AVIATION enthusiasts conquered the skies as they were crowned world champions.

John Waite, from Farnham Common, and his flying partner Rob Grimwood, from Hemel Hempstead, defeated 21 other teams to win the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) World Microlight Championships in Hungary.

The competition ran from August 9 to 16, and saw the pair take the gold medal in their Skyranger Nynja kit plane, outperforming a host of factory-produced planes in the process.

They had to navigate a series of courses and challenges, focusing on precision in landing and taking off, as well as fuel economy.

The pair flew more than 2,000 miles from their airfield in St Albans to the competition in Matkopuszta, 60 miles south of Budapest, and returned home on Friday last week.

Mr Waite, who is the co-pilot and navigator, said: “We were not expecting it. We knew that we had competition from two other planes which were quite special.

“They were both very light and glider-like, and we thought the performance of both of those would be challenging. We were a little bit surprised when we won but we were delighted.” The pair built the plane in 2011 from a kit, taking the national title every year since 2011, finishing third at the World Championships in 2012 and now adding the world title to their European Championship win last year.

“Once again our home-built Nynja proved to be exceptionally competitive compared to the best factory-produced microlights the world has to offer,” Mr Waite added. “Its outstanding power-to-weight ratio helps in the ultra-short take-offs and landings while the superb visibility from the transparent cockpit sides is a great asset when navigating over unfamiliar terrain to an accuracy of less than 250m.”