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| [BACK
TO SUNDAY EVENING FLIGHT] [1ST COMPETITION FLIGHT] [FLIGHT 2] [FLIGHT 3] [TASKS SHEETS AND RESULTS] [THE 2010 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN DOLE, FRANCE] |
Competing with Hot Air Airships I know of 11 hot air airship competitions: eight World Championships, two European Championships and the Tsarskoye Selo test-event in 2007. During the same 20 years there must have been more than one thousand hot air balloon competitions. It is evident that there is still much unused and undeveloped potential in airship competitions. How do the airship pilots compete? Detailed answer is given on the last pages of competition rules. Simplified answer follows. They compete 1) in speed along a course defined by pylons or landmarks, 2) in manouvering the airship as precisely as possible at certain points. For the second type of scoring options the pilots can use plenty time and the results are measured in centimeters or in ability to reach or deliver an object by hand. A need for inventing tasks which combine speed and precision in a way that produces easy-to-observe failures and thus more entertainment to public has been noticed by many. |
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| PYLON RACE IN TUUTARI
ON THURSDAY EVENING. TWO AIRSHIPS ARE RACING TOWARDS THE PYLON IN
DISTANCE, FIVE AIRSHIPS ARE COMING BACK AT FULL THROTTLE. |
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| LUDMILA USHAKOVA
COMING TO COLLECT A SHAMPANSKOYE BOTTLE FROM AN OFFICIAL WHO STANDS IN
A CHILDREN'S WADING POOL. |
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| ECKARDT KÖRNER'S
CREW CHIEF REACHES FOR A BOTTLE. |
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| LEONID
TYUKHTYAEV COLLECTS. |
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| BESNARD AT X-TARGET
ON MONDAY MORNING. |
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| WOJCIECH BAMBERSKI IS
READY TO DROP HIS MARKER IN THE CENTER OF BULL'S EYE TARGET. OSCAR
LINDSRÖM WAITS FOR HIS TURN. SAME BUT
BIGGER. |
| [FIRST COMPETITION
FLIGHT] |
| The 2010 World
Championship |