FAI Sailplane World Grand Prix Championship Final in Chile Andes

Only the 15 best representatives of the world who arrived on Jan. 2 to Vitacura, and into the skies over the Andes Mountains and provide a real air show, in what is the final of the third FAI world championship Grand Prix.

The event, which runs for eight days, will bring together the best competitors in gliding from nine countries, seven of them foreigners.
In the competition, aircraft-grade 15 meters-will plan at speeds up to 300 km / hour and at altitudes over 3,000 meters on a path established, covering a range of 400 to 600 kilometers, which will walk in the shortest time possible.

But this is not the first time that Chile is hosting a tournament of this discipline. In January he held the sixth round of the championship and now the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) named the country to carry out its end.

Arturo Diez, general manager of Vitacura Aviators Club, explained that Chile was chosen because of favorable weather conditions that the country possesses. "The speeds in other countries are between 90 to 110 km / h, and here we can achieve average speeds of 140 km / h. This is about the conditions of atmospheric instability generated by the Andes," he says.

Among the novelties, Diez said that he will have a "modern and attractive" tracking system, because each satellite navigator glider will be broadcast real time what is going through a website. "The site will see the race live, recreated on a three-dimensional displays a simulator with the direction in which they are competitors," he says.

The show will feature the participation of top riders from Australia, Austria, Czech Republic and Italy. In addition come the owner of the largest aircraft factory, German Tilo Holighaus, and will be the Chilean Carlos Roca and Rene Vidal, who will be the only South American in the tournament.

René Vidal, Chilean champion of the discipline, said that "we had an arduous training, we come out of a championship and with Carlos we have made several flights then analyzed. We believe we will be ok."

The Gliders Grand Prix final started at 14.00 January 2 and runs until the 9th of this month.

More information at http://www.grandprixchile.org/