Subcommittees, Working Groups and Technical Officers

Subcommittees, Working Groups and Technical Officers
Elected or appointed, and mostly volunteers, these CIVL workers aim to solve the many problems that arise daily, throughout the year. In the longer term, their aim is to look to future development, to suggest and make improvements in each discipline. They always operate in accordance with the purposes and aims set forth in the CIVL Long Term Plan.

(photo : Malbos/CIVL)

Subcommittees are set up by CIVL. They have specific terms of reference (TOR) for their work and responsibilities. These TOR are approved by the CIVL Plenary.
Current Subcommittees are: Safety & Training; Sporting Code; Hang gliding competitions; Paragliding competitions; Paragliding accuracy competitions; Aerobatic competitions; Records & badges.

Working Groups are established temporarily by CIVL. They study and report on specific matters or proposals. Working Groups are disbanded upon completion of their assigned task.
Current Working groups are: Software (including scoring, WPRS and flight verification); World Air Games; and World On Line Contest (WXC).

Technical Officers are appointed by the Bureau to take care of special tasks or solve specific problems.
Current Technical Officers are: CIVL Coordination, Jury and Steward Coordination.

Technical Officers and chairmen of subcommittees and working groups report regularly to the CIVL President.
Chairmen of subcommittees and working groups produce a written report on work completed and work ongoing twice a year, once for the Plenary and once for the mid-term Bureau meeting.

Sporting Code

(photo : Malbos/CIVL)

This Subcommittee proposes revisions of the Sporting Code Section 7 to the CIVL Plenary, and ensures all revisions agreed are incorporated. Its decisions and recommendations are subject to approval by a 2/3 majority at the CIVL plenary meeting.

This Subcommittee is chaired by John Aldridge (UK).
Contact John Aldridge

John has been flying hang gliders since 1984 and also took up paragliding at the start of the new millennium. He has flown in many countries and competed for some years but his flying is now strictly recreational. He has organised and run British national hang gliding competitions since 1995 and serves on the BHPA's executive board as Competition Director. He is the UK delegate and was elected Vice President of CIVL at the 2002 Plenary meeting; he is also head of the Sporting Code Subcommittee and the CIVL representative on CASI. He has been steward or a jury member at many CIVL sanctioned events. He is also a council member of the UK’s NAC, the Royal Aero Club.

Members:
These are the heads of the technical sub-committees, currently these are:
Pal Hamar-Rognoy (Norway)
Chris (Calvo) Burns (UK)
Jurij Vertacnik (Slovenia)
Dennis Pagen (USA)
Stewart Midwinter (Canada)
Scott Torkelsen (Denmark)

Sporting Code Subcommittee News
The changes to our sporting code mandated by the 2008 Plenary are now complete and available here. Work will start soon on any changes needed for 2009. The subcommittee welcomes any suggestions for change, and these will require the approval of your national CIVL delegate.

Hang gliding competitions

(photo : Malbos/CIVL)

This Subcommittee assists, encourages and helps prospective organisers in any way it can. When a bid has been approved by the CIVL Plenary, the Subcommittee support the organiser in order to make the event as good as possible.
It discusses the local regulations and ensure that they comply with Sporting Code Section 7.

This Subcommittee is chaired by Dennis Pagen (USA).
Contact Dennis Pagen

Dennis started flying hang gliders in 1974, microlights in 1978 and paragliders in 1989. He currently flies all three forms of personal aircraft and has competed in hang gliding from 1975 until the present. He was national champion in 1978. He set up much of the instruction programs in the US and wrote the instructors manual for both hang gliding and paragliding. He taught hang gliding in the 70s, but now makes his living solely from the writing of books relating to the flying sports. Dennis has served as meet director in national meets as well as CIVL jury or steward member at multiple World Meets.

Members:

Paragliding competitions

(photo : Malbos/CIVL)

This Subcommittee is chaired by Chris (Calvo) Burns (UK).

Members:

Fernando Amaral (Portugal)
Chris Burns (United Kingdom)
Yves Goueslain (France)
Rasa Grigoraitiene (Lithuania)
Stefan Mast (Germany)
Yoshiki Oka (Japan)
Scott Torkelsen (Denmark)

Paragliding accuracy competitions

(photo: Juozas Kaunas)

This Subcommittee assists, encourages and helps competition organisers in many ways. It can advise prospective organisers on preparing bids for Category 1 events, and advise on running Category 2 events.
When a bid has been approved by the CIVL Plenary, the Subcommittee will support the organiser to ensure the event is a success for competitors and organisers.
The Subcommittee coordinates discussions on updating the Sporting Code Section 7C and will advise and discuss the compilation of Local Regulations, to ensure that they comply with Sporting Code Section 7.
Special attention is given to the role of Paragliding Accuracy Judges, as specified in Section 7C. A Judging working group is instrumental in organising Training seminars with the overall aim of raising Judging standards.

This Subcommittee is chaired by Jurij Vertacnik (SVN)

Members:

Andy Cowley (UK)
Matjaz Feraric (Slovenia)
Violeta Grigoraitiene (Lithuania)
Zdravko Jakop (Croatia)
Uga Jondzic (Serbia)
Kamil Konecny (Czech Republic)
Fabio Loro (Italy)
Yoshiki Oka (Japan)
Nikki Spence (UK)
Louise Joselyn (UK)
Riikka Vilkuna (Sweden)
Andy Webster (UK)

Aerobatic competitions

(photo : Vol Libre)

The Aerobatic Working Group takes care of competition regulation and calendar, pilots ranking and judges training. As aerobatics is a fairly new CIVL discipline, it means that a lot of work needs to be done!
In 2005, the World Aerobatic Tour included 5 events.
In 2006, the first official World Championship for hang gliding and paragliding aerobatic was organized successfully .

This Subcommittee is chaired by Pal Hamar Rognoy (Norway)

Members:

Aubertin Marc (France)
Dufourmantelle Violaine (France)
Eyraud David (France)
Gaivao-Braga Mauricio (Brazil)
Hamar Pernilla (Norway)
Link Christelle (France)
Poullain Pascal (Switzerland)

Scoring and ranking systems, CIVL software

(photo : Malbos/CIVL)

This Working Group is chaired by Agúst Gudmundsson (Iceland).
Contact Agúst Gudmundsson

Agúst has been flying hang gliders since 1986. In 2001 he started paragliding and has been flying both hang and paragliders in recent years. He also has a PPL licence since 1995. In 2003 he built a Skyranger ultralight and has been flying ultralights since then together with all other flying. For the last 15 years he has been organizing and running HG and PG competitions most of which have been FAI Cat2 competitions and also acting as an instructor. Agúst has 4 children, and most of the family are also flying paragliders (wife, two sons and his son's girlfriend). He has been working as a manager of a software house since 1981. For the last eight years Agúst has attended CIVL plenary meetings and in Guatemala 2005 he was elected as a vice president. Agúst is also acting as a vice president of the Icelandic NAC.

Members:
Paula Howitt (CIVL coordination Officer)
Stein-Tore Erdal (Norway)

On Line Contest

(photo : Philippe Flament)

The CIVL World Online XC Contest (WXC)initiative is chaired by Agust Gudmundsson (Iceland).
Contact Agust Gudmundsson

Safety and training

(photo : Malbos/CIVL)

This Subcommittee develops the distribution and promotion of IPPI Cards and encourages all countries to use them to ensure pilot proficiency for both visiting pilots and their own pilots when travelling abroad.

It assembles and analyses statistics on hang gliding and paragliding in member countries.

It takes part, as far as possible, in work carried out by other international organisations for making standards that will affect hang glider or paraglider pilots.

It provides a forum for the exchange of information and discussion of safety and training matters.

This Subcommittee is chaired by Scott Torkelsen.
Contact Scott Torkelsen

Scott has been flying paragliders since 1987 including World, European and World Cup as well as National championships. He is still a very active pilot, however he only competes in National championships now. Has been a board member of the Danish NAC since 1995 as well as previous President of the Danish hang gliding and paragliding association (DHPU). He is still a delegate for CIVL and EHPU. He has maintained a full time chiropractic practice since 1987 and is an active lecturer throughout Europe on skeletal injury, biomechanics and rehabilitation to both humans and animals.

Jury and Steward Coordinator

(photo : Malbos/CIVL - When the going gets tough, jury and stewards get handy)

Paula Sayer is the CIVL Jury and Steward Technical Officer
Contact Paula Sayer

Paula has been employed part time by CIVL since 2001 as one of the main points of contact for pilot queries as well as dealing with the sanctioning of competitions and the World Pilot Ranking Scheme. She has flown hang gliders since 1989 and has competed in National and World championships. She flew an Atos for several years but now flies mainly paragliders. She lives in the Owens Valley in the USA to take advantage of the flying, skiing, rock climbing and hiking, and in between this she has been a steward at several meets, in USA, Austria, Slovenia and Serbia.

CIVL Jury and Steward Handbook

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Jury members and Stewards list

Note: Click here if you need more information on the file formats used and the programs required to open, read and print this file.

CIVL Coordination

(photo : Malbos/CIVL)

Paula Sayer is our present CIVL Coordination Officer.
Contact Paula Sayer

Records and Badges

(photo : thomasulrich.com/Advance)

This Subcommittee is chaired by Stewart Midwinter (Canada)

Members:
Oyvind Ellefsen (Norway)
Ágúst Gudmundsson (Iceland)
Martin Henry (Canada)
Wayne Sayer (USA)

Website content coordinator

Louise Joselyn is currently coordinating website content.
Contact Louise Joselyn

World Air Games

(photo : Vol Libre - The 2001 World Air Games in Sierra Nevada, Spain)

Agust Gudmundsson (Iceland) is the CIVL Coordinator for the World Air Games.
Contact Agust Gudmundsson

Environmental Affairs

(photo: Michel Mouze)

The FAI is committed to protect the natural environment and to encourage its members to take environmental protection into account when practising air sports. You will find below its Code of Conduct.

Protecting the environment has always been an important concern for CIVL and we first appointed a Technical Officer for environmental issues in November 2005. Some early proposals have been agreed and are being implemented (see below Environmental questions and nature protection )

Technical Officer for the Environment is Thomas Sénac
Contact Thomas Sénac

Thomas, born in 1962, is married and has two daughters. He is an engineer agronomist and works presently as environmental officer in an agro-industrial company. He has been flying paraglider since the mid-90s', both in flat lands and mountains; he still flies and practices tandem and towing.
Thomas has been involved in the French federation at all levels and in the French Olympic Committee working groups on sites, environmental affairs and sports in nature.

Environmental questions and nature protection

Protecting the environment questions is a real concern in most countries and can impact paragliding and hang gliding pilots.

These concerns are growing as our sports become more popular and the number of pilots and accessible sites continues to increase. Among all aerial sports, paragliding and hang gliding have specific issues to address. Even if we avoid motors to fly (exploiting wind and sun), there remain some concerns about protecting natural sites and the impact of our activity on the environment.

For example, our take-off and landing sites are, in many cases, located in the countryside, often in remote and beautiful areas. Sometimes the construction of access roads, take-off ramps, and increased traffic to these summits are regarded as destructive, an intrusion, and a disturbance to wildlife. When a site is used often for launching or landing, the impact on the natural vegetation can be heavy.

In some places, we fly near or above natural protection parks, and the real (or perceived) disturbance to protected fauna can be a big concern. In others, we share the space with the birds and often fly near their nesting places.

We also share nature with other users, like hunters, who might have different opinions about what needs to be done to protect nature.

And last, but by no means least, Administrations (States, Regions, Counties…) have their own environmental priorities, that might conflict with ours.

What to do?

Up to now some subjects have been studied by different associations separately and independently. It is better to work together, and to share ideas and costs.

The aims of CIVL's environmental initiative is thus:

to contact national associations to identify relevant persons
to build a net of competent people who will work together through e-mail
to list our environmental problems, exchange our knowledge and experiences, collect specific legislation, assess the situation in each country, compare the ways we deal with problems...
to help the countries where no experience exists.

We could also study :

the life cycle of different material, in cooperation with the manufacturer (for example fabric, from petroleum to the dump)
the global impact of our sport on the environment.

We will contact the FAI Environment Commission and take part in meetings at this level and with other authorities.

Later, if needed, CIVL might consider subsidising scientific studies, along the lines of those undertaken in France, Germany, UK and elsewhere, looking at whether birds are truly disturbed by hang gliding and paragliding. This work could be done by students to lower the cost.

Of course, the aims of this project are not fixed in stone and will develop according to the ideas of members.

Code of Conduct - Air Sports and the Environment

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CIVL Plenary 2001 Report on environmental matters

Lausanne, Switzerland
Report by Olli Borg (Finland)

All human activities have an impact on the environment – also flying, sports etc. The impacts vary from local to global.

Local

The local impacts have been a problem on many mountain sites (especially in national parks etc.). The local impacts may include :
- Disturbance of wildlife (eg. breeding)
- Noise
- Littering
- Excessive wear of vegetation
From an environmental point of view, these are all minor issues. Nevertheless, the world is changing and we have to face it. It is our responsibility to react and ensure the use of our flying sites in the future.

By far the best way is to adapt our activity to reduce the negative impacts on the environment. To help the task, the FAI has established an environmental commission that has agreed on codes of conduct for the disciplines.

Some methods to reduce impacts:
- Reduce traffic by use of eg buses
- Organize car parking
- Take care of (collect, recycle) wastes
- Prohibit / restrict the use of sensitive areas
- Information to pilots and all concerned
- Noise control
All the mentioned methods are in fact very easy to organize!

As meet / competition organizers it is OUR duty to assure that the environment is taken into account in our events. For every meet someone in the organization should be appointed to assure that the environmental policy is put into practice. The person in charge should be given sufficient rights (there is an analogy to dealing with the media or press).

The environmental codes and policy of an event can be advertised to obtain a positive image on the media. This is essential in order to get the general attitude on our side.

Global

Global impacts are becoming more important and are of great concern around the world. This is an issue that we have to face in the near future.
Global impacts are related to the greenhouse-effect. The major concern is of carbon dioxide. This is directly connected with the use of fossil fuels (almost all energy we use!).

As free-flight pilots, we are on the safe side from the start (wind & thermals = solar power)! This should also be used as a positive argument in the media!
The issue will be the traffic and towing. In the future we may be facing requirements to reduce the emissions (policy of constant development).

CIVL Plenary 2000 Report on environmental matters

Sitges, Spain
Report by Riikka Vilkuna (Finland)

The FAI General Conference accepted an environmental policy statement in 1997. It states that the FAI will publish environmental Codes of Conduct for different air sport disciplines. Codes of Conduct cover e.g. considerate flying, flying site layout and operational procedures, landscaping and habitat and Nature Conservation.

Environmental Commission has written Environmental Codes of Conduct which has two parts: the first part is common to all, the second part specific advice to different air sports. The Air Sport Commissions (ASCs) were asked to review the draft. The hang gliding and paragliding part was reviewed and all who commented the draft before CIVL Plenary 1999 considered it a good document.

As it is now, hang gliding and paragliding part of the Code of Conduct concentrates on producing as little noise as possible, saving energy, choosing the operating areas carefully so that environment is not disturbed. Codes of Conduct encourage environmentally sensitive behaviour.

The FAI Environmental Commission had a meeting January 28th-29th 2000. I’ve been in touch with Chris Nicholas, the President of the Commission, and he summarizes the meeting:
the Codes of Conduct have been reviewed by ASC’s (no changes were requested).
FAI would like all ASCs to ensure that their specific codes of conduct are implemented by its member organisations, each ASC may decide how they want to do this.

The Environmental Commission has been working on a world-wide database to collect information on impact of flying on nature, this information will be available via the FAI web site.
Commission will concentrate on noise measurement methods & standards.
Commission is building contacts to other organisations, such as the World Wildlife Fund.

Questions to hang gliding & paragliding associations:
How many hang gliding/paragliding associations have an environment plan of any kind?
How do associations deal with environmental matters when i.e. competitions are arranged?
Are there any environmental projects going on?

What should/could be done within the CIVL:
We should not get too bureaucratic about this.
We should include environmental issues to CIVL Long Term Plan and Guidelines for Organisers. (It would be difficult to try to demand that NACs take measures, but we can recommend them and question how these things are taken care of when, for example, we evaluate bids. Control would need experts.).
Any environmental studies concerning hang gliding and paragliding should be added to Environmental Commission’s database.
NACs should check how they operate in relation to the Codes of Conduct. I could collect information.