Covid 19 – Update on competitions from the FAI and CIVL

The FAI held a sport-wide online zoom meeting today, 7 May 2020, to discuss air sports, competitions and the Covid-19 pandemic.

They confirmed, as they said in mid-March, that it is up to individual air sports commissions to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on their sport and take any necessary action, including cancelling competitions.

The FAI is the World Air Sports Federation.

The meeting consisted of the FAI executive board and the heads of all the air sports commissions, including CIVL, which is the paragliding and hang gliding commission. There are 15 commissions within the FAI, from ballooning to sky diving.

On the agenda were the “significant problems” for air sports competitions around the world created by the Covid-19 situation.

The agenda stated: “Sports and meetings have been seriously impacted. The variations in government approaches to the [pandemic] have made the situation more difficult to manage at an international level.

“The intention [of this meeting] is to understand what air sports commissions have achieved, how this has been done and any particular problems or issues that have arisen.”

The meeting also looked ahead to the potential impact on competitions in 2021 and 2022.

Three general overall points were confirmed:

• It is up to each air sports commission, for each discipline, to evaluate the specific situation.
• The FAI trusts the commissions to take the appropriate decisions.
• The role of the FAI Executive Board and Secretariat is to share, assist and support the commissions as needed.

The situation in CIVL, the free flight commission that sanctions hang gliding and paragliding competitions was confirmed, and is the same as decided in mid-March.

That is:

• For Cat 1 or Cat 2 competitions CIVL will let the organisers decide and support them as much as they can.
• For Cat 1 competitions expenses already paid by CIVL officials that should have been covered by the competition organisers will instead be paid for by CIVL.
• For Cat 2 competitions administrative fees for cancellation will not be charged. Events that do take place will be scored in the World Pilot Ranking System even if they don’t strictly follow the FAI calendar 30-day rule.
• There is an ongoing discussion on scoring competitions in the WPRS about freezing the devaluation factor. “Decision is pending.”

CIVL also gave an overview of competitions affected since March.

These are:

4th FAI Pan-American Paragliding XC, Baixo Guandu, Brazil, 7-14 March: Took place as planned.

2nd FAI World  Hang-Gliding Sport Class, Groveland, Florida, USA, 19 April to 1 May: Postponed to 2021.

4th FAI Asian Paragliding Accuracy, Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan, 30 May to 7 June: Suspended at least until July 1, 2020. Cancellation or postponement later this year or until 2022 are possible.

21st FAI World  Hang-Gliding 2, Groveland, Florida, USA,  April 19 to May 1.
9th FAI World  Hang-Gliding 5, Groveland, Florida, USA, April 19 to May 1.
14th FAI World  Hang-Gliding Women 1, Groveland, Florida, USA, April 19 to May 1.
All cancelled. The three championships can be reallocated in 2021 if a site and organiser is found.

21st FAI European Hang-Gliding Class 1, Monte Cucco, Italy, 4-18 July: Decision pending. Cancellation or postponement later this year or until 2022 is possible.

16th FAI European Paragliding XC, Pantelej-Nis, Serbia, 18 July to 1 August: Decision pending. Cancellation or postponement later this year or until 2022 is possible.

1st FAI Pan-American Hang-Gliding Class 1, Big Spring, Texas, USA, 2-14 August: Postponed to 2022.

3rd FAI World Paragliding Aerobatic, Trasaghis, Italy, 5-14 August: Decision pending. Cancellation or postponement later this year or until 2021 is possible.

7th FAI European Paragliding Accuracy, Sibiu, Romania, 28 August to 5 September. Decision pending. Cancellation or postponement later this year or until 2021 is possible.

1st FAI Asian-Oceanic Paragliding XC, Bright, Australia, 5-19 December: Cancelled.