Some aviation sports – like air racing and aerobatics – are relatively well known, but others are unconventional, a little crazy, and never going to be a big success. Some of these challenge pilots to fly the shortest possible distance or drop bags of flour onto targets.
They might be entertaining to watch, and they do demand genuine flying skill, but these three sports below are almost certainly destined to be niche forever.
Flour bombing
Flour bombing is what the name suggests. Pilots fly over a marked target and release small paper bags filled with flour.
The sport developed from exercises that helped pilots practise low-level flying. There are no national or international flour bombing leagues (surprisingly!), but the sport is seen at aviation festivals and fly-ins.
It’s a niche activity because it requires suitable airfields, safety procedures, and organisers willing to run the competition… and people willing to watch. For aviation fans looking for something different, or gamers looking for fast-paced experiences like the Aviator Malawi game, flour bombing shows how varied flying can be.
Cluster ballooning
In 1937, Auguste Piccard experimented with cluster ballooning, flying solo in the Pleiades with 92 latex balloons. According to Britannica, the inventor “dreamed of a stratosphere flight” with a cluster of balloons.
Almost a century later, people are still tying themselves to balloons. Several daredevils have followed in Piccard’s footsteps: the famous Roman Catholic priest Adelir Antonio de Carli flew above the ocean in Brazil with 1000 balloons in 2008; his journey was not successful. The same year, a licensed pilot Jonathan R. Trappe used a cluster of balloons to soar 4,500 metres in the air. Two years later, Trappe crossed the English Channel with another cluster.
John Ninomiya, another cluster balloonist, once told writer Viki Psihoyos that he had thought about flying since he was a kid. Nimoiya said the feeling was “lovely” and that letting go of the tethers on the ground and starting to rise was the most exciting part of ballooning.
There aren’t enough people like Nimomiya in the world for cluster ballooning to become the next football or basketball.
Hot air balloon competitions
Hot air balloons were not built for racing, as you might guess. They usually only move when the wind blows. But racing fans will turn any vehicle into a racing object, and hot air balloon racing festivals are organized around the globe. The events include high-precision landings, stunts, and navigation.
You might argue that this pales in comparison with radio-controlled plane combat, where people try to take each other’s planes down in the sky, or jetpack racing – and maybe you’d have a good argument – but this is hot air balloons. How has it progressed into a sport where a Russian aviator works with a “team of balloon specialists” (per Balloons Over Britain) to set a target of travelling around the world in under two weeks?
While Ultra Magic Balloons points out that the main reason for balloon festivals is gathering numerous balloons, there are specialised events where pilots’ skills are tested in competitions, races, and Grand Prix.
Most people don’t have the time to watch balloon fans travel the world. A Grand Slam tennis match might take five hours, but aviators beneath balloons might take two weeks to complete their mission.
