24th WAC

Competition flying concluded at the 24th World Aerobatic Championships in Granada, Spain at 20.56 on Tuesday, 3 July, with the final flight of the 2nd Unknown. Because the scores had to be manually entered into the scoring computer on the airfield, final results were not available until after midnight.

Ramon Alonso of Spain became the World Aerobatic Champion and captured the Aresti Cup for the first time in his long aerobatic career. The competition was very intense all the way to the end of the event as his victory over Renaud Ecalle of France was by a 16 point margin out of nearly 10,000 points. Alonso flew a Sukhoi in the competition and was formerly a European Aerobatic Champion as well who has been on the competition scene for nearly two decades. A pilot for Iberia on the Airbus A-340, he is one of the most popular personalities on the aerobatic circuit whose warmth and generosity are well known (photo by Graham Hill).

The Nesterov Trophy, awarded to the men's winning team, went to France with Spain in second place and Russia in third. The top women's team was Russia followed by the USA.

Full results can be found at http://civaweb.mwebservices.net/

Zach Heffley of the USA won the FAI Gold Medal yesterday in the Final Freestyle event at the World Aerobatic Championships in Granada, Spain. Heffley flew a Sukhoi SU-26 to a decisive victory with a 135 point lead over second place winner Ramon Alonso of Spain. In third place was Renaud Ecalle of France.

Normally, the Final Freestyle is flown at the conclusion of WAC but CIVA approved the organizer's request to fly it on Sunday, 1 July, as a part of the airshow. The airshow attracted over 30,000 spectators according to local officials who enjoyed the fine showcase of pilot's talents.

The results of the Final Freestyle, flown yesterday, have been delayed due to paperwork issues. The International Jury is verifying that the scoresheets are properly identified with each pilot as this information was missing on the sheets. That will be completed this afternoon and the scores will be entered into the computer as soon as possible. It may be tomorrow morning before publication.

The sequence for the 2nd Unknown has been selected by the International Jury from the proposals received from Teams this morning.

It is attached here for download as a PDF and GIF file. Protests will be accepted on this sequence until 14.00, 2 July.