FAI Rotorcraft Commission (CIG)

The finely-honed skills of the crews participating in the Helicopter World Cup 2018 were put to the test once again at the third stage, held at Zielona Gora’s Przylep airfield (POL) on 28-30th June.

The challenging technical event saw 19 crews from four different countries compete in Fender and Slalom races in two classes: General and Masters.

The global helicopter community is gearing up for the FAI World Helicopter Championship 2018, which will be held July 23 - 29 in Minsk, Belarus.

To ensure the success of the Championship, the event organiser will draw on experience gained during the Helicopter World Cup 2017, as well as the 27-crew World Championship test-event at which it states that:

Five years ago on 22 February 2013, Sergey Ananov (RUS) made a "Distance without landing" flight in a Robinson R22 Beta Helicopter of 1232 km (previous record: 1176.79) from Moscow to Ufa (RUS) and a "Distance over a closed circuit" flight of 1062 km (previous record: 1016.20 km) in Moscow; thus breaking the long-held records set by American pilot L. W. Hartwig over five decades ago, more precisely in 1961!

On 13 November 1907, French engineer and bicycle maker Paul Cornu made history by becoming the first man to fly in a rotary wing aircraft.

The primitive helicopter – a twin-rotor craft powered by a 24-horsepower engine – only lifted Cornu about 1.5m off the ground, holding him there for 20 seconds at Coquainvilliers, near Lisieux in France.

But that was enough for Cornu to take his place in the history books as the first man to successfully fly a rotary wing aircraft.