Jean Batten
Jean Batten was the first women to be awarded the FAI's highest award, the FAI Gold Air Medal. Awarded in 1937 she won it for the remarkable feat of flying solo from England to New Zealand – the first person ever to do so.
She was 27-years old when she made the record flight, which took her a total of 11 days 45 minutes.
Born in 1909 she moved to London in 1929, where she enrolled in the London Aeroplane Club. She took her first solo flight in 1930 and earned her private pilots licence by 1932.
Her first big solo flight trip saw her fly from England to Australia in May 1934 in a Gipsy Moth in 14 days 22 hours. The achievement brought her success: trophies, sponsorship and a publishing deal.
In 1935 she set a second world record flying from England to Brazil piloting a Percival Gull Six.
The next year she completed her record solo flight from England to New Zealand. She took off from Kent, England at 4.20am on 5 October 1936. She crossed Europe, the Middle East and Asia before arriving in Darwin after only five days and 21 hours.
Three days later on 16 October she took off from Sydney to fly to New Zealand. She arrived in Auckland after ten-and-a-half hours. She had flown from England to New Zealand in 11 days 45 minutes.
Worldwide, she became the most famous New Zealander of the 1930s. She is still recognised as a heroine in her native country today.
Her flight earned her many global prizes and awards, including the prestigious FAI Gold Air Medal for 1937.
As recorded in the minutes of the FAI Conference from that year, Colonel Walaardt-Sacré from the Royal Netherlands Aeronautical Association explained why: "She has demonstrated what can be asked of aviation today if it is approached scientifically. She has surprised the masses and at the same time given them confidence in aviation."
He continued: "In our opinion, she has thus been able to contribute strongly by her actions, her work, her performance, her initiative and her dedication, to the progress and development of Aeronautics. She is therefore worthy of receiving the highest honour that the FAI can award – the FAI Gold Air Medal."
World War Two brought her aviation career to a close. After the war she travelled, before retiring to the island of Tenerife. She died on the island of Majorca in November 1982, aged 73.
Mikhail Mamistov
Mikhail Mamistov learnt to fly in 1983 in the then Soviet Union and went on to become one of the most decorated pilots in the history of Aerobatics competition.
“I was 18 in 1983," he explained during an interview at the 2016 FAI European Aerobatics Championship in the Czech Republic. “I studied physics at university, but after I discovered flying I soon forgot about physics!”
He found his discipline in aerobatics. “You can do everything in three dimensions. It’s not just flying point A to B, like a bus or a ship. Aerobatics is real flight.”
Now, Mamistov is a fulltime aerobatics instructor based in St Petersburg. He teaches aerobatics at home and abroad.
Mamistov entered his first competition in 1987. “My first medal was for cross country flying. But then my first international competition was in 1995 and it was Glider Aerobatics. We went to France and I won.”
That same year he went to the FAI European Glider Aerobatic Championships. “And I won that. Then the next year I won the FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championships.”
Having won both European and World titles in glider aerobatics he moved to powered aerobatics.
“From 1999 I took part in all the competitions. 2000 I was second, 2001 I was World Champion, and 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012 I was European Champion, and 2011 I was World Champion again.”
It is that list that qualifies him as the world’s most decorated Powered Aerobatics pilot.
Mamistov puts part of his success down to his country's system of Powered Aerobatics training. The system has its roots in the Soviet era, when aerobatics received more state funding than it does today.
The sport has been good to him. “I have had many high points. My first international competition in 1995 was very good. In 2001 when I was World Champion that was very good. And 2011 when I was World Champion again was very good."
He added: “All my life I dreamed of flying. From five-years old I understood, ‘Yes, I want to be that.'"
Career Highlights
1995: FAI World Glider Aerobatics Championships, Gold
1996: FAI European Glider Aerobatics Championships, Gold
1997: FAI World Glider Aerobatics Championships, Gold
2001: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2004: FAI European Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2006: FAI European Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2008: FAI European Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2011: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2012: FAI European Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2013: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, Silver
2014: FAI European Aerobatic Championships, Silver
2015: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, Silver
2016: FAI European Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2017: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, Gold
2019: FAI World Aerobatic Championships, Bronze
Honorin Hamard
Honorin Hamard is a multiple world record holder in Paragliding, and has been both FAI Paragliding World Champion and FAI Paragliding European Champion.
He got the flying bug aged 14 from his father, who had been a pilot since the late 1980s but had given up the sport when his son was born. “For my father it was fun. He liked the social side, but for me, I wanted to win,” Honorin has said.
He learnt to fly on the coastline and in the flatlands of Normandy, France, but moved to the Alps to focus on flying as he became more involved in the sport. Once there he soon found his way onto the French national paragliding squad, under the direction of legendary French hang gliding and paragliding coach Didier Mathurin.
He rose quickly through the ranks, coming third in the Under-21s French Paragliding Championship in 2008, and becoming French Under-21 Champion in 2012.
Three years later he won the FAI Paragliding World Championships in Colombia in 2015 when he was just 24-years-old. He went on to win the FAI Paragliding European Championships in 2016, too.
Away from the competition circuit Hamard has also set several paragliding world records. Flying solo he set a declared flight to goal, 423.5km, in Brazil in 2013. Also in Brazil he set three tandem records flying with his girlfriend Karine Gras, on flights that took 11 hours. They also pushed the record for longest straight-line tandem paragliding flight to 403km.
A professional paraglider test pilot he flies 600 hours a year.
Career highlights
2013: FAI Paragliding World Record, Declared flight to goal, 423.5km, Brazil
2015: FAI World Paragliding Championships, Gold
2016: FAI European Paragliding Championships, Gold
2017: FAI World Paragliding Championships, Bronze
2019: FAI World Paragliding Championships, Bronze
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
