President's Letter to Delegates and Committee Chairmen 2005-7

September 21st, 2005

Dear Friends

Sailplane Grand Prix
In April this year I wrote to you with a timetable for the Sailplane Grand Prix event bids for 2006 and 2007. Since then we have had a very successful 1st World Sailplane Grand Prix event at Saint Auban, France. I am extremely grateful to the FFVV, the team at the CFHN, and especially to Roland Stuck, for the initiatives to undertake this event. I know that the 17 pilots representing 12 nations had a great time and really enjoyed the competition.

Your Bureau has received a number of bids to host Qualifying Grand Prix events in 2006. The original timescale was for bids for the Qualifying events to close at the end of August. However, there has been additional interest generated in hosting Qualifying events in 2006 following the success of the 1st World Sailplane Grand Prix in St Auban.

As a result we would like to advise you that:

  • We have accepted a bid from New Zealand to hold a Qualifying Grand Prix at Omarama in January 2006. Our congratulations to Gliding New Zealand.
  • We have decided to extend the bids for Qualifying Grand Prix events in 2006. We request that any country planning to put in a bid do so as soon as possible.
  • We have also agreed that bids will close on 31st October 2005 for the 2007 2nd World Sailplane Grand prix, as previously announced.

IGC Bureau meeting and FAI General Conference
The IGC Bureau is meeting in Paris on the 10th and 11th of October to review progress on our strategic aims and general business. A number of us will then be joining the FAI at the General Conference at the Aero Club de France to celebrate the Centenary of the FAI. I will send out another newsletter following these two meetings.

Attached to this newsletter is my report to the FAI General Conference.

Bob Henderson
President, IGC
September 21st, 2005

IGC President's Report to the FAI General Comference 2005

The International Gliding Commission held it’s annual meeting in Lausanne in March 2005. Changes to the format of the meeting included having keynote speakers and presenters and providing a significant period of time for discussion on the strategic question of where gliding, as a sport, should position itself for the future.

As a result the Bureau has been working on a long-term Strategic Plan for the IGC.

Key decisions taken included the intentions to:

  • Require Official Observers to be approved by their NAC before verifying or recording any part of a World Record claim,
  • Re-instate the 2-seater Class as an FAI Class with a wing span limitation of 20m,
  • For any pilot or Official Observer proven to have falsified information or cheated on a World Record claim to have their sporting licence cancelled, to be expelled form any NASC and to have recognition of any achievements of records/ badges and competitions results withdrawn,
  • The maximum Take-Off Mass for Open Class to be 850kg for all gliders and this limit to remain unchanged for 10 years, and
  • Changes to be permitted to the wing-span of Open Class gliders during a competition.

Awards conferred were:

  • The Pirat Gerigher Diploma - Gillian Bryce-Smith, United Kingdom.
  • The Lilienthal Medal - Janusz Centka, Poland.

2005 Championships

During 2005 the following Championships were held:

  • 2005 European Gliding Championships; Club, Standard and 18 Meter Class, , Nitra, Slovak Republic.
  • 2005 European Gliding Championships; 15M and Open Class, Räyskälä, Finland. (we note that a task of 1011 kms was achieved during this contest)
  • 4th FAI Juniors’ World Gliding Championships, Husbands Bosworth, UK.
  • 3rd FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships, Klix, Germany.
  • 1st World Sailplane Grand Prix, Saint Auban, France.

    Championships Awarded

    Strong bids were provided from several countries for the new calendar of gliding championships in 2007 and 2008. The bids were awarded as follows:

    • FAI Juniors’ World Gliding Championships 2007, Rieti, Italy.
    • FAI Women’s World Gliding Championships 2007, Bailleau, France
    • FAI EGC 2007 Standard, Club and World Class, Lithuania.
    • FAI EGC 2007 15-meter, 18-meter and Open Class, Issodoun, France
    • FAI WGC 2008, Open, 18-Meter, and 15-M class, Luesse, Germany
    • FAI WGC 2008, Standard, Club, World Class, Rieti, Italy

    FAI Centenary

    Two “gliding weeks” were held to contribute to the celebration of the FAI Centenary. The aim of these two-week periods (one northern hemisphere and one southern hemisphere) was to record the total number of kilometres flown by all glider pilots during the nominated days. The German OLC website and the French NetCoupe were used to log and record the flights. The total distance flown was an astounding 2,511,421 kms, achieved with a massive 5,224 flights. This is equivalent to 62-and-a-half times around the Earth! Diplomas will be awarded to the best flight in each FAI class.

    IGC Budget

    We are moving to a “per-pilot” sanction fee system and transferring the responsibility for the costs of providing Event Officials from the Organisers to the IGC with the expectation that the latter will be in place for Fiscal Year 2007. This is part of our strategy to improve the quality control of our International Championships. This will see the IGC committing to between 20 and 25,000 EUR expenditure per annum commencing in 2007.

    Future Challenges

    As reported last year, the marketing of our sport to the public remains a challenge. The use of in-flight tracking devices, in-flight video, new styles of glider racing and the use of the internet to turn a glider race into a public spectacle are all being pursued to try and make the sport more visible. There are a number of commercial solutions now being developed to meet this challenge and we look forward to their continued development over the next year. We also look forward to being able to integrate our Sailplane Grand Prix into the FAI Regional and World Air Games events as part of this marketing strategy.

    Airspace, Membership and global participation remain other key issues. We continue to push our airspace requirements, we are developing our communication tools to reach more pilots and are examining ways to ensure that all countries are able to participate in IGC and to have the opportunity to compete in and host World Championships.

    Finally, I would like to extend grateful thanks to Secretary General Max Bishop and the staff at the FAI Office for their untiring work and generous support on IGC’s behalf.

    President
    International Gliding Commission