Following the petition for a suspension of the requirement for
certified helmets

There has been a movement to form a Working Group of CIVL to
review the requirement for certified (EN 966) helmets in Category 1
competitions. This became a very controversial issue at the last Worlds and many
pilots (the overwhelming majority of pilots at the Worlds) have asked for a
suspension of the rule for the 2012 pre-Worlds. To address the issue of what to
do about the rule after the pre-Worlds, pilots are asking for a Working Group
that will address the issues of certification and the appropriateness of the EN
966 certification for hang gliding. The point is not to come up with a new
certification for hang gliding helmets but rather to choose an appropriate path
for the future of helmets in hang gliding.

I have listened to a number of pilots make recommendations for members of the
Working Group and I have the following suggestions:

Scott Barrett (see his previous article on being allowed to use helmets with
"higher" certification than EN 966), Gerolf Heinrichs (he raised the issue at
the Worlds and feels that EN 966 is not appropriate for hang glider pilots),
Mart Bosman (concerned that pilots were placing certification stickers on non
certified helmets), Zac Majors (felt that other helmets were more appropriate
for hang glider pilots), and Hagen Lobitz (an engineer who felt that the
modification made by pilots and allowed at the Worlds were making the helmets
more dangerous).

I ask the CIVL Bureau to appoint these interested individuals to a Working Group
to work on the helmet certification issue and to immediately suspend the
existing rule for the 2012 (January) pre-Worlds.