Clusters
- Trend Sports
IWGA Member Federation since 1995.
Learn more about Air Sports Drone Racing – FPV (First Person View) on the FAI website or YouTube.
Learn more about Air Sports Parachuting – Canopy Piloting on the FAI website or YouTube.
Air Sports – accuracy and speed in air
Discipline at The World Games 2025: Drone Sports
In Drone Racing, athletes fly small radio-controlled aircraft with remote controls, wearing a head-mounted display (called a goggle) showing a live-streamed image feed from the aircraft. The drones have four forward-facing electric motors and a camera in the nose, and can achieve a speed of more than 150 km/h. Drone Racing consists of successive races with the small drones flying together on a racing circuit with obstacles, outdoor or indoor.
Racing drones are designed for speed and agility. Because of their light weight and electric motors with large amounts of torque, the drones can accelerate and maneuver with great speed and agility. This makes for very sensitive controls, and requires a pilot with a quick reaction time and a steady hand.
The live-streamed image feed allows both pilots and fans to enjoy the illusion of flying at breakneck speeds, all without taking their feet off the ground. Drone Racing is one of the fastest growing Air Sports in the world.
Race time is about 2 to 3 minutes for 3 consecutive laps.
The discipline Canopy Piloting uses small and very agile skydiving parachutes. The athletes accelerate their parachutes by flying one or more steep turns in the air and then plain out over the surface of a stretch of water to enter the course. Competitions are held over water for safety reasons.
Canopy Piloting competitions involve a series of tasks designed to test a parachutist’s ability to control the canopy and fly accurately. A Mixed competition has courses testing best Accuracy, highest Speed and furthest Distance, plus a Freestyle course. On this, the athletes perform tricks with their body and parachute at high speed while in contact with the water.
Athletes have three attempts on each of the four courses, with all twelve results counting in the final standings.
Canopy Piloting was on The World Games programme from 2005 to 2022. Other disciplines in Skydiving have been on the programme between 1997 and 2009.
Federation: World Air Sports Federation (FAI): www.fai.org
