FAI Gliding Commission (IGC)

One year ago, on September 2^nd 2018, the Perlan 2 soared into the record books by reaching 76,000 feet (23km), the highest altitude ever reached by a glider.

The flight took place in El Calafate, Patagonia in Argentina, and was the third time in just a few days that the glider flew above the altitude of its own previous world record, set in 2017. The unique aircraft was flown by US pilots Jim Payne and Tim Gardner.

FAI Pan-American Gliding Championship 2019 organiser Virginia Thompson left a career in business to become a commercial pilot in 2001.

Married to Canadian Gliding Team member Dave Springford, she got involved with contest management in 2013 and found it to be “a perfect opportunity to blend my business experience with my love of aviation”. This year’s event is the first FAI Pan-American Gliding Championship she has organised. 

The Venue

In 2019 the IGC, the world's highest authority in the Gliding Sports in the world’s highest aviation authority FAI - Fédération Aéronautique Internationale - will celebrate two Awards, the jubilee of the first Lilienthal Medal for Gliding 1938 given in January 1939 at Paris to Tadeusz Gora (Poland) and the 1995 World Soaring Cup (WSC) a challenge cup initially given by New Zealand competition gliding enthusiasts.  In 2018 the IGC Plenary approved a proposal that the WSC would be given annually to the IGC Champion Pilot of the Year.  In 2018 the

Top Polish pilots defended their titles at the 35th FAI World Gliding Championships, held from 8-21 July 2018 in Ostrow Wielkopolski, Poland.

(Photo shows L-R Silver: Łukasz Grabowski (POL), Gold: Sebastian Kawa (POL), Bronze: Christophe Ruch (FRA))

"I had a team goal to get two medals and for the second time in a row it happened. I still can’t wrap my head around it, but the happiness is enormous!”commented pilot Łukasz Grabowski