Montbéliard hosts 63rd Coupe Aéronautique Gordon Bennett

The 63rd Gordon Bennett Cup is set to launch from the French city of Montbéliard close to the Swiss border on the 13th September. 

20 gas balloon teams are set to contest in the hostoric competition including last year's winning pilot Mateusz Rekas. Experienced campaigners such as Kurt Frieden (SUI), Willi Eimers (GER) and Vincent Leys (FRA), the most succesful pilot who has been in a winning balloon on 9 occasions are also included in the start list.

Australia AUS 1 Dariusz Brzozowski
Austria AUT 1 Gerald Sturzlinger
Austria AUT 2 Christian Wagner
Belgium BEL 1 Geert Peirsman
France FRA 1 Vincent Leÿs
France FRA 2 Eric Decellieres
France FRA 3 Luc Monnin
Britain GBR 1 John Rose
Germany GER 1 Andreas Zumrode
Germany GER 2 Benni Zenge
Germany GER 3 Willi Eimers
Luxembourg LUX 1 Carlo Arendt
Poland POL 1 Mateusz Rekas
Poland POL 2 Krzysztof Zapart
Spain SPA 1 Angel Aguirre
Switzerland SUI 1 Nicolas Tieche
Switzerland SUI 2 Kurt Frieden
Switzerland SUI 3 Walter Gschwendtner
USA USA 1 Cher White
USA USA 2 Andy Cayton

The location of the start for this year's event means many ANSPs will be coordinating the early stages of the competition. Depending on the weather conitions and winds DSNA (France), DFS (Germany), Skyguide (Switzerland), ENAV (Italy), ANA (Luxembourg), Austrocontrol (Austria) and Skeyes (Belgium) could all potentially be handling the crossing of the balloons within the first days of the competition.

Tracking for the balloons will be available here: https://live.gordonbennett.aero/