Gliding champion Sebastian Kawa received the FAI Gold Air Medal at the 2024 FAI Awards Ceremony in Riyadh, becoming the first Polish recipient of the Federation's most prestigious honour.
Sebastian said, "I never dreamed that one day I would be the first Pole to be awarded the FAI Gold Air Medal. Did Charles Lindbergh, crossing the ocean on wings, expect that in the future a glider competitor would receive the same award? I don't think so, because in aviation it was a completely different era. The FAI Gold Air Medal reflects the history of aviation. After those daredevils who crossed the oceans, it was given to discoverers of phenomena, such as Willey Post, who changed our reality by discovering the Jet Stream; great designers of engines and fast planes; military pilots breaking speed and speed of sound records; cosmonauts. This story reflects how we have already mastered the entire planet in the air and its orbit.
"In the period that I personally remember as a child, Paul MacCready was awarded this medal, and he needs no introduction, because glider pilots have all stared for hours at the MacCready speed ring, and the flight of a Gossamer Condor is a symbol of the extreme efficiency of the aircraft propelled only with human muscle.
"To name a few other awardees, Hans Verner Grosse proved dozens of times how great the possibilities are in engineless aviation by breaking flight records… Bertrand Piccard flew around the world in a balloon. A different era began.
"Gliding is just a sport that, compared to these huge milestones, has been modestly hidden somewhere in the background since the beginning of our adventure with flying. But sport is competition and this MOTIVATES development. Sport tests pilots and tests new aerodynamic ideas or material technologies. Didn't the glider wing pave the way and give tools to designers of wind turbines or longer-range planes? Gliding also tested and proved numerical weather models in extreme detail.
"Gliding embraces the most beautiful arenas on our planet and, utilising natural currents for hours, it has shown quiet routes around them not imaginable for previous aviators. Pilots in extreme tests during races learn to look for new ways and fly in conditions that looked impossible previously. We learned a lot and through training and testing we can discover new places showing spectacular gliding areas to the world, as we proved recently by flying over K2 mountain and Karakoroum.
"Yes, the sport of gliding is faced with modest possibilities, of which I am an example, crossing five state borders for the first competition and getting to know the Alps only during the competition. And now, after many years, I am testing and giving opinions on new designs created by new manufacturers in my country. I would like to thank everyone who supported my candidacy, and especially warmly to Marina Vigorito Galletto for taking the initiative to appreciate the gliding competitor."
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George B. Moffat, twice world champion glider pilot, and a member of the U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame died in June 2024 at the age of 97. He began flying in 1953 and gliders in 1959. He entered his first national soaring competition in 1962, and was still an active competition pilot until 2008. Before competing in sailplanes, he competed in international 14 foot Dinghy racing and was a champion sailor.
Moffat was the first pilot ever to win the Open Class title twice in the World Gliding Championships, has won five U.S. National championships, and is one of only two pilots to have won the U.S. national title in the three glider competition classes (Open, Standard and 15-meter). A holder of the Lillienthal Medal, the highest award in gliding, he flew competitively all over the world.
George Moffat with Helmut Reichmann ath WGC MArfa where Gorerge won Open Class and Helmut 15m Class in 1970.
George was one of America's foremost competition pilots winning several Nationals dating from 1969, and setting three triangle speed records, he won the world title in 1970 and 1974.
'After only a few days to become acquainted with the prototype Schempp-Hirth Nimbus he flew it in the 1970 World Gliding Championships at Marfa, Texas. He had to modify the aircraft's cockpit to fit in, and became the first person to sample its spin characteristics when, in mid-competition, the glider departed from a steep turn into autorotation. While considering bailing out, he remembered that the spin of the similar Akaflieg Darmstadt D36 could be tamed by rocking the stick back and forth violently. Flexing the wings caused the angle of attack to change and recovery eventually ensued. In spite of these difficulties, Moffat and the Nimbus won the World Championship'.
In 1974, he wrote 'Winning on the Wind'. He placed first in the 1975 Smirnoff Transcontinental Sailplane Race, and won the Coupe d'Europe European Sailplane Championship in 1977 at Angers, France.
Moffat's victory in the 1969 US National Soaring Championship is chronicled in the 1971 film 'The Sun Ship Game' by cinéma vérité filmmaker Robert Drew and his 1974 victory at the World Gliding Championships at Waikerie in South Australia was captured in the film of the championships Zulu Romeo – Good Start.
World Records
Speed over a triangular course of 100 km: 128.38 km/h, 16 August 1962, El Mirage Dry Lake, Schreder HP-8
Speed over a triangular course of 300 km: 108.12 km/h, 19 August 1962, El Mirage Dry Lake, Schreder HP-8
Speed over a triangular course of 300 km: 119.87 km/h, 6 August 1964, Odessa, Texas, Schreder HP-8
World championships
1970 Marfa, Texas, Open Class, Schempp-Hirth Nimbus
1974 Waikerie, South Australia, Open Class, Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-2
International championships
1975 Smirnoff Transcontinental Derby, Eiri-Avion PIK-20
1977 European Championships, 15 meter class, Schempp-Hirth Mini-Nimbus
Lilienthal Gliding Medal, 1977
FAI Challenge Cup 1970, 1974
Exceptional Service Award 1999
Exceptional Achievement Award 1966, 1970, 1973
Barnaby Lecture 2001
du Pont Trophy 1969, 1973, 1982
Stroukoff Trophy 1966, 1982
Standard Class Trophy 1970
Schreder 15-Meter Trophy 1978
FAI Diamond #44 (Int #449) 1965
Books
1975, Winning on the Wind
2005, Winning II: New Perspectives
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