It is with sadness that we report the news that a long-standing friend of FAI, Bob Clipsham, passed away on 15 July 2024. 

Bob was a well-known and much respected figure within the international air sports community. He dedicated many years of service to FAI in various functions, and his expertise and passion for aviation made a lasting mark on our organisation and those who worked with him. 

In recognition of his services, Bob received an FAI Paul Tissandier Diploma in 2004 for his outstanding contribution to air sports, and was named as an FAI Companion of Honour in 2015. 

A civil engineer from Toronto, Canada and the President and Chief Financial Officer of a civil engineering and land surveying company, Bob was also a director of several aviation organisations, an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and he held a commercial power pilot's licence. 

Through his stalwart support of the Aero Club of Canada, he was a tireless advocate for air sports. He became one of the first group of Executive Directors of the FAI in 2000 when the Executive Board replaced the Council.

Bob raised his two children with his wife Lynda over 25 years. He subsequently raised three more children with his second wife, Pamela, to whom he was married for 35 years, who shared that, “Bob loved his professional life as a civil engineer and surveyor, but his heart was in the sky”

A lifetime of service

• Great War Flying Museum, Cheltenham, Ontario: Director, 1977 to 1985, President 1982 – 1984
• Pilot of WWI replica aircraft
• Brampton Flying Club: Director 1977 – 1988, President, 1985-1987
• Director of Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Association, 1982 – 1986
• Director of Aero Club of Canada, 1986 – 2000
• Canadian Sport Aeroplane Association: Founding Director, 1986 – 2008, President 1986 – 1990
• Chair, Aero Club of Canada Trust Fund 1997 to 2022
• FAI Vice-President for Canada 1992 – 2001
• Canadian delegate to FAI General Conference, 1981 – 1992
• FAI Finance Committee member, 1995 – 2000
• FAI Environmental Commission delegate, 1995-2002
• FAI Medico-Physiological Commission delegate, 2005-2012
• FAI Executive Director, 2000 – 2014
• FAI Executive Director, Finance, 2004 – 2014

• Member of the FAI Awards Advisory Group, 2016 – 2024

Mary Anne Stevens, President, Aero Club of Canada shared some reflections on her friend, Bob:

"On behalf of the Aero Club of Canada, I extend my deepest condolences to his wife Pamela and to their family. 

Bob was a thoughtful, ethical, fair, intelligent and kind gentleman, and I had the good fortune to benefit from his counsel over many years. Through his lifelong dedication and service to FAI and to both Canadian and International aviation he leaves an incredible legacy. He never held back on his appreciation of the friends he had made through FAI.

I will always remember the smile in his eyes. He was my friend, and I shall miss him."

FAI extends heartfelt condolences to Bob's friends and family in the air sports community and beyond.