Think that the US is the only place to find top pilots giving it their all competing with their foamies??? Think again!

I had the opportunity to attend a small portion of the 2012 International Indoor Tournament of Paris (IITOP). It was held over this past weekend in Les-Clayes-Sous-Bois, which is just near Versailles, France. Unfortunately I can't provide a full report, as I only attended the freestyle portion of the contest. But I did manage to snap a boatload of photos, so I thought I'd share a few. You can find out more about this competition at: www.iitop.free.fr

There were pilots from several European countries, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, and Austria competing over the weekend in F3P pattern, Freestyle, and various other foamy contests. Some notable names that the US crowd might recognize included Gernot Bruckman, Fabien Turpaud, and Donatas Pauzuolis. The only portion I attended was the freestyle routines - and they were off the hook! Just when I think there's nothing new under the sun with "foamy freestyles", the innovation just keeps coming!!!

There were a few guys with reversible props - the tech isn't new, but high speed runs straight at the wall with a last-second backward horizontal pin wheel blew everyone away!!! And one pilot (sorry, I wasn't fast enough to catch the name) would do an inverted torque roll, pop backwards up about 10 feet, then pinwheel straight back down into another inverted torque roll.

There was also LED's on planes, confetti launched at a strategic moments in the routine, chrome streamers, and even SMOKE! (When the assistant went to light up the smoke, I thought he was setting the wings on fire!!!) Awesome stuff!!

After the freestyle, we stuck around to watch a few heats of the foamy pylon races. Lots of tight turns, and some shredded foam, but exciting to watch. "Like NASCAR but with planes!!" my son commented.

Hope you like the photos!

Pete

Pilots:

Pilots

Here we go!

more

plus...

en plus....

FINALE