AIR SPORTS INTERNATIONAL

Definition Of A Hang Glider
Letter Prompts Civl To Actively Review Jury And Accident Procedures
F3a European Championship 1998 Fano, 5th - 12th September Information Bulletin #1
3rd International Youth Camp (Ballooning)
Information On The Transfer Of The Fai Web Site

Definition Of A Hang Glider
   The purpose of a hang glider definition should include both satisfying flying for the pilot and good development in aircraft design and performance. It should NOT be to temporarily accommodate a particular aircraft or situations which may soon change.

   The original definition of a hang glider was A GLIDER CAPABLE OF BEING CARRIED, LAUNCHED AND LANDED SOLELY BY THE ENERGY AND USE OF THE PILOTS LEGS. The Definition was in use without problems until 1995 when CIVL introduced a class 4 to try to cope with growing performance similarities between CIVL Class 2 hang gliders and IGC's Ultralight Glider (ULG).

   Originally hang gliders were separated into Class 1, flexwings, and Class 2, rigid wings; the difference being the prohibition of aerodynamic controls in Class 1 and their requirement in Class 2. In the early years the performance and weight of the two Classes was not dissimilar, but Class 2 was inconvenient to operate from hilltops. As a result this Class declined. It came to life again with the arrival of the Swift with its much improved glide performance over the old Fledge and similar, but also with its increased weight and stall speed. Pilots liked the performance but quickly realised that it was safer to use a wheel for taking off in light winds and for nearly all landings. This did not break the Class rules provided that the hang glider was CAPABLE of complying with the Definition of a hang glider. In certain circumstances this was at best doubtful. For example, an aircraft empty weight of over 60 kg with a wing loading of 60 kg/m2 gives a stall speed of 20 - 22 kt.

   In an effort to overcome this problem CIVL introduced a Class 4 for hang gliders which could not comply with the original Definition. This was also changed by removing SOLELY BY THE ENERGY OF and inserting a requirement for a wind of not more than 1 m/s. This enabled any glider which could not comply with the wind requirement to become eligible for Class 4. It opened the door to high performance sailplanes of L/D 40+ provided the pilot could rest his feet on the ground at the start of a launch by any power source from a strong wind to an aerotow. Only one sailplane pilot needed to make foot holes in his glider to be able to clean up the hang glider records.

   Since Class 4 is not a workable solution perhaps the time has come to take an overall fresh look at hang glider definitions and class structures so as to better achieve the objectives indicated at the start of this paper.

DEFINITION: A start should be made by returning the Definition of a hang glider to the original and re-instate the requirement for ENERGY. The hasty replacement by a wind not exceeding 1 m/s is not measurable under field conditions.
CLASS STRUCTURE: Class 1 : The Class 1 flexwing hang glider has survived well under the original Definition which ties it to the physical capacity of the pilot. Its performance development is, however, restricted by the existence of Class 2 with its monopoly of aerodynamic controls. If the present Class 2 did not exist the way would be open for CIVL to consider possible aerodynamic changes in Class 1 in line with new technology provided the Definition was not compromised.; Class 2 : As indicated this Class has not flourished for various reasons and now that the pilots expect more performance from a rigid wing glider than legs allow it is proposed that this Class is declared void. To rename Class 3 (paragliders) as Class 2 would cause confusion and it could be useful in future to have an available class for new flexwing developments, including paragliders with some rigid structure.; Class 3 Paragliders, as at present.; Class 4 This should be replaced by something which better reflects the growing similarity between rigid wing hang gliders and ultralight gliders. The fact that co-operation between CIVL and IGC would be needed is not seen as a problem. Already there are links between the Aerobatic Commission and IGC over aerobatic gliders and CIVL looks after paragliders which become the province of CIMA if an engine is added. Although CIVL has 'traditionally only' looked after hang gliders the acronym stands for Commission Internationale de Vol Libre which is not specific to hang gliders.

It is suggested that two new classes are considered; The Microlight (or minimum) glider and the ULG. The ULG Class already exists in IGC together with its record categories and no change is proposed for its regulation or administration. It is defined by a maximum take off weight of 220 kg. The reason for a further Class -instead of only the ULG - is because there is interest in and a market for gliders in the slower, lighter 'floater' end of the performance range. To consider this situation; the better the glide ratio the faster the cross country speed. It is not difficult to obtain a L/D of 30+ for a MTOW of 220 kg, but the higher the speed performance the greater the weight and cost. This is the ULG and it is above the performance range of very light weight arid less expensive gliders such as the Tempest, Carbon Dragon etc which rely on low sink speeds for their soaring performance, as does the hang glider. There is room for them, between the hang glider and the ULG. The Germans are already calling them microlight gliders. At present they have glide ratios of 18 - 25, minimum sink speeds at around 50 km/h and weigh empty 60 - 80 kg. Plus pilot and parachute this would give a MTOW of 150 - 170 kg. It should be noted that in IGC the various classes from the new World Class to the Open Class exist because of the performance differential which exists between these groups of gliders.

It is proposed, therefore, that a Class for Microlight Gliders is adopted by CIVL (to replace Class 4) and is administered by CIVL for class rules, championships and record categories. The IGC would continue to look after the ULG, but its existence should be referred to in Section 7 for information. No problem is foreseen over records in either of these classes as these are administered at FAI headquarters.

SUMMARY: Class 1 Flexwing hang gliders; Class 2 Void. Available for future flexwing I paraglider development; Class 3 Paragliders; Microlight Glider Gliders having a MTOW not exceeding 170 kg.; Ultralight Glider Gliders having a MTOW not exceeding 220 kg.

(Note: the last two classes could be numbered 4 and 5 but IGC gives no class number to the ULG Class.)

Ann Welch
President of Honour CIVL
November 1997

Letter Prompts Civl To Actively Review Jury And Accident Procedures
Following a letter from French team pilot, Vincent Sprungli expressing his concern over the experience of some Jury members and incidents at the 1997 Paragliding World Championships and 1996 Paragliding European Championships, CIVL (Commission Internationale de Vol Libre) have considered and are actively reviewing the issues raised.

Organisers weaknesses and faults
Generally at Continental and World Championships it will be the first time the Meet Director has organised an event of this calibre. The Stewards role is to make sure the event is of Championship standard. However, currently the Steward's role is only advisory. If the Meet Director choses to ignore that advice(s)he is totally within their rights! The Steward can then bring the incident to the attention of the Jury, however the Jury can ONLY take action if a protest is received!

Following events at the 1997 Paragliding World Championships CIVL are:

formalising the training of Stewards and Jury Members
sending the Steward to the 'pre' Championship event, so (s)he can identify weaknesses and make recommendations etc
involving the Steward in the discussion of the Local Regulations
reviewing the role and power of the Jury and Steward
will shortly be publishing a handbook of guidelines for organisers of World and Continental Championships.

Inexperienced Jury Members
To address the issue of what Vincent described as 'inexperienced' Jury members, a Jury and Steward Training session, will be run by Dennis Pagen at the forthcoming CIVL Plenary Meeting in Lisbon (March 1998). This training session will be an annual event. CIVL hope that this will address the majority of typical issues that Jury members are expected to make decisions on.

A Jury and Steward handbook was published in 1997 by CIVL (available on request from FAI). In addition to this CIVL are currently compiling a historical list of Protests and subsequent Jury Decisions which will become an addendum to the Handbook. This will enable Jury members, when assessing a protest, to refer to relevant past decisions.

Accident Procedures
With regard to the accident procedures CIVL and the PWCA are working in collaboration to establish formal procedures and obligations of the rescuing pilot(s) (the PWC have already introduced this on a card). In addition CIVL are looking at formalising a ruling on the scoring for pilots who assist at an accident.

CIVL always welcome feedback from pilots, which in the first instance should be addressed to their national delegate (the list is available on the FAI website http://www.fai.org/)

F3a European Championship 1998 Fano, 5th - 12th September Information Bulletin #1
The Aeroclub d'Italia is pleased to invite all European Aeroclubs affiliated to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) to the 1998 European Championship for F3A model aircraft.

Organizing group:
Aeroclub Pesaro - Gruppo Aeromodellistico "M. Dal Bon".

Site:
Fano is a touristic town on the board of the Adriatic sea in the center east of Italy, near Rimini and 100 km. far from Bologna and 80 km far from San Marino.

Contest site:
The contest will take place at the aeromodelling field of the Aero Club of Pesaro in Fano; the runway is 120 x 18 m. in asphalt.

Date:
05th to 12 th September 1998.

Meteo:
Winds up to 4-5 KTS and temperature of 16-18°C to 24-26°C can be expected.

Practicing fields:
Two practicing fields are available, 5 and 46 Km. far from Fano. Contest field is available every day throughout the year without any limitation.

Participants:
National teams could be of maximum three pilots and a team manager and the current European Champion Christophe Paysant Le Roux from France. Each competitor must have the FAI Sporting Licence valid for 1998. Helpers according with the rules. No limits for supporters.

Awards:
Medals and diplomas for the first three competitors and teams.

Rules:
Current rules of the FAI Sporting Code, Section 4a, 4b and 4c - part 5.

Official languages:
English and Italian. Official languages to be used for interpretation of rules and for settlement of queries.

FAI licence:
Each competitor must be in possession of a valid FAI sporting licence obtained from national aeroclub. This licence must be presented during the registration in the competition.

Protest fee:
A protest may be submitted according to the FAI Sporting Code, accompanied by a CHF 50, refundable if the protest is upheld.

Entry fees:

pilots and team manager	CHF 380
helpers and supporters	CHF 80

Accomodation:

Hotels

full board per person per day CHF 70
boars without lunch per person per day CHF 65
bed & breakfast per person per day CHF 48
lunch at the model airfield CHF 18
final banquet CHF 80
Prices are intended for double rooms
Full board for the whole championship plus entry fee : CHF 940
Single rooms: twice the above prices.
For extra days same prices apply.
Camping
located about 7 km. far from the airfield and 8 km. far from Fano.

Entry, car place and electricity CHF 15
single adult CHF 6
children (less than 6 years old) CHF 5

Method of payment:
Send Swiss Francs in the form of International bank transfer or a bank draft payable to:
CARIFANO Agenzia 4
CAMP. EUROPEO F3A - 1998
Aero Club PS
ABI: 06145 CAB: 24313 c/c: 3196/54

Point of contact:
Giulio BENINCASA
Via S. Ambrogio, 101
55049 VIAREGGIO (LU) ITALY
Phone/fax +39 584 55160
Phone (home) +39 584 55164

Jury:

RON CHIDGEY	(Chairman F3A subcommittee)
WERNER GROTH	(CIAM vice president)
FRANCESCO CAPPABIANCA	(Italy)
Dr. GEORG BREINER	(Austria, reserve to be invited).

Judges:

R. DENUIT	(Belgium)
J. HAVEL	(Czech Rep.)
P. PIGNOT	(France)
K.H. KÜNZE	(Germany)
H. VAN LOON	(Holland)
F. DOGLIATTI	(Italy)
S. BECK	(Lichtenstein)
W. BÖNI	(Switzerland)
B.E. SÖDERSTROM	(Sweden)
P. CAPPLEMAN	(United Kingdom)

Reserve Judges:

A. MOSER (Austria) to be invited
C. GERARD (Luxembourg)
K. LAPINSKI (Poland)

Schedule:

5th September	Teams arrival and registration
6th September	Model processing and control official training Judges meeting and training Team managers meeting Opening ceremony
7th September	Round one
8th September	Round two
9th September	Round three
10th September	Round four
11th September	Rain day (if necessary) otherwise sightseeing tour
12th September	Fly-off day. Closing Ceremony and Final Banquet
13th September	Teams departure

Fuel:
Fuel available at request.

Car rental:
All types of rental cars are available at the international airport of Rimini (38 Km) and Flconara International Airport (40 km). Organizer will try to arrange special prices for the participants.

Frequencies:
according with Italian Telecommunication Department rules.

27 MHz band
26.995 27.045 27.095 27.145 27.195 27.235 27.275
40 MHz band
40.665 40.675 40.685 40.695 40.715 40.725 40.735 40.765 40.775 40.785 40.815 40.825 40.835 40.865 40.875
72 MHz band
72.080 72.240

Organizers are working to have the opportunity to use additional frequencies.

Entry forms:
The preliminary entry forms must be sent to Giulio Benincasa no later than April, the 1st. The official entry form must be sent no later than May, the 15th.

Internet site:
a new internet site (http://www.ulysse.it/f3a_euro98/) is under construction in wich you will find all informations, pictures, info bulletins and forms. It will be active as soon as possible with e-mail address of organizing commitee for rapid communications.

Sergio SCIROCCHI
Chairman
F3A 1998 European

3rd International Youth Camp (Ballooning)

Bayreuth, 20th of February 1998

Dear young balloonists,

This year we truly become international. The German Balloon Federation in cooperation with the Czech Balloon Federation are glad to inform you that the 3rd International Youth Camp will take place in Kozákov, Czech Republic.

The area there is also called Czech Paradise because of it's overwhelming landscape and nature. From last years requests we decided to have a longer camp of 10 days. The primary goal of this camp is as always to reinforce intercultural understanding among young people. Secondly we also want to learn something about the host country.

If weather allows we will have the opportunity to experience Hot Air and Gas balloon rides.

Unlike last years camps we will stay in cabins nevertheless there will be a place to have a camp fire. Since having this accommodation, we strictly have to restrict the camp to a maximum of 40 participants (First come - First serve).

Facts:

When:	7th August 1998 until 16th August 1998
How much:	$120.- or 190.-DM (including all running costs: food, drinks, entrance fees, ballooning, etc.)
Where:	Kozákov ( 50°36' N; 15°16'E )
How to get there:	Train: Turnov or Liberec station; Plane: Prague Airport. A detailed sketch will follow with the confirmation.
Who:	Everyone from the age of 12 to 27 interested in ballooning (English knowledge is requested).
Application deadline:	15th of June 1998 or first 40 participants in good standing (No exceptions made!!!!!)

Applications, questions, suggestions to:
Tomas Hora
Frankengutstr. 16 / 32
95447 Bayreuth
Germany
Tel: +49 921 67121
Fax: +49 201 20927
e-mail: Tomas.Hora@stud.uni-bayreuth.de

Tomas Hora
Frankengutstr. 16 / 32
95447 Bayreuth
Germany

Hereby I apply to participate at the 3rd International Youth Camp in Kozakov from August 7th '98 to August 16th '98.

Name:
Street:
Zip / City:
Country:
Telephone:
Fax:
e-mail
Date of birth:
Allergies or other health problems:
Tetanus inoculation:

Signature:

For participants younger than 18 years the signature of the guardians is necessary.

I allow my child to participate in the following activities:

Ride in a hot air balloon: Yes No
Ride in a gas balloon: Yes No
Participate in water sports Yes No

Signature of guardians:
Address of guardians:
Telephone number of guardians during the camp:
PS: Please do not send any money with the application. Bring it along to the camp.

Information On The Transfer Of The Fai Web Site
   Please note that the Web site of Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) is being moved to another server.

   We are at the moment terminating our partnership with the Nancy university in France which was hosting FAI's web site until now. The site is being transferred to FAI's own server which already hosts the FAI online magazine.

   We have made every effort to make this transfer transparent to the end user. However, some of you may experience difficulties reaching the FAI web site in the next few days. This is due to the fact that the routing information giving the path to the new server takes a few days to spread around the world and reach your provider's server (the one connecting you to the Internet).

   You will find below some information, which we hope will help ensure a smooth transition to using the new FAI web site. Information On The Transfer Of The Fai Web Site :

Question 1 : Will the address of the FAI web site change as a result of this transfer ?

Answer : Well, yes and no. In fact the address of the FAI web site, which was before,
http://www.fai.org/~fai/
is now simplified as,
http://www.fai.org
The "/~fai/" part disappears from all the web page addresses.
Examples :
http://www.fai.org/~fai/gliding/
now becomes
http://www.fai.org/gliding/
also
http://www.fai.org/~fai/directory/ciea_members.html
now becomes
http://www.fai.org/directory/ciea_members.html
etc.
You should update your bookmarks and the links on your web pages accordingly.

Question 2 : The address I have been using before was different from the one you indicate. I connected to the FAI site using either the address http://iria.mines.u-nancy.fr/~fai/ or http://193.49.140.100/~fai/ . How could it be and what should I do ?

Answer : These were the addresses of the University server hosting the FAI web site until now. And you are right, the FAI web site could also be reached via these addresses. You should modify your bookmarks or links on web pages which use these addresses as follows :
substitute the string :
http://iria.mines.u-nancy.fr/~fai/
with :
http://www.fai.org
or
substitute the string:
http://193.49.140.100/~fai/
with :
http://www.fai.org
Examples :
http://iria.mines.u-nancy.fr/~fai/gliding/
now becomes
http://www.fai.org/gliding/
and
http://193.49.140.100/~fai/directory/ciea_members.html
now becomes
http://www.fai.org/directory/ciea_members.html
etc.

Question 3 : I need to connect to the FAI Web site urgently to get a specific piece of information, and I cannot yet reach the server using http://www.fai.org . How can I do ?

Answer : Until you can reach the server using http://www.fai.org, which should take a few days at most, you can already reach it using the IP address of the server :
http://194.2.31.110/

Question 4 : Can I use this address http://194.2.31.110 anytime instead of http://www.fai.org ?

Answer : For the time being yes, but we do not recommend that you use it once http://www.fai.org works. This http://194.2.31.110 address may change at some stage in the future, while the address http://www.fai.org will be there for good. If you use the address http://www.fai.org in your bookmarks and on your links on web pages, you shouldn't have to change anything again in the future.

Question 5 : I used to transfer files from the FAI FTP site directly. What has changed ?

Answer : Here, the address has completely changed. Before you could connect to the FAI FTP site using :
ftp://iria.mines.u-nancy.fr/pub_fai/
or
ftp://193.49.140.100/pub_fai/
None of these addresses will be valid anymore. In order to connect to the FAI FTP site, you now have to connect to :
ftp://www.fai.org

Question 6 : I connected to the FTP address you indicate: ftp://www.fai.org . But I cannot reach the site. Why is it so ?

Answer : The problem is the same as for the FAI web site. It may take a few days before the routing information to reach the FAI FTP site reaches your provider. Until then, if you have any urgent file transfer to make, you can connect to the FTP server using its IP address :
ftp://194.2.31.110
However, once the ftp://www.fai.org address is reachable, we do not recommend that you use ftp://194.2.31.110 anymore.

Question 7 :Is the FAI online magazine affected by all these changes ?

Answer : No. The address of the FAI magazine remains the same (http://airsports.fai.org ), and access to the magazine web site should be uninterrupted.


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