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."
