World Air Games is an international air sports

Air sports

The term Air sports covers a range of aerial activities such as:* Aerobatics* Ballooning* General aviation including Air racing* Gliding* Hang gliding* Human powered aircraft* Model aircraft* Parachuting* Paragliding...

 event organized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...

 (International Aeronautical Federation - FAI), inspired by the Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 and held every four years.

Competitions

• Aerobatics
  Competition aerobatics
  Competition aerobatics is an air sport in which judges rate the skill of pilots performing aerobatic flying. It is practiced in both piston-powered single-engine airplanes and gliders....
  
  
• Aeromodeling
  Model aircraft
  Model aircraft are flying or non-flying models of existing or imaginary aircraft using a variety of materials including plastic, diecast metal, polystyrene, balsa wood, foam and fibreglass...
  
  
• Air racing
  Air racing
  - History :The first ever air race was held in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1908. The participants piloted the only 4 airships in the U.S. around a course located at Forest Park...
  
  
• Ballooning
  Ballooning
  Ballooning may refer to:* Hot air ballooning* Balloon * Ballooning * Ballooning degeneration...
  
  
• Gliding
  Gliding
  Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
  
  
• Hang gliding
  Hang gliding
  Hang gliding is an air sport in which a pilot flies a light and unmotorized foot-launchable aircraft called a hang glider ....
  
  
• Helicopter
  Helicopter
  A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
  
  
• Microlight
• Parachuting
  Parachuting
  Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal...
  
  
• Paragliding
  Paragliding
  Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure...
  
  

List of games

#	Year	Country	Host	Date
1	1997 Details 1997 World Air Games 1997 World Air Games was an international competition of air sports, held between September 15 - September 21, 1997 in Turkey, hosted by Turkish Aeronautical Association . It was the first of World Air Games organized by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale once every four years...		Turkish Aeronautical Association Turkish Aeronautical Association Turkish Aeronautical Association is a non-profit organization with an aim of increasing public awareness and participation in aviation related activities and the national body governing air sports in Turkey...  (THK)	September 15 - September 21
2	2001 Details		Royal Spanish Aeronautics Federation (FAE), Royal Aero Club of Spain (RACE)	June 23 - July 1
3	2005 Details	Canceled, with and being final bidders
4	2009 Details		Aero Club D'Italia	June 6 - June 13

2005 cancellation

In early 2005, the FAI Executive Board decided not to continue with the selection procedure for the organisation of World Air Games in 2005. The Board judged that there was insufficient time remaining for the two final bidders, Malaysia and Poland, to solve the various organisational problems.

WAG 2009

The FAI announced on 27 October 2007 the opening of the bidding for the 2009 Games. Turin (Italy) has been chosen to host the World Air Games 2009. The decision was announced by the President of FAI - the World Air Sports Federation, Pierre Portmann, on first of June 2007 at the Olympic Museum, Lausanne

2011 cancellation

On 16 June 2010 the FAI announced the cancellation of the 2011 Games, following the decision of the city of Odense not to host the Games, and uncertainty and risks around a proposed late change to host the games in the city of Herning, also in Denmark.

External links

• World Air Games, official WAG news on FAI website
• World Air Games 2009, official site of WAG 2009