said.

Great feeling I think! We should try it some time! What do you say?