Scott Barrett <<scottbarrettc4>> writes:

Davis, following the discussion that you, Gerolf and I have had
with Max Bishop, the FAI president at the Worlds, Max has requested a letter
from the Australian pilot body to express our concerns. These concerns were
primarily that there have been technical decisions made at a political level and
the CIVL technical committee has made recommendations on equipment scrutinizing
that have been overturned at a political level.

The Australian competition committee has allowed Heather (CIVL delegate) to send
the letter re CIVL due process to CIVL where it has been well received by Dennis
Pagan. Dennis has previously expressed his views and fully agrees with the
points raised in the letter regarding small gliders and he has written about
this before. I understand that the letter that Max requested has not yet found
its way to him as yet.

On a technical level, the issues are that small gliders should have proportional
pitch moment to larger gliders. The small gliders in DHV certified configuration
have the washout set high, making pitch control (proportionally for small
pilots) very strong and the sail locks on the washout struts to remarkably
reduce the controllability of the glider. The consensus of experts, as per the
design standard written by the manufacturers, is that pitching moments are
treated proportional with glider size.

Pilots can do the following things to make the hang gliding world safer and
fairer:

• Buy a HGMA certified glider, ask your favorite manufacturer for a HGMA certified glider.


• Ask your CIVL delegate to support the Australian proposal for equality for pilots of all sizes.


• Ask your CIVL delegate to support due process within CIVL and ensure that technical decisions are made at a technical level (by technical experts).