28 August 2012
Congratulations to the British Helicopter Team, which has finished in second place at the 14th Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Helicopter Championships.
The competition took place on 22-26 August at the Drakino airbase in the Moscow Region, Russia. Teams from 11 countries – Austria, Belarus, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the UK – took part, and more than 7,000 guests and spectators attended. As well as the traditional events of precision flying, fender rigging, navigation and slalom, there was also a prize awarded for a new freestyle event. The Drakino championship also saw a world height record for a passenger helicopter. The Mi-38 (pictured) reached an altitude of 28,200ft (8,600m) which is a new world record for helicopters in the 10,000kg to 20,000kg weight class. The previous record was 27,880ft. Look out for a full write-up of the competition from British Team Captain, David Monks, in the October issue of FLYER.
