Heather's report from the Plenary.

Dennis Pagen has drafted a letter to ask manufacturers how they
recommend their gliders' sprogs should be measured, and in particular for
smaller gliders. This ties in with the Australian proposal about manufacturers
looking at certification standards to accommodate smaller gliders. It was felt
that the letter from Dennis will adequately address this in the near future.

Other Australian proposals regarding working groups and conflicts of interest
were discussed and modified as felt appropriate to achieve the best results. The
following motions were passed:

Working groups are to include competition pilots, technical experts and CIVL
representatives where appropriate. Recommendations from these working groups
will be made to the delegates and CIVL Bureau.

When recommendations are made by technical working groups these recommendations
are to be given all due consideration.

That members of work groups should have the FAI Code of Ethics and its
references to Conflicts of Interest brought to their attention and that CIVL
should follow the actions in that document regarding any disclosures of conflict
of interest.

The background for this is found
here. Scott Barrett
asked for decisions at CIVL to be made not by some political process but be
based on the technical aspects of the issue. He has also previously raised the
issue of small gliders (and women pilots being unfairly penalized by the DHV
procedures).

So now we have a criteria to determine if CIVL is in fact involving competition
pilots and technically competent individuals in their work groups going forward.
We see that Rob in’t Groen (competition pilot) will be involved in the sprog
measurement issue. I wonder when hang glider manufacturers like Wills Wing will
be involved.

You can see who is involved in the helmet working group
here. I
don't know if any of these people has any technical expertise in helmets. I am
not familiar with any of the people involved with the Paragliding Open Class
Technical Working Group, found
here.

It appears to me that we need real experts on the sprog work group, and on the
small/women's glider work group (and we'll need to form that one).