Flights of Fancy

Chief executive of New Zealand-based Air Sports Peter Newport is the brains behind virtual game Sky Challenge which saw two pilots and a gamer race planes through hoops in the clouds above Spain. Sky Challenge allows competitive aerobatic pilots to fly through a virtual obstacle course that they see on specially designed LCD screens in their cockpits. The viewing public, whether on the airfield, TV or Internet see the animations on screen and can watch the pilots negotiating the technical course, flying head to head. The Challenge could pave the way for massive online competitions. “It was amazing to see it come together,” Newport said. “Ernest [Artigas] did surprisingly well against Castor Fantoba, the world number four pilot (in his class), coming only 1.5 seconds behind him.” Air Sports aims to ramp up the virtual experience in the cockpit. It is considering projecting images of obstacle courses on to the retinas of pilots. Air Sports trialled the world’s first live video game at Lake Wanaka in December 2007.