AIR SPORTS INTERNATIONAL

   This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the world's first National Aero Club, the Aero Club de France. Since its foundation in 1905 (amongst others by France) the FAI has enjoyed particularly close relations with the Aero Club de France. Indeed until 1988, the FAI occupied offices in their splendid headquarters building in rue Galilee, near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. So we were pleased to give worldwide support to the celebrations of the centenary by declaring 1998 officially "The International Year of Aviation".

   We shall be joining the Aero Club of France in their celebrations by holding the 91st Annual General Conference of the FAI, at the end of September, in Toulouse, a city with a very rich aeronautical tradition. Before that the Champs Elysees will be transformed into an open air aviation museum, with a pageant of historical aircraft illustrating France's rich flying heritage. By a happy quirk of fate, a French crew won the 1997 Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race, giving France the right to organise this year's event. There are ambitious plans to have 26 gas balloons (helium filled) launched form the Tuileries Gardens, right in the center of Paris. This will be a major opportunity for the public to see the oldest air sport at close quarters.

   The Aero Club of France is organising a whole series of others events - air displays, cultural exhibitions, and media campaigns - to mark the centenary. In France, air sports will have an especially high profile this year. I call on other countries to mark this centenary in an appropriate way, and to let FAI know what is being planned so that details can be published.

   Let us hope that the next 100 years will bring as much excitement and interest to those who fly or dream of flying as the first century.

Eilif J Ness
President FAI


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