25 Mar 2019

Indoor Aerobatic Model Aircraft: three cheers for the new world champions!

Congratulations to the new FAI F3P Overall World Champions: Gernot Bruckmann of Austria and Lithuania’s Donatas Pauzuolis!

The two aeromodelling pilots flew their way to the top of the Overall podiums at the 2019 FAI F3P World Championships for Indoor Aerobatic Model Aircraft, with Bruckmann taking second place behind Pauzuolis in the F3P AFM (Aerobatic Flying to Music) class, and Pauzuolis finishing in second place behind Bruckmann in the Aerobatics competition.

Also taking a bow in the Overall categories at the championships, which took place in Heraklion, Crete from 17 to 23 March, were Julien Hecht of France, who came third in Aerobatics, and Junior competitor Andreas Wildauer of Austria, who was third in AFM.

Wildauer’s performance also took him to the highest step on the podium in the Junior AFM event, in which Maxime Schmitt of France and Italy’s Andrea Cervi completed the top three. And it was the same three young pilots who triumphed in the Aerobatics contest, albeit in a different order. Schmitt claimed the top spot, with Cervi second and Wildauer third.

Elsewhere, France won the Team Aerobatics competition, with Austria and the USA coming in second and third.

About the FAI F3P World Championships

Held at the Heraklion Arena, an Olympic-specification indoor arena that has already hosted many international sporting events, the 2019 FAI F3P World Championships was the first international air sport event on the island of Crete and the first World Championships in Greece since the 2000 F3J World Championship in Corfu.

It included two classes: F3P Aerobatics and F3P AFM, both of which have a weight limit of just 300g. The first class – F3P Aerobatics – involved competitors completing a pre-defined pattern of manoeuvres in front of a panel of judges whose decisions were based on factors including accuracy and smoothness.

The second class – F3P AFM - involved competitors demonstrating their flying skills to pre-selected music lasting for two minutes. This was the first year a class of this kind was included in an FAI World Championships, and it was a huge hit with the spectators.

"In the AFM class, pilots have the freedom to show what incredible manoeuvres are actually possible," said FAI Secretary General Susanne Schödel. "They seem to defy the laws of physics."

Well done to everyone who took part and helped to make the 2019 FAI F3P World Championships such a great event!