Despite some unseasonable weather the 2024 “El Yelmo” International Air Festival that took place from the 7-9 June was deemed a success. More than 22,000 visitors and 500 pilots attended the event in southern Spain.
Although some rain, wind and haze restricted the number of paragliders flying at the event there was still plenty of aerial action for the visitors with displays from helicopters, acrobatic planes and paramotors to keep them entertained.
In the International Air Film Festival it was Swiss film “Cerro Torre. Climb & Sky,” by Mario Heller that won the award for best film. Damien Lacaze took the best air sports film award with his film “Flying on the edge”. Other awards went to “Aguilucha”, directed by Alfredo Penella for best nature in flight film and “Eternal Flemme”, by Nicolas Bossard for best aerial adventure film.
There were also a number of talks including Horacio Llorens sharing his experiences on his recent trip to the land of the volcanoes in Tanzania, a trip he, Tom de Dorlodot and Jake Holland shared with us in issue 247.
The organisers said that an economic report showed the event generated an income of more that 700,000 euros in the local area over the weekend.
Sights are already set on next year’s event which will mark the 25th anniversary of the event. FIA director and pilot Ramón López said “We have finished this edition and the organisation is thinking about next year, as the FIA will celebrate 25 years since its first edition, so a special festival with many surprises is planned”
More info at fiaelyelmo.com
