CIACA Annual Plenary Meeting
The FAI Amateur Built & Experimental Aircraft Commission (CIACA) held its Annual Plenary Meeting on 23 and 24 April 2004 at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Elections : Mr Pierluigi DURANTI (ITA) was re-elected as CIACA President. 1st Vice-President is Alphonse CONRADY (LUX), 2nd Vice-President is Peter STYRSKY (GER) and CIACA Secretary Mrs Elaine FECHER (GER); see the updated list of CIACA Officials & Delegates. 

CIACA contribution to FAI's Centenary : CIACA decided to support a Swedish project, run by CIACA Delegate Carl Rönn, which aims to make a contribution to the social integration of young people in difficulty for one reason or another (poverty, prolonged unemployment, drugs, crime etc). These youngsters are given the opportunity to build an aircraft, thereby acquiring technical know-how and practical skills, as well as a sense of team-work and a feeling of real achievement. The scheme has been highly successful in Sweden, and we will come back to this project in a forthcoming FAI-News.
To mark FAI's Centenary in 2005, CIACA hopes to launch the assembly of an international amateur-built aircraft, with component parts built by groups of disadvantaged youngsters in several different countries.

Awards : The Phoenix Diploma was awarded to Mr José Luis OLIAS (ESP) in recognition for his restoration of a Piper L-14, the only example in flying condition worldwide; the L-14 was the first Piper to be fitted with flaps and slats, which provided the aircraft with STOL capabilities (short take-off and landing). Manufactured in 1945 and abandoned since 1957, this aircraft was discovered in 1989 in a hangar, and, after 9 1/2 years of restoration work, flew again in 2003.

Next Plenary Meeting : Salzburg (AUT), 15 and 16 April 2005. 

New World Record Claims
Here is a selection of the World Record Claims received by FAI :  

Class C - Aeroplanes / Claims number : 9190 to 9193
Group 1 : Piston engine
Pilot : Bruce BOHANNON (USA)
Aircraft : Bohannon B-1
Course / Location : Lakeland, FL (USA)
Date : 17.04.04 

Claim #9190
Sub-class : C-1 (Landplanes)
Type of record : Time to climb to a height of 6 000 m
Performance : 6 min 13 sec 
Current record : new 

Claim #9191
Sub-class : C-1b (Landplanes - Take-off weight 500 to 1000 kg)
Type of record : Time to climb to a height of 6 000 m 
Performance : 6 min 13 sec 
Current record : 6 min 40 sec (05.11.2000 - Bruce BOHANNON, USA) 

Claim #9192
Sub-class C-1 (Landplanes)
Type of record : Time to climb to a height of 9 000 m 
Performance : 9 min 50 sec 
Current record : 16 min 03 sec (22.10.2002 - Bruce BOHANNON, USA) 

Claim #9193
Sub-class C-1b (Landplanes - Take-off weight 500 to 1000 kg) 
Type of record : Time to climb to a height of 9 000 m 
Performance : 9 min 50 sec 
Current record : 16 min 03 sec (22.10.2002 - Bruce BOHANNON, USA) 

Class E - Rotorcraft / Claims number : 9195 - 9196
Claim #9195 : Sub-class E-3 (Autogyros)
Claim #9196 : Sub-class E-3a (Autogyros - Take-off weight less than 500 kg)

Information valid for both claims :
Group 1 : piston engine / General Category
Type of record : Time to climb to a height of 6 000 m
Course/location : Frederick, MD (USA)
Performance : 25 min
Pilot : Andrew C. KEECH (USA)
Autogyro : Little Wing LW-5
Date: 20.04.2004
Current record : new

The details shown above are provisional. When all the evidence required has been received and checked, the exact figures will be established and the record ratified (if appropriate).

For further information on World Records,
please consult the latest news, including all claims pending ratification, at :
- Aeroplanes World Records
- Rotorcraft World Records

Lausanne, 28 April 2004