This year Aeros has some kind of an anniversary: we are 15 years old.

This is not only an occasion to celebrate, but an important milestone as well. And having reached this milestone, it is good to look back, to recall the past, to think of all the previous achievements and to move on to further development and growth, taking the past experience into consideration.

What was the beginning of Aeros? That was the Antonov Design Bureau, where young enthusiasts designed and built hanggliders. By the way, even these gliders were quite competitive, and the members of the USSR national team flew them. In 1991, after the Perestroika (Rebuilding) and the following collapse of the USSR, Aeros Ltd. was formed. Its activity began from creating competition hang gliders Stealth and trike wings Stranger, and as the company was developing quickly, it soon started to produce paragliders, harnesses and Down rescue parachutes. Step by step the serial production of hanggliders has been arranged. Aeros has become the first manufacturer of ultralight aircraft in the CIS whose products have passed BHPA, DHV and DULV certification tests. Our products have been recognized worldwide, and Aeros dealers appeared in Europe and in the USA, and later on other continents as well; since the demand grew up, Aeros also expanded. The experience gained allowed us to begin to produce the full range of Ultralight aircraft: trikes, Skyranger ultralight airplane kits, and to take part in the production of rigid wings… The variety of hanggliders and paragliders covers all the classes of the wings from beginner to performance ones. Besides, Aeros designs hangglider and paraglider harnesses using the facilities of Antonov Design Bureau. Thorough tests of new models in an aerodynamic tunnel help to choose the best shape for a harness and to optimize it. Every harness is being made taking into consideration the customer’s wishes, but the high quality of materials, professional and accurate design are always a must.

Now, Aeros team consists of about a hundred skilful professionals. They are all aviation enthusiasts and fully realize the importance and the responsibility of their work. Hangglider assemblers and professional test-pilots Oleg Bondarchuk and Sergey Semenov are the members of Ukrainian National HG Team, and many other employees are pilots who fly hanggliders, paragliders, sailplanes, trikes and ultralight planes. Aeros is constantly developing and creating new wing models, which is absolutely necessary now, as the UL aviation itself is changing quickly, and new ideas, technical solutions and tendencies have to be traced all the time.

All this is of great importance for us. However, the positive comments we receive from those who fly our gliders, and the leading places in various competitions they take, have always been the best indicator of our level.

And we do have something to be proud of! Two valid world records have been set on our gliders: one is the speed over a triangular course of 100 km (by Martin Henry), and the other is a feminine speed record over a triangular course of 50 km (by Mia Schokker). Skyranger ultralight plane has won the title of the World Champion for 4 times. Oleg Bondarchuk on a Combat L is now the World Hanggliding Champion 2005. All the members of the Ukrainian national hanggliding team, and many professional pilots from other countries have chosen our competition gliders. For example, in the European Hang Gliding Championship 2006, 46 out of 98 participants (which is 46 percent) were flying Aeros gliders. Target gliders for beginners and intermediate Discus gliders are also popular. In the East Coast Open Championship 2006, pilots flying Discus wings took two leading places. This shows that our intermediate gliders are not only comfortable to fly, but can show great performance as well.

Certainly, all Aeros achievements of fifteen years can’t be covered in one article, since during this time Aeros has transformed from a group of enthusiasts into a company known worldwide. Nevertheless, we have reviewed at least this year’s small and great victories to demonstrate the company’s level.

So, in 2006 Aeros has released Combat L 2006, which is a new modification of our most professional wing, and Combat L 12 with reduced wing area for lightweight pilots. Discus 12 and Discus 13 are also available to order from now on. The production of the tandem glider Target 21 and of the strutted trike wing Profi TL has been started. Amigo 29 paraglider has passed CEN flight and load tests and obtained CEN certificate number 1. CEN is a new European certification system, and from now on all the paragliders will be certified by it.

Two out of three leading places in the European Championship were won by pilots on Combat L wings. The third place in the Women’s HG World Championship was also taken by a participant flying Combat L.

Now, looking at the wide range of products that Aeros manufactures and at the great number of pilots who are flying our wings in many countries, we hope that the next years will be equally lucky and efficient for us!