22 October 2013
A British pilot has achieved the best results in a World Aerobatic Championship for any British pilot and the first podium finish for any pilot at a world event in the last 50 years.
Gerald Cooper won the bronze medal in the highest test of aerobatic ability, in competition against 52 of the best pilots from across the world at the World Aerobatic Championship being held in Texas which finished on Saturday 19 October.
In addition Gerald won silver in the freestyle competition, the highest position for any British pilot at the World Freestyle Championships, a separate event requiring a different style of flight.
Further success came with the British team finishing fourth in the championship, the other two pilots being Simon Johnson and Tom Bennett.
Gerald was flying the Sbach Xtremeair X41, a high-performance, all-carbon aerobatic aeroplane at the Perrin Field, North Texas Regional Airport in Grayson County in the 27th FAI World Aerobatic Championship.
Low cloud and rain stopped flying early in the contest but better weather returned in the second week to allow all pilots to fly three of the four scheduled flights.
Each pilot had to fly a known programme, a free, which is a personal sequence constructed by each individual pilot and an unknown, a sequence none of the pilots will have seen prior to the competition and has to be flown for the judges with no practice.
For further information on aerobatics, visit <a href=’http://www.aerobatics.org.uk’ target=’_blank’>www.aerobatics.org.uk</a>.
