24th March 2008

Dear Delegates

As I sit here in 24 degrees C in the autumn in New Zealand it is a bit hard to imagine that it is snowing in the UK! The climate variations are really interesting this year.

The Plenary meeting in Rome, and the associated Bureau meeting, were very productive. My thanks to the Aero Club of Italy and the Italian Gliding Federation for hosting us all in Rome, especially to Senator Leoni, Andrea Tomasi and Marina Vigorito.

Congratulations to Derek Piggott (UK) on the award of the Lilienthal Medal and to Maksymiliana Czmiel-Paszyc (Poland) on the award of the Pelagia Majewski Medal. Both awards recognise a lifetime of service to our sport of gliding.

Dear Delegates

A very productive Bureau meeting was completed in October. Key outcomes from that meeting are noted in the Minutes on the IGC website.

Held in Paris (FFVV offices) 5th October 09:15 to 6th October

Minutes version 1.0

Participants:
Eric Mozer, 1st Vice president (EM)
Goran Ax, Vice president (GA)
Vladimir Foltin, Vice president (VF)
Visa-Matti Leinikki, Vice president (VL)
Brian Spreckley, Vice president (BS)
Roland Stuck, Vice president (RS)
Peter Eriksen, Secretary (PE)

Apologies:
Bob Henderson, President (BH)

1. FAI matters

1.1 The ATMOS project

We have had no news since the Plenum, ATMOS is on the agenda for the FAI General Conference.

1.2 CASI (Air Sports Commissions)

Tor Johannessen will participate in the CASI meting like last year. The travel cost will be reimbursed by IGC.

1.3 FAI General Conference Votes

Nothing to report.

Dear Delegates

Our mid-year Bureau meeting is being held in Paris at the end of this week. Next week is the Air Sports Commission President’s meeting and the FAI General Conference in Rhodes, Greece.

Unfortunately I am not going to be able to attend these meetings because I have a course I need to complete at Air New Zealand starting on the 8th of October. Great timing I know!

Our 1st Vice-President, Eric Mozer, will therefore be chairing the Bureau meeting and attending the Air Sports Commission President’s meeting and the General Conference on my behalf. I know that Eric will do a great job and I’m sure that he will find the General Conference interesting.

The International Gliding Commission held its annual meeting in Lausanne at the end of February 2007. Key points from this meeting were:

• A presentation from our colleagues at the Santiago Gliding Club in Chile. For those of you who had the privilege to visit this club at the General Conference last year you will appreciate the lessons that we could all learn from their initiatives and enthusiasm in protecting and developing the club and airfield.
• We spent some time discussing the future strategies for our sport and looking at how we, as the governing sports body, can assist at club level to improve the image of gliding and the attractiveness of the sport.
• We discussed, at length, the FAI ATMOS project after a presentation by Mr. Alvaro de Orleans Borbon.
• We surveyed our Delegates about the value of the Plenary meeting and the summarised results were:
  • We discuss the right subjects and spend the right amount of time on technical matters.
  • We try to fit too much into the available time, but the overall length of the meeting (2 days) is reasonable.
  • One meeting a year is sufficient.
  • The Olympic Museum is an excellent venue but Lausanne, as a location, has limited support.
  • Our meeting structure and our communication with our Delegates is good.
• The Plenum was pleased to confer the following awards:
  • The Lilienthal Medal to Mr Alan Patching, Australia.
  • Pirat Gehriger Diplomas to Professor Loek Boermans, The Netherlands, and, jointly, to Mr Brian Spreckley and Mr Keith Nicholson of the UK.
  • The Pelagia Majewski Medal to Mrs Ghislaine Facon, France.
• Significant decisions taken by the IGC Plenum included:
  • A resolution to endorse the work of the OSTIV in sailplane safety.
  • A major overhaul of the Sporting Code section 3 for 2008.
  • A resolution to hold World Gliding Championships outside of Europe on a regular basis.
  • Abandoning restrictions on the number of records that can be claimed on a single flight.
  • The adoption of a new Sporting Code Annex D to formally manage the IGC ranking list.
  • The formation of a committee to study the emerging range of light-weight and lower performance gliders and how they will fit into our championship structure and world records.