Category Archives: Photos

The Junior World Champion won the 18th Hot Air Balloon Championship

Rokas Kostiuskevicius – who won the 1st Junior Wolrd Championship in last year  – won the 18th Hot Air Balloon Championship in Wloclawek, Poland. His father, Rimas Kostiuskevicius got the silver medal and  Ivan Ayala got the bronse medal who had the silver medal in the last European Championship.

The winner 18th Hot Air Balloon Championship

The winners 18th Hot Air Balloon Championship

The veryyoung  Dominic Berford finished on the 4th place, who know his family name well. Other results:

1 17 Rokas KOSTIUSKEVICIUS LTU 14036
2 18 Rimas KOSTIUSKEVICIUS LTU 13876
3 2 Ivan AYALA ALCALDE ESP 13705
4 52 Dominic BAREFORD GBR 13679
5 1 Stefan ZEBERLI SUI 13305
6 71 Peter OLSSON SWE 12989
7 30 Bartosz NOWAKOWSKI POL 12764
8 13 Uwe SCHNEIDER GER 12749
9 47 Christoffer MUNDT DEN 12536
10 29 Ivan MENYAYLO RUS 12509
31 39 David LINEK CZE 10225
34 41 Petr KUBICEK CZE 10114
37 42 Michael SUCHY CZE 9489
38 68 Janos KONECSNI HUN 9395
54 40 Pavel KOSTRHUN CZE 8222
55 69 Peter NAGY HUN 8192
76 70 Sandor VEGH HUN 5475

We had 5 flights and 18 tasks. The Event start with nice weather but the Autumn arrived after with fog and rain.
A short video about the by Tóth László.

18th FAI Hot Air Balloon European Championship 2013

18th FAI Hot Air Balloon European Championship 2013The European Championship started yesterday with a boring long General Briefing. The 2nd European Championship run with the CIA loggers but without a big advantage. The director, Mathijs R. De Bruijn decided to use GPS altitude instead of baromeric. The second surprise was no 2D just 3D scoring only. A pilot mentioned on the General Briefing:

“They are forcing pilots to fly in windy conditions in area with many powerlines as low as possible. This is not about pilot skills, this is very, very unsafe. I have no idea why we cannot have 2D scoring.”

Me personaly don’t understand why they step back in the time. These loggers are worked very well on many Events in different countries with different scoring software and scorers.

I start to use the FAI loggers at very beginning and never had any problem. We didn’t have any issue with the loggers during the Czech Nationals a month ago too and I’m sure the FAI loggers are working well!

I'm participate here with my Czech freinds as the team manager.

I’m participate here with my Czech freinds as the team manager.

We got a spectacular Opening Ceremony after the General Briefing with dancers and airshow without welcome drink and food.

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MdB set three tasks today morning: HWZ, HWZ and JDG. It happened little bit windy condition but most of the pilots could reach the MMAs. The provisional results are available here. The afternoon briefing is cancelled because the rainy and windy condition.

Nice sunrise before the first flight

Nice sunrise before the first flight

The weather forecast promise the next flight for tomorrow morning. Let’s hope the best.

Balloons of Gordon Bennett 2013 started

In 45 minutes, from 5:45 a.m., the 18 balloons flew! The 57th Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett began in a small light drizzle. The 36 pilots and co-pilots (from 10 countries) will try to steal the title held by France with Vincent Leys. The competition can be followed in live on:

tracks

For the first hours, the balloons take the direction of East. The routers on the ground will ensure the baton to guide them and allow them to travel the greatest distance. A half of the balloons are still on low levele to East but some of them going around 2500 feet and direction of North. Same destination to everybody:  greatest distance with a 1000 m3 gas balloon in the contest area. Good luck for everybody!

Gordon Benett 2013 start

Gordon Benett 2013 start – photo: Martine Besnainou

Results of National Championships

Three National Championships held on this week: Hungary, Austria and Spain too.

Garab Szabolcs and Konecsni János - in same basket on the Czech Nationals

Garab Szabolcs and Konecsni János – in same basket on the Czech Nationals

Hungarian Nationals
Debrecen

  1. Konecsni János
  2. Garab Szabolcs
  3. Végh Sándor
  4. Nyíri Áron
  5. Nagy Péter
  6. Kádár Róbert
  7. Molnár Csaba

Seven flights, 17 tasks, Event Director: Paál Dávid.

Stefan Zeberli

Stefan Zeberli

 

 

 

Austrian Nationals
Waidhofen / Thaya

  1. Stefan ZEBERLI (SUI)
  2. Roman HUGI (SUI)
  3. Daniel KUSTERNIGG (AUT)

Seven flights, 22 tasks, Event Director:: Mathijs de Bruijn.

Carles Lladó,  Iván Ayala, Carles Figueras

Carles Lladó, Iván Ayala, Carles Figueras

Spanish Nationals
Rioja

  1. Iván Ayala
  2. Carles Lladó
  3. Carles Figueras

Guinness World Record Attempt: Asia – Europe flight

The participants of International Sport Competition of Hot Air Balloons “Sky Fair – 2013” – which was FAI Sporting Event – made a special flight after the contest program. We travelled from Kungur (host city, Perm region) to near Pervouralsk (satellite city of Yekaterinburg) at evening 5th July 2013. There is monument with a huge column which shows the border of Europe and Asia  (56.870553, 60.047951). Twenty-two balloons are arrived to the meeting point. The distance is 250 km between Kungur and Pervouralsk which is not so much but the journey was hard because the Russian bus and roads. We had a good lunch and some rest. The organisers provided a nice folklore show too.

Folklore show at border of Europe and Asia

Folklore show at border of Europe and Asia

Some balloons are prepared to take-off close to the monument and the rests are moved to a nearby glade after the briefing in the Asian side. We didn’t plan long flight because huge forests, big lakes and few glades were in the flying area. The destination was only crossing the border of the two continents which was successful.

Briefing before the flight

Briefing before the flight

Launch from Asia

Launch from Asia

We recorded and scored the flights with same tools as the competition flights. The officials of the FAI Sporting Event checked the tracks of GPS loggers after the flights. One pilot turned on the GPS logger during the flight. We can’t record his take-off position but that was the first documented Event were many hot air balloons flight over the Europe – Asia border. The organiser will apply for the approval of Guinness Record.

Europe - Asia flight

The green line is the border of Europe and Asia. The tracks of the balloons are red.

Asia Europe flight. We started at first and we flew southernmost.

Asia Europe flight. We started at first and we flew southernmost.

Mor photos from the Event are herehere, here and here.

Небесная ярмарка – 2013, Кунгур, Россия

В мероприятии приняли участие 24 пилота, 5 пилотов участвовали в фиесте. Состоялось 7 полётов, в которых было выполнено 25 заданий. Один полёт пришлось отменить из-за слишком сильного ветра. Все задания, отчёты измерительных команд и результаты опубликованы на электронной доске объявлений: http://balloon.hu/kungur2013/.
Зона полетов включает поля (как убранные, так и засеянные), леса, реки, озёра, предгорья. Состояние дорог оставляет желать лучшего, поэтому пришлось заново обозначить определение «плохих дорог». Местные водители очень нам помогли.
Организаторы устроили участникам интересные экскурсии: посещение Ледяной Пещеры, сплав на катамаране, посещение Монастыря и др.
Команда организаторов и официальных лиц в этом составе готова провести в Кунгуре соревнования Первой категории ФАИ.
Присоединяйтесь к нам в следующем году! Кунгур – очень интересное и необычное место, которое стоит посетить.

Лучшие 6 пилотов:

1 Мамору Эндо Япония 20164
2 Сергей Латыпов Россия, Москва 19552
3 Нумата Минору Япония 18536
4 Игорь Старков Россия, Пермь 18225
5 Александр Дульцев Россия, Кунгур 16189
6 Валерий Латыпов Россия, Москва 16020
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Monument of Nikita, the Russian Ikarus in the Park of Aeronauts

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Park of Aeronauts

2013-06-29 20.05.39

Park of Aeronauts

 

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Opening Ceremony

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Memorial to the victims of 2nd World War Hungarian in Kungur cemetery.

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Billboard of the Event

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“Rafting” (boating) with the Japanese teams

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Marker drop

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Andrey the chief organiser

Europe

Europe

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Asia

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Eurasia

 

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The winner is…

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… Mamoru Endo

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Closing Ceremony

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Kungur

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Kungur

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Kungur

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Kungur

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Kungur

2013-06-28 20.55.12

One of three prison is in Kungur. The churches on photos are in prison.

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Kungur

2013-06-29 19.36.11

Kungur

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Sky Fair – 2013, Kungur, Russia

Twenty-four competitors entered to the Event and five fiesta pilots participated too.  We made seven flights and twenty-five tasks. I had to cancel one flight only because the windy weather. All task sheets, measuring report sheets results and other information published on the Electronic Notice Board: http://balloon.hu/kungur2013/.

The contest area is with open fields, fields under crops and wooded, rivers, lakes, foothills areas. The road network is not the best and I had to reconsider the bad road definition but the local drivers help us so solve these problems. The organiser provided nice excursions for the participants too: visiting the Ice Cave, boat trip, visiting a Monastery, etc.
These teams of the organisers and officials are ready to run category one Event in Kungur too.

You have to come next year. It’s an interesting and great place. Must to see!

Top six pilots:

1. Mamoru Endo JAP 20164 points
2. Sergej Latypov RUS 19552 points
3. Numata Minoru JAP 18536 points
4. Igor Starkov RUS 18225 points
5. Aleksandr Dultsev RUS 16189 points
6. Valerij Latypov RUS 16020 points
2013-06-29 19.59.47

Monument of Nikita, the Russian Ikarus in the Park of Aeronauts

SAMSUNG

Park of Aeronauts

2013-06-29 20.05.39

Park of Aeronauts

 

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Opening Ceremony

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Memorial to the victims of 2nd World War Hungarian in Kungur cemetery.

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Billboard of the Event

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“Rafting” (boating) with the Japanese teams

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Marker drop

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Andrey the chief organiser

Europe

Europe

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Asia

SAMSUNG

Eurasia

 

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The winner is…

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… Mamoru Endo

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Closing Ceremony

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Kungur

2013-06-28 20.03.29

Kungur

2013-06-28 20.05.04

Kungur

2013-06-28 20.11.20

Kungur

2013-06-28 20.28.51

Kungur

2013-06-28 20.55.12

One of three prison is in Kungur. The churches on photos are in prison.

2013-06-28 21.36.34

Kungur

2013-06-29 19.36.11

Kungur

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Open Serbian Championship 2013

The Open Serbian Championship 2013 held in Despotovac and Jagodina at last long weekend. We had pilots from Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia. We enjoyed the warm and very freindly hospitality of local people. The weather was very exciting as you may see on the photos but we had three flights.

Open Serbian Championship 2013

The Serbian Champion is Srdjan Srdic and the results of Open Serbian Championship:

  1. Johann Almer (AUT)
  2. Lidija Kosi (SLO)
  3. Silvo Vohar (SLO)
Mammatus clouds in Serbia

Mammatus clouds in Serbia

Ice in the air

Ice in the air

 

Sunset behind the rain

Sunset behind the rain

Rainbow on the Eastern sky

Rainbow on the Eastern sky

All results are published here. More photos are on the Facebook.

First flight of Dutch Balloon Trophy 2013

The wind measuring at 2300 gave winds of over 20 knts and the forcast was not much better. When a thunderstorm started at 0100 were close to cancelling the first flight but decided to do the windmeasuring at 0300 to see what had happened.

First flight of DBT 2013

What a surprise, winds below 10 knts in the piball and pretty stable atmosphere in the forecast. We can see a flight in this forecast.

The tasks were set, the wind measured again, the tasks were changed, target teams send away. A cold front is coming our way so the task briefing is short and compact so we can start the launch period as soon as sunrise.

First flight of DBT 2013

Within 20 minutes 25 balloons have launched for a fast flight with minimal flight conditions, they are of for a Pilot Declared Goal, Judge Declared Goal and Hesitation Waltz.
Now we are waiting for everyone to come back safely and we can start calculating the results.
What a morning…..

Sanne Haarhuis, Deputy Director

Sanne Haarhuis, Deputy Director DBT 2013

The task Sheet of the first flight on the Electronic Notice Board.