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April may have been the cruelest month for T S Eliot, but for the FAI staff in Paris it is always March that really puts us to the test. Four FAI Commission meetings took place on successive weekends in March (ballooning, gliding, hang gliding, aeromodelling), and the associated work load really stretched our capacity, with one of our three administrative staff members absent on extended sick leave. But all the meetings were successful and demonstrated a new atmosphere of commitment to the World Air Games, and to the idea of securing extensive media coverage of competitive air sport events. There is a new climate abroad: less isolationist, more adventurous, more ready to accept the need to change long-established contest formats, to ensure that our activities become attractive to the public as well as to the competitors. The wind of change blowing through FAI took symbolic shape in the election of 3 new Commission Presidents, following the retirements of Jacques Soukup (Virgin Islands - CIA), Professor Peter Ryder (Germany - IGC) and Per Christian Daehlin (Norway - CIVL). In the Ballooning Commission (CIA), after a close-fought race, Jean Claude Weber of Luxemburg was elected. A business-man and expert in rule-making, he is well known in FAI circles and ideally placed to carry his Commission into an era where control of rights to international events plays an increasingly important role. He is supported by a new 1st Vice President: Markus Haggeney of Germany. The new President of the Gliding Commission (IGC) is Tor Johannessen of Norway. A well-known figure in competitive gliding for many years, and also an expert rule-maker, Tor is a former SAS captain. Two new Vice Presidents support him: Eric Mozer(USA) and Brian Spreckley (UK), both well-known World Championship competitors. CIVL (Hang Gliding) also elected a new president: Olivier Burghelle of France. Olivier is a former sea-captain and is well known for his work with Commandant Cousteau, as well as for his enormous contributions to hang gliding and especially, in the international context, to regulatory work in Europe Airsports. CIVL also elected a woman Vice President, Riika Vilkuna of Finland, a very welcome and all too rare example of female influence in FAI bodies. Not only do we have new faces in FAI, but there is definite evidence of the arrival in power of a completely new generation, with a fresh outlook on old problems. This can only bode well for the future of FAI. Next month - when the April meetings are behind us - I will give a flavour of some of the main decisions made by FAI Commissions this year.
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