06 Oct 2023

News from Namwon: FAI World Drone Racing Championships 2023

Report from Antonis Papadopoulos, FAI Aeromodelling Commission (CIAM) President and Jury Member

The 2023 FAI World Drone Racing Championship officially began today with the Opening Ceremony during the afternoon of October 6th, in Namwon, Korea.

All the teams registered for this event arrived yesterday or during the previous days and have had the opportunity to visit the area where the event will take place.

The track is ready for the pilots, and promises impressive flights displays at daytime and also at night. The organisers (City of Namwon, Federation of Korea Aeronautics (FKA) and Korean Aeromodelling Association (KAMA) have been working very hard during the year to prepare this spectacular event.

WDRC2023

The 2023 FAI WDRC is the main event of the World Drone Festa, and there are two other events organised under the FAI umbrella: the first e-drone racing event and a Drone Soccer Open International Event. Korea is a leader in the drone industry and a Drone Confrence Expo is also taking place during the World Drone Festa.

Yesterday on 5 October the participants were registered and collected their accreditation cards and other useful material and an official photo session was organised for each team. The officials held a briefing.

Video of the pre-race preparations

Today on 6 October official practice for the World Drone Racing Championships will take place and in the afternoon the Opening Ceremony will take place in the main stadium. There will also be the first part of the e-Drone racing competition.

FAI President David Monks arrived to participate in this important event.

FAI Aeromodelling Commission (CIAM) President and Jury Member, Antonis Papadopoulos, declared:

“Congratulations to the organisers for this well-prepared FAI event. It is going to be a very challenging competition in all three of the planned events. We expect to have both day and night flights which will make the event more spectacular and we expect a lot of people to visit the venue in order to watch the activities until Monday. I wish all competitors the best of luck!”