01/02/2001 | Posted by Mike at 11:23 AM
It has been some time since I last communicated with everyone through these pages on the CIVA website but since September, CIVA has been quite busy planning and preparing for the 2001 contest season. Now it is close upon us.
In November 2000, CIVA held its annual plenary meeting in Bled, Slovenia. Minutes of the meeting can be found here. The Minutes document is a lengthy one --- it was amazing to me how much business was accomplished in only one and a half days.
Bled was a real pleasure for me personally --- the site was a beautiful one and a particular surprise as I had never traveled to Slovenia before. After flying into the capitol city of Ljubljana, I traveled by rental car to Bled, only a short distance away. Set alongside a beautiful, small lake, it is one of the most picturesque towns I have ever visited in many years of travel throughout Europe. The Slovenes were warm and gracious and the meeting venue well organised and without any difficulties. It helped make the meeting as successful as it was.
But of course, we were not in Slovenia to be tourists --- nearly 50 CIVA Officers, FAI representatives, Delegates, Alternates, Technical Specialists, and observers were in attendance. Twenty-three nations were represented in person or by proxy. All were there to discuss the many proposals which were laid before CIVA as a result of our rules-making procedure, which was new this year, and the three major Championships that were held in 2000. Numerous reports were heard and acted upon. A summary of the actions taken by CIVA is summarized in a document which can be found here.
Let me discuss some of the issues …
If you have followed this website, read my previous "President's Pages" and viewed the Daily Reports from the Advanced World Aerobatic Championships in Germany in July 2000 and the World Aerobatic Championships in France in August 2000, you are familiar with some of the issues.
The 60% Rule
Recall that one of the most controversial rules at WAC last year was the "60% Rule" --- the CIVA Regulation which required the International Jury to cut anyone from the competition who did not receive 60% of the total possible points in Programme Q. This was immensely unpopular --- though well intentioned. CIVA voted in November to revert to the rule we had before which causes the Jury to only disqualify those pilots who we believe to be unsafe. It has complete discretion to determine what that is and is a rule I have personally applied and support. Now, pilots will continue flying in the rest of the competition if they made a simple mistake, such as flying in the wrong direction, yet are safe and capable.
The New FAI Catalogues
Please note that CIVA approved the Third Edition of the FAI Aerobatic Catalogue and the Glider Aerobatic Figure Catalogue at this last meeting. These new versions --- in PDF format --- have been available on this website for some weeks. Please click over to those pages and download this document if you have not done so already.
Nice changes have been made to Family 8. Incidentally, updates will also be made to the Unknown Appendixes in the various Parts of CIVA Regulations to reflect the availability of these new figures for Unknowns as well. Pilots who do not fly Advanced or Unlimited level will find some figures in here as well which they might find enjoyable and useful in constructing Free Programmes. Don't think that CIVA only thinks of the top end of the competition spectrum!
The Corps of Judges
I have spoken about my proposal in previous columns. It became a personal priority this year as CIVA President to enact proposals which would create a truly international cadre of Judges which we use at World Championships. These ideas and proposals were finally approved by CIVA in November and take effect this year.
Here is how it will work. Over the next few weeks, your National Delegate to CIVA will submit the name of an FAI International Judge for consideration by the CIVA Judging Sub-Committee for service at the upcoming World Aerobatic Championships in Burgos, Spain and the World Glider Aerobatic Championships in Palma Del Rio, Spain. Both of these events are taking place as a part of the II World Air Games in June and early July 2001. It will be a spectacular event and aerobatics will be a key feature of the Games --- as well as the media coverage we expect to result.
Those nominations must be received by 1 March 2001. The CIVA Judging Sub-Committee will meet in Munich, Germany on 28-29 April to consider these nominations and to name a panel of 7 Judges for each of these competitions. The remaining slots (as we can accommodate up to 10 Judges at a Championships) will be filled on site after JPF's are evaluated upon the completion of Programme Q and for Gliders, the first Known.
Thus, what can happen is this --- 7 CIVA selected Judges will judge Programme Q in Burgos, as an example. Any number of other Judges can come and try out. We have had as many as 14 in the past. But after Q, we must narrow it to a maximum of 10. Those choices will be based on the JPF's which are run on each Judge. The JPF (Judge Performance Factor) is an acronym that has come into everyday use in CIVA circles. And you will hear more about it in the future. It is a simple method, covered in an Appendix to the CIVA Regulations, to determine how Judges stack up against the entire panel. It is quite effective and accurate. It's beauty is in its simplicity.
Judges and Assistants will be paid $500 by CIVA if selected by the Sub-Committee. Assistants are actually provided by NAC's and not chosen by CIVA. Entry fees for Judges are waived by the organizer. Full accommodation and meals are provided to Judges. In the future --- starting in 2002 --- this same privilege will be extended to Assistants as well. We want to help the best Judges attend these events and not be frozen out by financial considerations. Assistants are an important part of the "Judging Team" and good ones always make the Judge more effective and accurate. This is why we have included them in the stipends as well as the waiver of Entry Fees in the future.
What this all does is remove the Judges from affiliation with national teams. Amazing as it may seem to outsiders or newcomers to the sport, Judges have been a part of their nation's team for the past 40 years. When I first came into the international aerobatics arena, I was quite surprised by this --- but it has taken many years to change. Imagine referees being a part of a ball team of any kind? That sort of bias and pressure would not be tolerated in any other sport. I believe this step has been one of the most significant CIVA has taken in recent years to make our sport more fair and objective.
The 4 Minute Free in Unlimited
Also known as Programme 4, the "4 Minute" has been a part of the World Aerobatic Championships in Unlimited since 1972. Over the years, it was a part of the overall final results for quite some time but in recent years, it has been a separate trophy flight. The results of this beautiful, artistic programme have not been included in determining the World Aerobatic Champion.
I am hopeful this will soon change. However, the first step was the review of the judging criteria for this flight with an eye toward more definitive criteria for the Judge so he or she could do a better job with this flight. The work of deriving new judging criteria for the flight was carried out this past summer and fall by CIVA Delegates John Gaillard of South Africa; Ernst Paukner of Germany; and Alan Cassidy of Great Britain. This resulted in a proposal for CIVA which was adopted last November with only minor modification. It can be viewed at the end of the summary of rules above.
Once we work out the criteria, the next step will be the inclusion of the results of this programme in the final standings. That will not take place until at least 2002 --- perhaps later, depending on how it works out this year in Burgos.
But I think CIVA is going in the right direction here. In addition to the hard and difficult technical flying we now see at WAC's, we will also see more emphasis on the artistic side of this brand of flying --- something which is recognised indirectly in the words for aerobatics in other languages. "Kunstflug" in German and "Voltige Aerienne" in French --- both of which translate to "artistic flying".
I might add there is little doubt in most people's minds where the media interest lies in our competitions. It is in the 4 Minute Free. Everyone who covers our events want to film this flight. In the future, it may not be necessary to try to explain why it is not included in the results. I hope so.
Gender
Those of you who have read my columns also have noted that it has been a personal crusade of mine to remove the gender differentiation we now have in Unlimited rules. That effort has spanned over 10 years and has included numerous discussions at Sub-Committee and plenary level.
This year --- with the support of the Sub-Committees --- the proposal to eliminate the separation of men and women in aerobatic competition was brought to the plenary meeting of CIVA. Before we got too far into the discussions, I decided to withdraw the proposal and promised to not bring it to the table again.
Why? It wasn't because I felt the issue was a loser. I had felt that the votes were there at CIVA to get this proposal enacted. However, after thinking about it for some time after the WAC in France last year, I realised that it might just be the wrong thing to do. I became quite concerned --- thanks to the comments made to me by such aerobatic notables as Mady Delcroix, Dominique Roland, and some of the Ukrainians --- that it might result in fewer women participating in our sport. While I felt --- and still feel --- that men and women can compete equally and both have equal skills and talents in flying airplanes, what we cannot tolerate is any further reductions in the number of pilots flying at Unlimited level. Our sport has suffered enough shrinkage as it is in this difficult and challenging category. So I decided to withdraw the proposal. You won't be hearing from me on this subject any further.
Height Measurement
For several years, the glider aerobatic community has made use of a simple and accurate device we call the HHMD --- the "Huber Height Measuring Device". This lightweight little box is mounted in gliders during competition flights and provides signals to the pilot and Chief Judge as to high and low altitude infringements. It takes the guesswork out of judging altitude penalties --- an area where Judges have been notoriously weak for many years. They really cannot be blamed for this --- concentrating on an Unlimited Free Programme, for example, is highly demanding and there is not much room to be an altitude judge as well. Some are much better at it than others, too.
The HHMD has been adapted for powered aerobatic aircraft and tested last year in France and Germany. We are pleased with the results. Therefore, CIVA voted to require this device at this year's WAC in Burgos. All competition aircraft will carry the HHMD. The rules for its use will be included in CIVA Regulations.
The HHMD will have two tremendous benefits for our sport --- it will insure that penalties are properly assessed and those who break altitude limits are penalised. It will also promote safety as altitude awareness will be even more important than before as penalties will not be missed. Details on the device can be found in the Minutes of the CIVA meeting.
Discovery Wings
Yes, aerobatics will be gaining even more coverage on TV in the near future. Discovery Channel has filmed the WAC in France and will be broadcasting the programme sometime in the spring of 2001. We will announce those show dates here.
They are also attending the World Air Games as well. This is all good news for our sport but will require new thinking and changes in our Regulations if we are to accommodate the media in the manner they are used to in other sporting events.
As an example, the time is not far off when we will have to require that provision be made for cameras to be carried on board competition aircraft. Imagine any car race today without the "in cockpit" filming. The small, lightweight cameras available today --- some the size of a cigar --- have made this possible. The thrill of aerobatics can be made even more alive and exciting for TV viewers when viewed from the cockpit. We will be discussing those details in the months ahead.
Special Meeting in Munich
… and along those lines, CIVA will hold a Special Meeting of all Delegates in Munich, Germany on the last weekend of April, the 28-29th. It became quite apparent during our meeting in Slovenia that such a special session was necessary. Sub-Committee meetings will be held at the same time.
This meeting will be more narrow in scope but not importance. How to carry our sport into this century and to develop it into a more media-friendly sport --- which will lead to sponsorships and greater public support --- will be the topics.
Sometime soon, the agenda of the meeting will be drafted and circulated to Delegates. Comments will be welcome from all of the aerobatic community.
Mike HEUER
CIVA President
