Cross Country magazine will be reporting from inside the CIVL Plenary on Saturday and Sunday 20 and 21 February 2010.
18 February, 7.30 pm (post liable to update and change): The CIVL Plenary voting kicks off on Saturday 20 February and lasts for two days. Delegates from 30 countries are already in Lausanne, Switzerland, divided up into various subcommittees, discussing the finer points of their discipline’s agenda.
The annual meeting is not an over-arching discussion on ‘The Future of Paragliding and Hang gliding’. It is only about FAI competition paragliding and hang gliding.
That’s important, of course, as it can affect the direction development of gliders goes in, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. Decisions made here have impact, but they will not necessarily define how many pilots will enjoy the sport.
With that said, the hot topic and the one that has caught the attention of paraglider pilots around the world is the carbon debate – should it be allowed in competition?
The other hot topic is the discussion of safety in paragliding comps. Just over a year ago there was a heated discussion (read, The Cold Hard Truth, by Mark Hayman, which articulated what many felt at the time) involving CIVL about the safety of paragliding competitions – the World Championships saw one tragic death and many (too many, some argued) reserve deployments. Something must be done, said many.
That ‘something’ might just be the exclusion of Open class paragliders in FAI competition. The world’s FAI/CIVL comp pilots might all be on Serial class paragliders this time next year.
Certainly, anecdotally many members of CIVL – who in the main have a long involvement in the sport – consider paragliding to have an ‘issue’ that needs addressed when it comes to safety. We’ll wait and see.
Already though we can glean some of what is going on in the subcommittees. Word on Facebook, updated by a pilot inside the meeting, is that the paragliding subcommittee, chaired by Chris ‘Calvo’ Burns, has agreed that pilots should wear a helmet certified to EN966 standard for Category 1 competitions (eg, World Championships).
EN966 is a specification “for helmets for airborne sports”. That means no snowboard helmets or climbing helmets.
This is no big surprise. The Plenary is being asked to ratify the helmet issue as a decision already taken by the CIVL Bureau (see point 8ii in the agenda below, for the really keen) before anyone came to the table.
The meeting was asked to consider whether or not they agreed with: “The decision to: ‘Introduce a rule mandating that from 1 January 2010, pilots competing in Category 1 events wear a helmet approved to EN966.’”
They did, according to Austria’s ThomasB on pgforum.com, taking a good couple of hours to discuss it. According to Thomas the subcommittee, “decided not to be smarter than the people that make the norms and leave EN996 only”.
Despite seeming a very sane move it is however, a little controversial. Many will point to other EN (European Norms) for other types of helmets and say they are just as good – or even better. So, as ThomasB pointed out, it won’t have been a straightforward discussion.
The same Facebooker (it’s reported on pgforum.com too) also reported that discussions over harnesses have resulted in a proposal that from 2011 all harnesses (in FAI competition remember) are to be EN1651 and LTF09 certified. What does that mean? A certain amount of back protection in your racing harness, basically.
Interestingly, this came from a proposal from the PMA – the same Paraglider Manufacturers Association that proposed the ‘ban’ on carbon (plus other non semi-flexible materials) and faced a lot of flak for it.
Intriguingly, what was not ‘revealed’ on either Facebook or any forums – so far as we know, feel free to post below if you know different or email assistanteditor@xccontent.local – was the results, if any, of the next few ‘hard’ discussions. We can only presume that they did not take place today, and will be discussed later.
Either way, the next items up for discussion in the PG subcommittee are important, and could have a big impact on comp flying. They are:
– Improving Paraglider Safety in Category 1 Competitions: whether or not to restrict competitions to Serial class only and exclude Open class gliders, or somewhere in between.
– Part Two of the Swiss Proposal (Part One is the ‘carbon issue’ and will be discussed separately) – whether to set up a working group to set restrictions on construction acceptable for gliders in competitions, or setting new homologation for comp class gliders.
– The number of competitors allowed at Category 1 events and the level of qualifications required. (This includes how to quantify experience in gaggle flying, according to the subcommittee agenda. Go on, try and do that. A prize for the best answer posted below…)
All yet to be discussed and revealed, along with much more, and then to be voted on at the weekend.
Cross Country will be there, reporting from inside the conference hall as the votes go through on both days.
In the meantime, here is a look at the two-day agenda for the whole meeting.
Annual Meeting of the FAI Hang Gliding & Paragliding Commission, Hotel Movenpick, Lausanne, Switzerland, 20 and 21 February 2010
1 Opening of the meeting
2. Roll call, apologies and proxies: number of votes
3. Declaration of conflicts of Interest, according to FAI Code of Ethics (Annex 2)
4. Approval of the Agenda
5. Approval of the minutes of the last Plenary meeting
6. Report of the CIVL President
7. Report of the FAI Secretary General
8. The Plenary is asked to ratify the following decisions taken by the Bureau in accordance with IRs 4.3 and 4.4 (CIVL Internal Regulations)
i) Approval of minor changes (name, personnel, dates) to the 2nd FAI Asian PG Championship, and to allow the entry fee to be increased by expressing it in local currency.
ii) Introduction of a rule mandating that from 1 January 2010, pilots competing in Category 1 events wear a helmet approved to EN966.
iii) To upload PG competition results with task dropping using the full number of tasks flown, until the PG SSC determines an alternative solution.
iv) Approval of the Local Regulations for the 2010 FAI European Paragliding Championships in Abtenau, Austria.
v) Approval of the Local Regulations for the 2010 FAI Asian PG Championships in Nishiawa, Japan.
vi) Approval of the Local Regulations for the 2010 FAI HG Womens Worlds, Classes 2&5, Tegelberg, Germany.
vii) Approval of the Local Regulations for the 2010 FAI European HG Championships, Ager, Spain. See Annex 22 or here for all approved Local Regulations.
viii) Bureau decision in October 2009 to split the approval of Cat 1 Entry Requirements from the approval of Local Regulations in order to publish entry information as early as possible.
vix) Other Bureau decisions taken at the Bureau Meeting, October 2009. Minutes available.
9. Review of the 2009 Championships. Reports from:
– FAI World HG Championships, Laragne, France – John Aldridge
– FAI World Paragliding Accuracy Championship, Croatia – Violeta Grigoraiteine
– FAI World Air Games, Avigliana, Italy – Dennis Pagen
10. Report and Proposals Safety & Training Subcommittee – Leonard Grigorescu
11. Report and Proposals of HG Subcommittee (including Pitch Stability & Sprog Measurements WGs) – Dennis Pagen & Koos de Keijzer
12. Report and Proposals of PG Subcommittee (including PG Safety WG) – Chris Burns
13. Report and Proposals of combined HG/PG Subcommittee meeting
14. Report and Proposals PG Accuracy Subcommittee –Jurij Vertacnik
15. Report and Proposals Aerobatics Subcommittee – Dennis Pagen & Iris Vogt
16. Report and Proposals Records & Badges Subcommittee – Richard Westgate
17. Report and Proposals Software Working Group (including Altitude Limits WG) – Agust Gudmundsson
18. Report and Proposals Sporting Code Subcommittee – John Aldridge
19. Report from Cat 1 Preparation & performance Measures Working Group – John Aldridge
20. Jury & Steward selection & coordination issues, including report from Jury& Steward Selection Working Group
21. Presentations of bids (to be made Saturday afternoon):
– FAI European HG Championship 2012: Turkey See Annex 24
– FAI European PG Championship 2012: France. See Annex 21 or Download the bid documents
– FAI European PG Accuracy Championship 2012: FYR Macedonia See Annex 10
– FAI Pan American PG Championships 2012: Brazil See Annex 23 further photos available
NB. FAI Asian PG Championships 2012 – Intention to bid received from China
22. Award of the 2012 FAI Championships (to be made Sunday morning)
23. Bureau Proposals: Changes and Amendments to Internal Regulations. See Annex 11
24. US Proposals:
i) Discussion: In light of the cancellation of the Aerobatics Worlds, Omegna, to explore CIVL policies to facilitate smaller Cat 1 Events & how to avoid cancellation in the future.
ii) Set up separate system of Cat2 and Cat 1 Open Distance competitions
25. France Proposals: See Annex 12
i) Task Advisory Committee wording change – S7A
ii) GAP parameters to be discussed & announced at 1st TL briefing – S7A
iii) Change of max ballast to 20kg – S7A
iv) Change to stopped task scoring – S7A
26. Germany Proposals: See Annex 13
i) Women’s HG class 1 – 2 to score for team
ii) Women’s HG class 1 – stopped task scored after 1h
iii) Women’s HG class 1 – team size to be increased to 6
27. Australia Proposals: See Annex 14
i) Establish new HG Safety WG
ii) Revise set up and operation of CIVL WGs
iii) 2year transition for safe settings for small gliders
iv) Review of change of representation rule
28. Netherlands Proposals: See Annex 15
i) Backdate implementation of reduced field for Sport Class validity
ii) Banning prototypes from HG Cat 1s
iii) Extending qualification criteria for HG comps
29. Switzerland Proposals: See Annex 16
i) Re-qualifying S7B definition of Class 3 paraglider [The Carbon Debate]
ii) Setting up WG for PG construction limitations, or, establish homologation
procedures for competition class gliders
30. Slovakia Proposal: See Annex 17
Change of definition of Class 1 Hang glider
31. Spain Proposals: See Annex 18
i) Development of alternative types of task
ii) FAI to monitor airspace issues
32. Continental Records – Update – John Aldridge
33. Bureau Proposal: Revisiting the CIVL Long Term Plan – CIVL President
34. Financial Report 2009 – Louise Joselyn See Annexes 19 & 20 (To be published 22 January)
35. Budget 2010 – Louise Joselyn (Draft to be published 22 January)
36. Discharge of Bureau responsibility for 2009 decisions 2010 CIVL Plenary Meeting 5
37. Awards – Pepe Lopes Medal and FAI Hang Gliding Diploma (see FAI By-Laws 12.10.1 and12.10.2)
38. Nominations and elections of the CIVL Bureau
39. Nominations and elections of the chairs of the SSCs
40. Bids for organising the next Plenary meeting
41. Dates and venue of the next Plenary meeting
42. President’s closing remarks
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