http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/meetings/plenary/2009

First the craziness:

WADA: FAI itself, in common with virtually all its member countries, is a signatory to WADA. FAI plus a large number of other international federations have been found to be non-compliant for not conducting out of competition testing. Discussions on how to proceed continuing. Implication of non-compliance is that FAI Championships will no longer be able to be held in territories that are signed up.

FAI has to identify a number of top pilots to be on ‘registered testing pool’, and they have to be available for testing 1 hour a day. The size of the pool and number of tests has not Minutes of the 2009 CIVL Meeting 3 yet been specified. Pilots will be selected in conjunction with the relevant ASC.

All CIVL Delegates have the duty to ensure their competitors know that they are liable to be tested for drugs at any time during international competitions. All competitors must avoid using any of the substances and methods listed in the WADA Prohibited Substances list.

If they have to take one of the prohibited substances for medical reasons, a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) is required in accordance with FAI Anti-Doping Rules. More information at: www.fai.org/antidoping/programme.

The rules do not prevent pilots from having a cool beer in the evening after flying, but only once they have checked with event organisers that they will not be subjected to anti-doping controls that day. Alcohol must have been eliminated from the body by the time pilots are ready to fly the following morning, so quantities consumed must be small. Meanwhile, FAI is continuing to push for more general exemptions for aviation sports.

Use of oxygen has already been exempted as it is required by ICAO for safe operations!

Never a word about who in the world is going to pay for this.

More craziness:

SAFETY is the most important topic on FAI and CIVL agenda. CIVL Delegates will have many problems to discuss and many decisions to take during the meeting. But all of them pale into insignificance beside the absolute need to improve safety at International Championships. Following the fatal accident at Greifenburg, the FAI President convened a summit meeting in Paris to discuss HG/PG safety. It was attended by the CIVL President and certain Bureau Members. Some measures were agreed there.

Since then, there has been another fatal accident at the World Paragliding Championship in Mexico. There were two further serious accidents, and in addition, numerous reserve deployments, mid-air collisions and allegations of cloud flying had been reported at this Championship. The level of accidents in Mexico is totally unacceptable. The responsibility for these accidents is shared between pilots, equipment manufacturers, organisers and officials, and the people who make the rules.

Pilots do stupid things – putting themselves and others in danger. They must be penalised. There were reports of cloud flying in Mexico but insufficient penalties. Pilot mentality to safety must change: an unhealthy culture has developed in which many people tend to accept serious accidents as inevitable, pilots refuse to accept legitimate authority, and officials are reluctant to exercise authority for fear of criticism and complaints. Some of the issues that need to be considered include:

- The nature of the equipment being used (eg unforgiving, high-performance wings; inadequate protective clothing, helmets etc)

- The philosophy and working methods of officials at Championships (both FAI officials and event and safety directors)

- The content of CIVL rules and guidance on penalties to be applied (Sporting Code and Local Regulations, eg on cloud flying)

- Undisciplined, over-aggressive and "lemming-like" behavior on the part of some pilots (flying in areas subject to extreme turbulence, disregard of VFR flight rules etc).

CIVL can and must make the sport a great deal safer. The FAI Executive Board is monitoring very carefully what action CIVL proposes to take. Unless CIVL is successful in reversing the tendency and greatly reducing the incidence of accidents at FAI Championships, there is a strong probability that the FAI Executive Board might reluctantly intervene to cancel future events. Bidders for these events have to be aware of this. CIVL delegates carry a weighty responsibility and must exercise it firmly and swiftly to achieve change. Now is the time for serious action.

I think that they are very clearly talking about the behavior of paraglider pilots in competitions (whether true or not). But hang glider pilots are being tarred with the same brush. These accusations are not true of hang glider pilots. Nor are these accusations true of meet directors and organizers that I am familiar with.