19 August 2024
+VIDEO Thirty-three crews from around the world are taking part this week in the FAI World Air Navigation Race Championship in Slovakia.
Radomski Boleslaw and Darius Lechowski of Poland will be defending their title from the 2019 World Championship in Portugal against crews from Austria, China, Czechia, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain, UK and the six crews from Slovakia.
The sole British entry will see Chris Barnes and Ian McDowell flying a Groppo Trail in the event.
The Air Navigation Race (ANR) comprises two components: navigation and landings. It is a knock-out contest where aircraft with a two-person crew fly in elimination heats against each other.
For Navigation Tests, there are 8-10 turning points in a narrow corridor which has a common start and end point. The crew will receive their map and will have a short time to prepare before heading to their aircraft to take off.
There are two Landing Tests for the crews to complete. The scoring is for navigation, landing, and a combined score.
The tasks take place without the use of GPS – teams are given a map and must use stopwatches and a compass to find the turnpoints.
The event’s tasks and results can be followed here. It ends on Saturday, 24 August with a closing ceremony and prize-giving.
