Russia Sweeps
World Aerobatic Championships!
Patrick Paris Wins 4 Minute!

Victor Chmal Photo: Gordon Bowman-Jones.

The Russian Aerobatic Team of Victor Chmal, Nicolai Timofeev and Oleg Shpoljansky won the Nesterov Cup for best team performance at the XVIII World Aerobatic Championship.

Victor Chmal's score of 7239.5305 points was good for an 84.57% rating, the highest overall score, which won him the Aresti Cup and title of World's Aerobatic Champion after the second round of flying, which concluded Thursday.

France Voltige took the Silver in the Mens individual standings, on the strength of Patrick Paris's second place 7213.6803 points for 84.27%, and Russia took the Bronze on the basis of Nicolai Timofeev' third place standing with 7165.5666 points for 83.71%.

The Team standings were Russia; Gold, France; Silver and USA Bronze.

Italy captured 4th place in Male Teams ranking. The Italian team score was composed by individual results of Fabio VIVIANI (28th overall), Renzo VOCERI (41st overall) and Andrea FOSSI (42nd overall), flying respectively CAP-231EX and CAP-231.

Svetlana Kapanina Photo: G. Serebrennikov.

Russian Aerobatic Team sensation Svetlana Kapanina took the Women's Gold for Russia for her fourth overall score of 7114.4150 (83.11%), which was the highest placement by a female in the Contest.

Second and third place in the Women's accounting went to Svetlana Kabatskaya, 11th overall with 6970.6687 points and 81.43%, and the American Patty Wagstaff, who was 12th overall with 6937.0317 points and 81.04%, respectively. Wagstaff was the highest scoring American pilot at the contest. The Russian Elena Klimovitch placed 26 overall with a score of 6752.5680 for 78.89% to join her Russian Women Teammates in taking the Gold for the contest and the FAI Challenge Cup.

Wagstaff's solo Bronze for the Americans was complimented by the Women's Team Silver for the Contest, which the American team of Wagstaff, Diane Hakala and Linda Meyers-Morrissey won with an aggregate total of 20,642 points to the Russian Women's team total of 20,837. The French women's team of Pascal Alajouanine, Sylvie Breton and Catherine Maunoury took the Bronze.

Patrick Paris Photo: D. Roland.

In the separate competition held Friday for the 4 Minute Freestyle, Patrick Paris of France Voltige edged out defending champion Jurgis Kairys of Lithuania for the top standing, 2114.166 to 2100.234. Fellow French pilots Eric Vazeille (2086.383) and Dominique Roland (2050.532) were third and fifth, respectively, while round one WAC contest leader Nicolai Timofeev placed 4th with 2072.659 points. The highest placing American was Matt Chapman at 9th with 1936.683 points.

Thus, the final standings (and trophies at stake) are:

• Men's Team (Nesterov Cup) - Russia, by Chmal, Timofeev, Shpolijamsky

• Men's Individual (Aresti Cup) - Russia, by Victor Chmal

• Women's Team (FAI Challenge Cup) - Russia, by Kapanina, Kabatskaya and Klimovitch

• Women's Individual (Royal Aero Club Trophy) - Russia, by Svetlana Kapanina

• Four Minute Freestyle (Manfred Strossenreuther Trophy) - France, by Patrick Paris

OSHKOSH '96 AND WAC '96 ON ESPN

One of the aviation world's most popular events, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Fly-In Convention, will be featured on a prime-time special on ESPN. The EAA OSHKOSH 96 special will debut on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 10 p.m. EDT, with a repeat airing scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. EST.

EAA has also produced a World Aerobatic Championship special, which will premiere on

• Thursday, Oct. 24 at 10 p.m. EDT
• with a repeat airing on
• Thursday, Oct. 31 at 4:30 a.m. EST.

The History of the World Championships

If you are unfamiliar with the sport, we've compiled historical notes, background information and a review of the aircraft used in the sport.

All the news from the contest, profiles of the United States Aerobatic Team members and a look at the international competition that they face. Be sure and check out the QTVR photos of the '96 U.S. Team!

Everything you need to know about how the contest is conducted, including the symbology, the flights, judging and scoring. We've posted the Aresti diagram for the Known sequence, the first flight of the Contest, along with a description of the figures.

Once the contest is underway, we'll provide current information on results, a first in the history of World Aerobatic competition. Check in here to see how your favorite pilot is faring.

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