FÉDÉRATION AÉRONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE
FAI BALLOONING COMMISSION (CIA)
ANNUAL CONFERENCE - Thessaloniki, Greece, March 2000
SITUATION REPORT ON TEST EVENT & WAG
By Ugo Portillo – ECO 2001 Air Sport Coordinator
On the 19th and 20th of February the yearly WAGLEOM – WAGLO Meeting took place in Madrid. In this meeting, detailed assessments of each air sport/event were made. In short, the overall present situation in each and every event permits us to continue with the planning and preparations for both Test 2000 and WAG 2001; not to mention that the ballooning scenario is far ahead and on the right track. (Mr. Anulfo González-WAGLEOM will shortly be briefing you on the ballooning situation).
At this stage we are now mostly focusing on the organization of the Test Competitions, intended as a preparation for the World Air Games 2001 and in most cases for the 2001 World Championships.
With the organization crew being largely international, the TC2000 are aimed to test the meteorological conditions of the site in a similar period of time and some parts of the infrastructure, as well as to train some members of the local organization.
Second, but not the least, the TC2000 provides the interested pilots with an opportunity to train and get familiar with the site in view of the 2001 Event.
So far, preparations at each site have started. All bulletins No.1 were sent to all NACs by mid-December allowing us to have feedback through the correspondant Preliminary Entry Forms. Bulletins No. 2 are now on the mail with the Official Entry Form and a deadline of March 31st.
WAG 2001 and WAG Cup 2000 status report
By Anulfo González, WAGLEOM for ballooning
Introduction
The general status of both test and WAG events is on schedule. The main preparation work began more than one year ago, with the Spanish nationals taking place in the same area as a pre-test event, ran with Les Purfield as the competition director. This event gave us a big amount of very useful information and basically confirmed that the area meets our requeriments.
We found that to have a central launch site is necessary; consequently, three options were located at that time, having now the agreement from one of the landowners.
The proximity of the Seville airport CTR made some restrictions to the competition area which made the task setup very difficult. After a meeting with the air traffic control directors, there is an agreement to change the standard procedures of the airport during the competition days of both test and WAG.
WAG Cup 2000
It will be in the format of a Category 1 championship event, taking place together with the spanish nationals. We received and accepted entries from 25 different countries, even those which sent the forms after the established deadline. This shows a big intestest from the ballooning community implying a high degree of responsability from our side. If all the pilots confirm their participation, there will be around 65 pilots incluiding those taking part in the spanish nationals.
The headquartes and accommodation for teams, officials and organisation staff will be located at the Hotel Solucar, a four star hotel located very near the main launch site, which will be fully booked by us.
The observers for the WAG Cup 2000 will be taken from the registered official list, and for the spanish national championships we will use local observers. The Chief Observer will be Anita Noguera and is already doing the selection process.
WAG 2001
Although focused now on the preparation of the WAG Cup 2000, we have already made the arrangements for accommodation at the Hotel Alcora, also a four star hotel which will host the three main events (hot air balloons, hot airships and gas balloons).
We still have not made the decision of the launch site for the gas event. The original proposed site at the Tablada airfield, which will be the refuelling site for hot air, it is now going to be used by two other WAG events (Formula One and Amateur Built Aircraft) due to the proximity to the Seville metropolitan area. We are in close contact with the local organisation of those events in order to coordinate the use of the airfield, and in the case that it would not be possible, there are other options available for the gas championship.
March 2, 2000
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