How it works

(photo: Malbos/CIVL)

Aeronautical sports in most countries are members of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Membership is normally through the NAC (National Airsport Control, also referred as National Aero Club), which has sometimes proved a problem for hang glider pilots in countries where the NAC has refused to take hang gliding and paragliding seriously.

The FAI has a number of Commissions, each having responsibility for its own speciality – aerobatics, ballooning, gliding, air rallying etc. Hang gliding and paragliding make up the Commission Internationale de Vol Libre (CIVL), translated as ‘FAI Hang Gliding and Paragliding Commission’. Considering the scale of its international responsibility, CIVL’s budget is small. It is funded by sanction fees from competitions.

The Plenary meets once every year. It decides which rules will apply for safety and for the conduct of competitions, badge flights and record attempts. It also decides where future Championships will be held. Finally, it elects the Bureau. Each member country of CIVL has one vote.

Between annual meetings, CIVL is run by the Bureau, which consists of the President, four Vice Presidents, the Treasurer and the Secretary.

It can be said that the Plenary is the Parliament of CIVL and the Bureau its elected Government.

The Bureau is helped by various Subcommittees and Working Groups, covering all aspect of our sport: Safety and training; Hang gliding; Paragliding; Paragliding accuracy; Aerobatic; Flight verification, records, badges and awards; Scoring, ranking, and CIVL softwares, Environmental affairs, Sporting code, Jury and steward…