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The 26th FAI World Precision Flying Championship will take place in Toruń, Poland, from 9 to 14 August 2026. Bringing together pilots from across the globe, the event offers competitors a unique arena to push their navigational precision and landing accuracy skills to the limits and measure their performance against the very best in the world. 

Hosted by the Aero Club of Poland and the Pomeranian Aero Club, the international event will take place at Toruń airfield, close to the Vistula River and UNESCO heritage old town, famous as the birthplace of 16th century astronomer, Copernicus.

Toruń has an enduring connection with air sports; the airfield was established over 100 years ago and has hosted several international competitions, including, recently, the Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett in 2021, and FAI World Glider Aerobatic Championship in 2023.

Live tracking during the event will enable spectators to follow the action from around the globe and showcase the sport to a wider audience.

Ralf Grunwald, President of the FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC) gives an insight into the importance of the location: “Precision Flying feels especially fitting in Toruń, home of Copernicus: our sport is built on orientation, accuracy, and trust. What excites me most is the mix of world-class champions and emerging young talent, bringing fresh energy and innovation to training and teamwork. With a strong safety culture at the heart of every task – and transparent judging that protects fairness for every crew – Toruń 2026 will be an inspiring showcase of modern general aviation at its very best.”

About Precision Flying

Precision Flying challenges an individual pilot’s most basic skills – flight planning, navigation, observation and landing – without the aid of GPS tools or aviation calculators.

In competition, pilots complete a Landing Test of four landings, and three Navigation Tests. Pilots must first prepare their flight plan in 30 minutes, then take off in their aircraft, following the distance, ground speed, time and heading as accurately as possible, identifying targets as they fly.

Penalty points are given for inaccuracies in observations, turning points, speed etc. and competitors aim for the lowest number of penalties to become Champion. Team prizes are also awarded, with the results of the top three pilots from each team/nation compiled to find out the podium places.

Event schedule

  • 4-8 August: Training
  • 9 August: Opening Ceremony
  • 10-13 August: competition flights
  • 14 August: Closing Ceremony

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By Frank Eckard

The Delegates to the GAC meeting

The FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC) is responsible for overseeing international air sport competitions and developing the rules for Rally, Precision and ANR competitions and GA  ecords.

This year Switzerland hosted the annual Plenary Meeting of the FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC). The meeting took place in Luzern on 26–27 February 2026.

We missed the diplomatic presence of Hans Schewbel following his retirement as President last year. It is believed that he represented South Africa at every GAC meeting since 1999, and his long service was widely appreciated.

When planning my travel, I chose to avoid the Middle East and instead flew via Istanbul to Zurich — a decision that proved wise in hindsight.

The GAC Bureau has been meeting monthly via Zoom throughout the year, so much of the preparation for the annual meeting had already been completed before the plenary session.

Rally Subcommittee
The Rally Subcommittee reviewed the most recent World Rally Flying Championship held in Ferrara, Italy. Several minor rule changes were agreed upon. These mainly addressed the quality of training routes, and the definition of “envelope time” was extended to include taxi time.

General Rules document
To simplify the competition rules for competitors and organizers, a proposal was made last year to extract all provisions common to the various competitions and place them into a new General  Rules document. A draft was prepared by Frank Eckard, and comments were received from the subcommittees. The Bureau will now finalise this document.

FAI Athletes Working Group.
The FAI has proposed an Athletes W orking Group to give a direct voice to our Athletes. The GAC is to propose one of its athletes to the working group.

Calendar of World Championship Events

2026
26th FAI World Precision Flying Championship – Toruñ, Poland
Training: Tue 4 Aug – Sat 8 Aug 2026
Competition: Sun 9 Aug – Fri 14 Aug 2026

2027
4th FAI WANR Championship – Zwickau, Germany
Training: 23 Aug – 29 Aug 2027
Competition: 30 Aug – 4 Sep 2027

2028
25th FAI World Rally Flying Championship – Greece
Training: Mon 15 May – Fri 19 May 2028
Competition: Sat 20 May – Fri 26 May 2028

Long Range Rally Events
Rallye Toulouse – Tarfaya
14 May 2026
Rallye Toulouse – Saint-Louis
19 September 2026

The closing dinner was held underneath the aircraft display in the Swiss Museum of Transport

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Watch the action with Live Track.

The Trackers are shared between competitors, so open the Day 4 start list to find the competitor number you want to follow:

The route will be published at 10:30.

Use F5 to refresh.

 

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04 Jun 2025

FAI World Rally Flying Championships returns to Italy in 2025

World Championships Air Rally Flying

Experienced Competition Director Filippo Papale is excited to bring the FAI World Rally Flying Championships back to Italy after it last hosted the event in Ravenna, 26 years ago in 1999.

The 24th edition of the championships is being organised by the Aero Club d’Italia and the Aero Club Ferrara and will showcase the strategic skills of the pilot-navigator crews during a world class event in which sixteen nations will battle it out to reach the podium.

Who will become 2025 FAI Rally flying champions?

From 30th August to 5th September 2025, teams from Austria, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom will compete against reigning champions from Czechia who will hope to defend their titles in Individual and Teams podiums.

In 2023, it was France who claimed the team champion title on their home turf in Mâcon. Will the Italians manage to achieve the team title, proudly flying over the historic Po Valley, a UNESCO heritage site? Competition Director Filippo Papale hopes so, given that the area around Ferrara airport is, “tailor-made for a world rally flying competition,” due to its barycentric position in Europe.

About Rally Flying

Rally flying is not simply a race against time. Success lies in expert cartography, navigational accuracy, aerial proficiency and split-second timing.

After practice sessions and the opening ceremony, the competition tasks commence on 1 September. Each day, the two-person crews will be given an envelope just minutes before the allocated take-off time. The clues and photographs revealed upon opening the envelope will suggest turning points; the navigator will plot a track and declare a finish time, which the pilot will endeavour to meet by accurately following the flight path, whilst also taking aerial photos to show progress. There is also a landing task during each flight.

View inside cockpit as pilot checks route for World Air Rally Flying championships
Crew member plots a route at the 18th FAI World Rally Flying Championship in Spain [Credit: Katarzyna Osowska]

GPS trackers in each aircraft will enable judges to rank the crews and determine the champions in Individual and Team categories. To enable Rally Flying fans to follow the race, the teams’ positions will be livetracked and available online, and Papale plans to display the tracking for spectators at the airfield.

Showcasing the sport

With 20 years of experience in organising the Italian Air Rally Championships in Catania, Sicily, Papale has the knowledge and contacts to run a smooth operation at this year’s world championships, and he hopes that the event will encourage newcomers to follow the sport, saying, “we would like to have as large a flow of guests as possible.” He will also be using the event as an opportunity to showcase the manageable process of hosting a Rally Flying event to visiting nations, and bolster the sport’s development in the future.

Papale has a long history with Rally Flying, having participated in “six or seven” Italian national championships as a competitor. After the national championships in Catania came to an end due to excessively heavy air traffic in the area, he remained responsible for the Air Rally classification centre on behalf of the Aero Club of Catania. As an international judge and team manager he has participated in three World Championships (Ravenna in Italy in 1999, then Santa Cruz in Portugal and Mâcon, France).

Competition Schedule

  • 25-29 August: Practice
  • 30 August: Opening ceremony
  • 31 August: General briefing
  • 1-4 September: Competition flights
  • 5 September: Closing ceremony

An aircraft landing in an Air Rally championships
Judging an Rally Flying landing. [Image and Header credit: Tadeusz Misiasek from the 19th WRFC in 2014, Torun, Poland]

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Our annual FAI GAC Plenary Conference was held over the weekend of the 28th February 2025 in the beautiful city of Catania, Sicilia Island, ITALY.

Some teams arrived early and took the opportunity to tour Mt Etna.

The subcommittees met on Friday to conduct their business, and then a combined meeting was held on Saturday.

Our President Hans Schwebel  has stood down after serving for many years. He received a standing ovation for his years of service and was elected President of Honour.

Ralf Grunwald was unanimously elected as President.

Dr Philippe Muller was elected as vice president – finance.

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The Aero Club of East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, has a long history of promoting aviation. The club was founded in 1927.

After a long break from their last rally, they decided to “Rekindle the Spirit of Classic Aviation” with an up to date NAVEX AIR RALLY.

With a little help from the GAC, they arranged a Navex Rally from the Amboseli National Park Airfield which sits at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. An amazing backdrop for the rally.

Look out for next years rally!

Arrivals, Briefing and Preparations

The Navex

Celebrations