Hannes Arch of Austria won the Red Bull Air Race on Sunday with Matt Hall of Australia getting a career-best second place in front of an enormous crowd of 140,000 watching from the banks of the Swan River in Perth, Australia. Championship leader Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain took third place.

Bonhomme retains the overall championship lead with 22 points after the first two races of the 2010 season. Nigel Lamb of Britain, who was fourth on Sunday, is in second place on 18 points. Arch jumps into third place overall with 14 points and Hall moves up to fourth, also on 14 points.

Disruption of air traffic because of the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland continues to ground aircraft and travellers for a fourth day.  Eurocontrol officials told a news conference between 12,000 to 13,000 flights were likely to operate in European airspace on Friday, compared with about 29,500 normally. Experts are predicting the ash cloud to spread further south and east.

Defending champion Paul Bonhomme of Britain won the first Red Bull Air Race of the 2010 season in Abu Dhabi on Saturday with a hard-fought victory in scorching heat, finishing just ahead of compatriot Nigel Lamb (2nd) and Hungary’s Peter Besenyei (3rd) in an eventful battle over the turquoise waters of the Arabian Gulf. Austria’s Hannes Arch finished a disappointing 11th after posting the fastest Qualifying time on Friday.

A recent revision by Transport Canada (TC) makes the process of flying your light-sport aircraft from the United States into Canada a bit easier. Transport Canada’s new Standardized Validation form essentially places light sport aircraft (LSA) on the same footing with U.S. amateur-built aircraft flying into Canada.

Extreme sportsman Felix Baumgartner, of Austria, announced last week he will try to break the world record jump by skydiving from a balloon from an altitude of 120,000 ft. The record jump has been held by United States Air Force Colonel (Ret.) Joseph Kittinger’s for nearly 50 years.  In 1960 Kittinger made his record-setting parachute jump from a balloon from an altitude of 102,800 feet. During the five-minute freefall Baumgartner will become the first person to exceed the speed of sound with his own body.

Kittinger along with sponsor Red Bull will be assisting Baumgartner in breaking his own record.

“People have been trying to break my records for 50 years, and many have died in the attempt,” Kittinger said. “But I believe that with our unique assets, an extraordinary mission team, the dedication of Red Bull, and Felix Baumgartner’s outstanding skills, Red Bull Stratos will succeed.”

Baumgartner is a BASE jumper—one who parachutes to the ground from fixed structures. He is perhaps best known for being the first person to fly across the English Channel with a carbon wing in 2003.