Corinna Schwiegershausen
Corinna Schwiegershausen was born in Bremen, Germany in 1972 and took up hang gliding in 1991. She has been FAI Women's World Hang Gliding Champion four times.
"My father started the sport and I immediately wanted to go flying as well," she has said. "It just felt natural for me. I love to be in the air, that is my element. Competitions are just a good excuse to spend more time up there."
After completing a degree in graphic design she moved to Munich to be closer to good flying sites. She quickly rose through the competition ranks and won her first FAI World Championship gold medal in 1998.
She went on to win two more FAI World Championships, in 2004 and 2006, and also won the FAI Women's European Hang Gliding Championship in 2008. She was part of the German women's team that won its sixth successive FAI World Championship gold in 2006 too.
Her advice for new competition pilots is straightforward. "Be prepared – get the best equipment possible and test it before the comp, so you know you are comfortable and safe.
"Also look into the psychological sides of a long, exhausting comp. Learn to admit that you make mistakes, analyse them to improve your skills, and then forgive yourself. And try not to make the same mistake again.
"Look at the other pilots with respect and see them as your friends. They will help you find thermals, learn fast and get better. I also never forget that there are, and always will be, pilots with much better skills than mine. It is great to always keep learning!
"Finally, always be humble and happy that every day you have the privilege to spread your wings and fly."
Career Highlights
1998, FAI Women's Hang Gliding Championship, gold
2004, FAI Women's Hang Gliding Championship, gold
2006, FAI Women's Hang Gliding Championship, gold
2008, FAI Women's Hang Gliding Championship, gold
Christian Ciech
Christian Ciech is one of the most consistent and successful pilots in competition hang gliding. He has held FAI European and World Championship titles at the same time, and has also won numerous FAI team gold medals.
He learnt to fly in 1988 when he was 17. "I remember it very well because I was asking myself, How am I meant to fly straight with this glider?!" Showing an early aptitude he realised the glider he was on "did not fly very straight" but he still managed to land it in the right field. "I have been hitting the field ever since."
A professional test pilot for a hang glider manufacturer he grew up in the Dolomites in Italy, before moving to Lake Maggiore, on the southern side of the Alps to be near work.
Hang gliding competition is as much about the psychological "head game" as it is the physical act of flying the glider. To do well, pilots must stay cool, and so it is for Ciech. "The best situation for me is when I'm not thinking about the results, and instead I'm thinking about what I can learn from the flight.
"If I set my mind in this way, it's the best thing I can do. It's not always possible, of course. Sometimes the competition stresses you out and you fight for the result, but that doesn't work very well for me. Flying to learn is the way I fly competitions."
Career highlights
1998: FAI European Hang Gliding Championships, Bronze
2002 and 2004: FAI World Hang Gliding Championships (Class 5), Gold
2015: FAI World Hang Gliding Championships (Class 1), Gold
2016: FAI European Hang Gliding Championships (Class 1), Gold
2017: FAI World Hang Gliding Championships (Class 1), Bronze
2019: FAI World Hang Gliding Championships (Class 1), Silver
Team Golds at the FAI World Hang Gliding World Championships: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
Sebastian Kawa
Sebastian Kawa is one of the most accomplished glider pilots in the sport. A multiple FAI World Champion and FAI European Champion he has excelled in all classes of gliding since the turn of the century.
However, his competitive roots lie not in the air but in the sea. From the age of 8 to 18 he sailed competitively at national and international level for Poland.
He took up gliding in 1988 aged 16 and within two years had clocked up 200 hours, as well as reached milestones like completing a 3,000m gain-in-altitude and a 300km triangle flight.
After winning the Polish Junior Gliding Nationals in 1992 he gradually climbed the ladder of elite glider racing. His first international podium came with a Bronze medal at the FAI World Gliding Championships in 1999. He won his first FAI World Championship in 2003.
In 2005 he was ranked number 1 in the world for the first time. He spent the next decade at number one or number two in the world rankings, and dominated the elite level of competition.
In 2012 he won his fourth FAI World Championship gold medal and became the most successful competition pilot in history. He has continued to win gold medals and is now the most decorated glider pilot in history.
In 2011 he published his autobiography, a Sky Full of Heat, in Polish and English. An active coach, teacher and trainer for all levels of pilot, Kawa revealed in his autobiography that it takes, "10 years of maximum concentration and effort to get to fly against the masters".
As well as competing around the world, he has pushed the boundaries of gliding flight with high-altitude flights above Aconcagua (6,962m) in Argentina, and in the Everest region of Nepal.
A qualified medical doctor he is married with two children.
Career Highlights
1999: FAI World Gliding Championships (World Class), Bronze
2003: FAI World Gliding Championships (World Class), Gold
2004: FAI World Gliding Championships (Club Class), Gold
2005: FAI European Gliding Championships (Club), Gold
2005: FAI World GP Gliding Championship (15m), Gold
2006: FAI World Gliding Championships (Club Class), Gold
2007: FAI European Gliding Championships (Club), Gold
2007: FAI World Sailplane Grand Prix World Final (15m), Gold
2010: FAI World Sailplane Grand Prix World Final (15m), Gold
2010: FAI World Gliding Championships (Standard), Gold
2011: FAI European Gliding Championships (Standard), Gold
2012: FAI World Gliding Championships (15m), Gold
2013: FAI World Gliding Championships (Standard), Gold
2013: FAI European Gliding Championships (18m), Gold
2013: FAI European Gliding Championships (Standard), Gold
2014: FAI World Gliding Championships (15m), Gold
2015: FAI European Gliding Championships (18m), Gold
2015: FAI World Air Games (Gold)
2017: FAI European Gliding Championships (20m), Gold
2017: FAI World Gliding Championships (13,5m & 15m), Gold
2018: FAI World Gliding Championships (15m), Gold
2018: FAI World Gliding Championships (Two Seater), Gold
2018: FAI Sailplane Grand Prix World Final (15m), Gold
2019: FAI European Gliding Championships (15m & 18m), Gold
2021: FAI World Gliding Championships (15m), Gold
2021: FAI Sailplane Grand Prix World Final, Gold
2022: FAI European Gliding Championships (15m), Gold
2023: FAI European Gliding Championships (18m), Bronze
2023: FAI World Gliding Championships (15m), Gold
Ferenc Toth
Ferenc Toth spent over 20 years at the top of his game, after winning his first major competition in Glider Aerobatics in 2000, aged 32. That was the FAI European Aerobatic Glider Championships, held in Provence, France, and it was a close battle between him and Jerzy Makula – the ‘grandfather’ of glider aerobatics – for the top spot.
Three years later he won the ultimate prize – the FAI World Championship gold medal, when he again battled it out with Makula for the first place on the podium. Since then his form has barely wavered – he has been on numerous podiums at major international competitions since.
Toth competes in the Unlimited Class of Glider Aerobatics, flying a Swift S-1, a dedicated solo aerobatic glider. A classic, it is considered the ultimate competition wing for glider aerobatics.
Besides a good glider, what is his secret, what makes him so good? “I think my secret is I can concentrate during my flights," he says. "Everyone is nervous in competition, of course, but when I am in the aircraft, before release, I can concentrate for the next four of five minutes. I am clear in my head.”
Toth started flying gliders in 1986, and spent nearly the first decade of his flying career in standard gliders. But he always thought he would enjoy aerobatics.
“I became an aerobatic pilot in 1995,” he says. “Everybody starts with the standard glider, looking for thermals and flying. But aerobatics pilots need more adrenaline, more challenge.
“When I was a young pilot with only two years’ experience I wanted to do something more. Nobody forced me, nobody pushed me, it was just a feeling from inside.”
That “feeling inside” has motivated him throughout his career. He has been an instructor, an aerobatics coach and a team trainer as well as a power precision and glider cross country pilot.
A professional airline pilot he switches to aerobatics at the weekend. “In my job I am sitting in the cockpit pushing buttons. But when I’m in the glider yes, this is flying.”
He adds: “When I’m training I’m happy. When we are flying in the air everybody has the same feeling – of freedom and being happy.”
Toth announced his retirement from competition at the 24th FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships in Issoudun, France in 2022.
Career Highlights
2000: FAI European Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2003: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2006: FAI European Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2007: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Silver
2008: FAI European Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2010: FAI European Aerobatic Glider Championships, Silver
2012: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Silver
2015: FAI World Air Games, Glider Aerobatics, Silver
2015: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2016: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2017: The World Games, Gold
2017: FAI World Aerobatic Gliding Championships, Gold
2018: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2019: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2021: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
2022: FAI World Aerobatic Glider Championships, Gold
Eldon W. Joersz
Eldon W Joersz officially became the fastest man in the world when he flew his US Air Force Blackbird plane at an astonishing 3,529.56km/h (2,194 mph) on 28 July 1976.
The record was set flying from an airbase in Southern California. Along with reconnaissance systems officer George Morgan, Joersz hit an incredible 3,529.56km/h (2,193.64mph) over a steady 25km straight-line course.
Covering almost 1km every second, and at 80,600ft, the pair flew at Mach 3.3 above Edwards Air Force Base. They were flying the legendary SR-71 Lockheed Blackbird, a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft operated by the US Air Force for three decades.
Flying three times faster than sound and with an engine temperature approaching 427-degrees Celsius, Joersz and Morgan had to fly a straight-line 25km-long course. Their speed was measured by highly sophisticated radar.
Once through the box, they had to turn and complete another run through the box at the same altitude. The average of the two speeds was taken, and that was the record speed.
Speaking from his home near Dallas in 2016 in the week before the 40th anniversary of the flight, General Joersz (retired), said: “After we went through the second time, control came up and said, 'Unofficially, the record is 2,194mph’. They knew what it was right away."
Inside the cockpit they were elated – although a little disappointed they hadn’t gone even faster.
“Our informal goal between the two of us was for 2,200 mph. So actually, we were quietly a little disappointed that we'd missed it by 7 mph!”
At the time however, Joersz had no idea his morning’s work would still be of interest more than forty years later.
“Truthfully, for us at the time it was just a fun thing to do. We just felt really fortunate to be the guys getting to fly the airplane.”
During his career in the United States Air Force, Joersz held several positions, including instructor; pilot during the Vietnam War; and Wing Commander. His awards include the Defence Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, and the Defence Meritorious Service Medal.
Joersz began his education in Hazen, North Dakota. From there, he graduated from North Dakota State University in 1966 with an ROTC commission and received his master's degree from Auburn University in 1978. He retired from the US Air Force in 1997.
Charles A. Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh was the first pilot to fly solo from New York to Paris. He completed the flight over two days, 20/21 May 1927.
In doing so he set an FAI World Record for ‘Distance in a straight-line without landing’. He flew a specially-built Ryan Monoplane, the Spirit of St Louis, 5,809km, and completed the flight in 33hr30mins.
He flew alone, through the night, navigating only by the compass, stars and dead reckoning.
Taking off from Roosevelt Field near New York early on Friday 20 May 1927, he was loaded down with 1,704 litres of fuel. His plane climbed slowly into the air, clearing the telephone lines at the end by a mere six metres.
From there he headed east, flying as high as 3,000m to clear storm clouds, and as low as 3m, skimming across the wave tops. He flew part of the flight blind through fog for several hours.
When he landed at Le Bourget Airport 10km northeast of Paris at 10.22pm on Saturday 21 May 1927 he was greeted by a crowd of 150,000 people.
The 25-year-old former barnstormer pilot became an international celebrity overnight, and was feted around the world. He received the French Legion d’Honneur and was awarded the USA’s Distinguished Flying Cross.
Lindbergh’s flight was ratified by the FAI, the World Air Sports Federation, which was then 22 years old.
Lindbergh went on to tour the world telling his story of his Atlantic flight. In his later years he became a prolific prize-winning author, international explorer, inventor, and environmentalist
He died on 26 August 1974, aged 72.