gordon rigg <<gordon.rigg245km>> writes:

My glider is a prototype of my own manufacture. I got some of the components from the manufacturer but not all of them. I assembled and adjusted my glider myself. The logos on it are advertising an established manufacturer that is all :). I take full responsibility for my glider as I am the manufacturer's test pilot. Limiting the number of prototype gliders when there are hundreds of non profit making manufacturers of hang gliders is not fair to these smaller manufacturers who make just one or two gliders a year each :)

Now all the pilots need to be at the competition for an extra day of scrutinizing. Multiply all those competitors by their average wage and then add the cost of the scrutinizing officials. Nobody is counting the cost of our free time or asking us pilots if we are willing to support it. I don't like wasting a flyable day with no task or free flying when I already prepared my glider to my personal satisfaction and flew it for many trouble free hours of practice in similar conditions. It is also unsafe to fly a glider that I was forced to adjust against my will and then given no opportunity to test fly before the competition. CIVL is absolutely not working correctly on this one and because of how it is run and who is involved it is totally incapable of doing so. We really do need pilot representation and such rules should not be introduced unless a majority of pilots at a competition such as the worlds support them.

I heard that due to the number of accidents in the sports they control CIVL is threatened with being thrown out of the FAI unless they improve the safety of their sports. Count the accidents - messing with hang gliding will make very little difference to the total. All this worry about hang glider safety, yet paragliding carries on with only the prototypes capable of winning, helicopters out and hospitalizations or worse every other day, why is hang gliding getting all this extra "safety".

Perhaps a total shake out and a non FAI based controlling body is exactly what hang gliding needs. If this scrutinizing persists, lets just have a nice well run and low cost world championship in a nice place without CIVL!