| FAI/CIVL press release,
Paris, 06th June 1998
Who's who in CIVL
At the recent CIVL Plenary meeting Per Christian
Daehlin resigned as President due to family and work
committments and Olivier Burghelle was voted in as the
new President.
It may come as a surprise to many to learn that CIVL
(Commission Internationale de Vol Libre) members are
first and foremost pilots, who are enthusiastic about
advancing our wonderful sports in the international
arena.
They are all volunteers and as such are not paid for
their time, work and knowedge which they give willingly
for the benefit of all hang glider and paraglider pilots
around the world. CIVL is part of the FAI (Federation
Aeronautique Internationale) and is responsible for the
international aspects of hang gliding and paragliding
(classes 1, 2, 3 & 4).
CIVL is headed by a 'Bureau' of elected officers, made up
of the CIVL President, 4 Vice Presidents, a Secretary and
a Treasurer (all well known personalities in hang gliding
and paragliding).
The current 'Bureau' consists of:
President: Olivier Burghelle (France) -
Olivier has been hang gliding since 1982 and
paragliding since 1991. He has been a competition
pilot and an instructor. He retired as a sea Captain
in 1986 and became more and more involved with the
Fédération Française de Vol Libre (FFVL) - he has
been Vice President, General Secretary and Treasurer
as well as chairing the French Hang Gliding
Competitions Commission and French delegate to CIVL.
In addition he has been Meet Director at the 1994
European Hang Gliding Championships and the 1995
Class 2 World Championships. He is also President of
the Paragliding World Cup Association, Vice President
of Europe Airsports and Vice President of CASI (FAI -
Air Sport General Commission).
e-mail: olivier.burghelle@wanadoo.fr
Vice Presidents: Dennis Pagen (USA) -
Started flying hang gliders in 1974 and paragliders
in 1989. He has been previous U.S. world team member
and national champion in hang gliding and flies
paragliders purely recreationally. He is famous for
his books on sport aviation having published 13 books
and written over 400 magazine articles. Dennis has
been one of the leading experts since the early days
of hang gliding. He has been a CIVL Vice President
for 5 years and is most interested in safety and
competition matters. He is Chairman of the hang
gliding competitions (classes 1,2 & 4)
subcommittees and also President of the World Hang
Gliding Series.
e-mail: pagenbks@lazerlink.com
Howard Travers (UK) - 36 years old, Sales
Manager.
Howard has been flying paragliders since 1989 and
learnt to fly hang gliders in 1997. Howard is one of
the driving forces behind British paragliding. He has
competed in the British Paragliding championships
since 1991,has served 4 years as Chairman of the
British Competitions Committee, been a member of
several British Teams, as well as British Team
Manager. In addition he founded the highly successful
British Paragliding Cup. Howard is the UK delegate to
CIVL and was elected a Vice President in 1995 and is
Chairman for the CIVL Paragliding Competitions,
Scoring systems and Ranking systems sub-committees.
He has also just taken on the role of treasurer for
the World Hang Gliding Series.
e-mail: howard_travers@compuserve.com
Vasco Raposo (Portugal) - 37 years old, civil
engineer.
Vasco has been hang gliding since 1984 and paragiding
since 1994. He is qualified hang gliding intructor,
has been Team Manager for the Portuguese Team as well
as organiser, meet director and Jury member for
several hang gliding competitions. He also has a
private pilots license and is a qualified
parachutist. Vasco is a Director and Vice-President
of the Portuguese Free Flight Association and also
President of his local flying club since it's
foundation in 1996. He was elected as a CIVL Delegate
in 1996 and in 1998 was elected as a CIVL Vice
President. e-mail:
mop14805@mail.telepac.pt
Riikka Vilkuna (Finland) - 33 years old,
started her aviation career as a parachutist in 1985,
and over the years has made 1200 jumps and competed
in parachuting (style & accuracy). Then switched
to hang gliding in 1991 when she started working for
the Finnish Aeronautical Association having completed
a degree in Russian. Her responsibnilties include
hang gliding & paragliding, some parachuting
matters and some youth work (camps etc.). Riikka
flies an Airwave Klassic and is a member of Jämi
Hang Gliding Club. She was elected to CIVL as the
Finnish delegate in 1993, as a Vice President in 1998
and is Chairwoman of the Class Definitions
sub-committee. Email:
e-mail: faa@sci.fi
Secretary: Noel Whittal (UK) -
Started hang gliding in 1973 and still flies them,
although he now concentrates on paragliders. Noel is
an ex-chairman of the British Hang Gliding
Association (BHGA). He has been Secretary of CIVL
since 1986 and is also Chairman for the CIVL Sporting
Code (section 7) sub-committee. He has published
several excellent books on hang gliding and
paragliding and has two sons (Robbie and Matthew) who
are very heavily involved in the sport.
e-mail: noel.w@zetnet.co.uk
Treasurer: Jim Bowyer (UK) -
Has been flying hang gliders for 23 years and still
feels as enthusiastic about the sport as he did when
he started in 1975. For most of these years he has
been professionally involved in the sport either as
an instructor, manufacturer or test pilot and several
years as meet director for the British Hang Gliding
League. "During my flying career I have flown a
wide variety of aircraft but have always decided that
hang gliding was the most fun. I have tried Class 2
but disliked the complexity, Class 3 I tried too
early and scared myself on some of the less stable
machines of that era." Jim is the UK's Alternate
Delegate to CIVL and a member of the British Hang
Gliding & Paragliding Associations Executive
Council with special responsibility for competitions.
e-mail: Jim@pccltd.co.uk
Bureau members welcome direct e-mail correspondance
or the whole CIVL e-mail list can be e-mailed at civl-info-l@fai.org.
E-mail correspondance should be restricted to:
* comments on CIVL decisions, rule changes, etc,
* suggestions for the development of hang gliding and
paragliding and the work of CIVL
* comments and suggestions concerning the CIVL home
page. [a complete guideline document on the use of
this mailing list is available at http://www.fai.org/general/info_civl.html
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