FÉDÉRATION AÉRONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE
FAI BALLOONING COMMISSION (CIA)
ANNUAL CONFERENCE - Thessaloniki, Greece, March 2000
CIEA REPORT BACK FOR 1999 by ARTHUR WESTWORTH
The 1999 CIEA Meeting was held in Washington DC in May and was attended by 19 individuals representing 12 countries
DELEGATES REPORTS
Delegates presented a variety of interesting reports mostly concerning the youth activities in their respective countries.
FAI YOUNG ARTISTS CONTEST
The FAI Young Artists Contest was again well supported and 21 countries entered of which 4 were first time entrants. The theme was "FLYING US FUN" and as in previous years, balloons of all shapes and sizes featured prominently in the drawings proving the point that almost every child wants to fly in a balloon. The winners in each category, by country were as follows:
Ages 6-9 1st Switzerland, 2nd Switzerland, 3rd Russia
Ages 1-13 1st Ukraine, 2nd Switzerland, 3rd France
Ages 14-17 1st France, 2nd USA, 3rd Spain
The theme for 2000 is FLIGHT INTO THE FUTURE" and we look forward to some interesting concepts being presented for judging.
EDUCATION RESOURCES & MATERIALS
A complete redesign of the CIEA web site is to be undertaken by Mr Kirk S Thomas and all education aids will be incorporated including links to the International Air Cadet Exchange Program and other similar organisations. This will be an interesting site to visit and any comments would be welcome
FAI RECOMMENDED MUSEUMS
Unfortunately no new museums have been added to the list
EXPANSION ACTIVITIES MEMBERSHIP
Discussions are taking place with Canada, Norway, Sweden, Argentina, Hungary and the Czech Republic and it is hoped that these countries will he able to attend future meetings and bring with them some new ideas for the road ahead.
NEW PROJECTS
Several new projects were identified with perhaps the most important being the Draft Paper presented by Kirk S Thomas - 'FUTURE DIRECTION FOR THE CIEA" - a copy of which is attached. This is an excellent document and I am sure it will occupy much time at the next CIEA Meeting. I personally feel that this is what the CIEA needs and look forward to some clear and better directed discussions in the future.
OFFICERS FOR 1999~ 2000
President; Mr Osmo JALOVAARA (FIN) (His last year in office)
1st Vice President; Mr Ray JOHNSON (USA)
2nd Vice President; Mrs Sheelagh Bailey (GBR)
Secretary; Mr Kirk S Thomas (GBR)
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is scheduled for 5th & 6th May 2000 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR CIEA
By Kirk S. Thomas, Secretary, FAI Aviation & Space Education Commission
In February of this year, FAI held a Media Workshop in Lausanne to encourage more involvement by the Air Sport Commissions (ASC's) in media relations for both their own sanctioned events and more immediately, for the promotion of the air sports through the World Air Games.
Increased media visibility for the air sports can only lead to more interest by the general public and will probably attract more young people to the various sports. But this is also part of our mission. What can we do to capitalise on it? Below are some points for discussion purposes, only:
COMMUNICATION
At the present time, we are inviting representatives from the various ASC's to attend our meetings. We have only had a little success with this approach. Many of the ASC's do not care much about involving young people in their sports, for various reasons. They have too much else to do organising their events and committees. I also suspect they do not take us seriously. Perhaps this is why we have had so few ASC representatives at our meetings. The most effective way of gaining co-operation through communication might be by CIEA sending representatives to them! Ideally, the President should be the person to attend. Expenses would have to be paid by FAI. The FAI World Air Games committee has been very successful by sending Srecko Medven to the ASC's. Perhaps we could follow their example?
EDUCATION
The CIEA's big education project, the Instructional Aids, is soon to be completed. Printed copies are available from the NAC's through FAI. Soon, all the volumes will be available for downloading from the Internet. What can we do now to follow up on this project?
Also, what new projects could we undertake? If we see our mission as one of reaching children, how can we do so? Perhaps we could become part of the World Air Games somehow?
STRATEGIES
Perhaps it is time to start thinking about any new directions we might need to take in the coming years. We soon will have exhausted the projects and ideas, which came out of the last such discussion early in President Jalovaara’s first year. I am not thinking of a radical change in the direction we took then, but rather a further refinement and refocusing of that direction.
I propose that all the Delegates go back home to their countries and speak to other educators there to see if we can come up with new ideas for discussion next year. Ideas could focus on both current and new attempts in the following areas:
1. Programs through teachers or the schools
2. Promotions through the media
a. At sanctioned events
b. At the World Air Games
3. Programs for young people
a. At sanctioned events
b. At the World Air Games
4. Other ASC based programs (such as the Ballooning Youth Camps, etc.)
5. Any other programs we can administer.
Back to the Minutes of the meeting.
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