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8th Ladies World Cup &
5th European Cup Mainfonds-Aubeville (Charente),
France July 31st – August 3rd, 1997
The Ladies World Cup, created in Japan in 1990 after the World Championship in Saga by Masashi Kakuda, left for the first time Japan and moved to France twinned with the 5th European Cup. It was almost a bet to apply for the organisation of the Ladies World Cup knowing the Japanese means and Masashi’s talent. But Masashi supported the project and the local association, Foyer Rural de Mainfonds-Aubeville, volunteered to do the local organisation. The sporting organisation was much easier having the experience and the sporting team from the four previous European cups. A female Event Director was a “must”, not as a principle nor to the gallery, but because of Alison Odell’s personality and her experience as a steward and Deputy Director at European cups and Italian nationals. She was a perfect leading lady, assisted by Jacques Bernardin for the task-setting. The female teams competed as well for the Ladies World Cup as for the European Cup with the male teams. The presence of Masashi Kaduda as Jury President was very much appreciated. He was also very helpful to the Event Director with sound advices. He was assisted by Lindsay Muir (UK) holding the four first female titles from 1990 to 1994 and by Dr John Grybbstrom (Switzerland). No protests were received during the competition but the Jury checked more than 700 task results, all satisfactory thanks to the experienced chief scorer, Jean-Francois Colombier. The best ever flying weather permitted to make all scheduled flights, 7 flights during 3½ days with 14 tasks, launching from various sites such as a very tiny tittle village, Angouleme, the castle La Rochandry and ofcourse, Mainfonds. The Polish pilot Jolanta Matejezuk obtained first place at the Ladies World Cup, just before Akemi Takamoto (Japan) and the young talented Lourdes Alemany Ylla (Spain). The young French pilot, Geraldine Boudard, taking part in her first competition obtained a splended 5th place. As expected, David Bareford (UK) won the European Cup, followed by Janos Jakab (Hungary) and Bogdan Prawicki (Poland). Patrick Legendre, best French pilot, obtained 4th Place. A female competition associated with an open event encourages female pilots to take part in an international competition with an excellent sporting spirit. However, it’s a pity that not more female pilots attended the event. Really, ballooning still remains a guys’ sport !  |
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Speech by Frederick O. Marsh, Chairman of the Royal Aero Club on the occasion of the 1997 Awards Ceremony at Goldsmiths' Hall, City of London - 15 April 1997
Mr FAI President, my lords, ladies, gentlemen, members of the Rotary Aero Club. Welcome to the 1997 Awards Ceremony. I should particularly life to welcome our Guest of Honour, Mr Eilif Ness, President of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. We very much appreciate that he was able to accept our invitation at extremely short notice. We also welcome his charming wife Mrs Befit Ness, who is well-versed in all aspects of air sport. Eilif is a highly qualified parachutist and skydiver and for several years was the Norwegian team captain. He is also a pilot. He was President of the Air Sports Association of Norway for 20 years and President of the FAI International Parachuting Commission. Since the founding of the RAeC in 1901 and the FAI in 1905 this is only the fourth official visit by an FAI President, the last occasion was almost 30 years ago at the 1968 FAI General Conference. Our President, The Duke of York, has asked me to tell you that he had very much hoped to be with us this evening but that he has to be in Zimbabwe on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, for a late notice Royal visit. I would like to thank the Prime Warden and Wardens of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths' for granting us permission to use their magnificent Hall. I think you will agree it is one, if not the most beautiful of the Livery Halls in the City of London. We are here this evening to recognise and honour those who, through remarkable performance and achievement, eminent service or outstanding merit have made a significant contribution to air sport and recreation. When we award the RAeC Gold Medals to Ann Welch and David Barford this evening I wonder how many of you will be aware that in 1908 the first recipients of this medal were Wilbur and Orville Wright. It is good to link the past with the present and as from today award recipients will also receive a certificate showing the names of all those who previously received the award, right back to its inception. We are most grateful to John and Diana Britten and Martin Dilly for designing and preparing these certificates. I should like to extend a special welcome to Miss Betty Barlow who has been elected a Companion of the Royal Aero Club. Betty joined the staff of the Royal Aero Club in May 1946 and assisted with organising the 1st post-war FAI General Conference. The Royal Aero Club is only able to function through the dedicated work of its Officers, Council and Committee Members. We work as a team and this evening I should like to pay tribute to a number of senior members of the team, for their work and dedication. First of all the two Vice Chairman - John Lines, an experienced parachutist who is currently preparing a RAeC strategy document. David Cole a keen microlight pilot, our FAI Vice President and chairman of the RAeC FAI Committee. Keith Mansell a glider pilot and a most competent Treasurer. Martin Dilly an aero-modeller & aero-educationalist, who is chairman of the Medals & Awards Committee and responsible for organising this event. Les Eaton, for many years closely involved with Formula Air Racing and who is the Minute Secretary of the RAeC Parliamentary Committee. Last but not least Barry Rolfe, the Administrator of the British Gliding Association and who is our long-suffering and unflappable General Secretary. Probably the most active of our committees is the RAeC Parliamentary Committee. It has taken action on a number of issues, often on behalf of our member associations, problems that must be addressed to enable all of us to freely practice sport and recreation in the air. Its actions have included contribution to the Recreational Aviation debate in the House of Lords, comments on the privatisation of NATS - National Air Traffic Services, the preparation of a Transponder Policy, proposals to the regulators that many UK and European regulations be subjected to cost-benefit examinations as they are in the United States. Tomorrow, a special working group will be meeting to agree on our priorities and strategies with Government and other regulators after the General Election. Our member associations are represented on all FAI Commissions by a large number of experienced persons. These dedicated people undertake a tremendous amount of work in connection with international and regional championships, record attempts and the updating of air sport regulations. On our members behalf they travel world-wide, often at significant cost to themselves and sometimes with little recognition for the work they have done. I would like to thank them and should like you to meet them. We have asked them to wear a FAI badge on a ribbon in FAI colours. On previous occasions I have mentioned that if we are to promote our aims effectively, the Club needs money. What are the aims of the RAeC? Our five aims are - to promote air sports, encourage the safe practice of aerial recreation, defend its members' vital interests, recognise and honour aerial achievements and foster the fellowship of the air. To help raise funds to pursue these aims more vigorously we are establishing an organisation with charitable status. We shall be seeking Royal approval to call it "The Royal Aero Club Foundation'. The first stage, the registration of a company has already been completed. you will be pleased to hear that we have already received some substantial donations. In September the 1st World Air Games will be held in Turkey and we are planning to send a strong British team. The expenses are likely to be in the region of œ250,000. One of the many tasks of the RAeC World Air Games Executive is finding sponsors. I should like to introduce the team leader Wing Commander Mike Wood and his deputy Nick Neve. Do please talk with them and find out more about this exciting and unique event. Mr President, you may be amazed to hear that we started flying in this country in around 850BC. In fact we may even now be standing on the very spot where in a place called Troja Nova (probably London) King Bladud tried to fly by attaching wings to his arms. We are told that he fell on to the temple of Apollo and that unfortunately was the end of the noble king. Since the attempt was not properly documented FAI homologation was not applied for. We do however have documentary evidence that in 1010AD, Eilmer a monk built a flying machine comprising wings attached to the hands and feet. he launched himself from the top of a tower in Malmesbury and flew more than a stadium, about 202 yards, or since record attempts requires us to be precise - 184.94 metres. Although he broke his feet he lived for another 56 years to tell his tale. Can any FAI member country to beat this unique flying record? John Blake, who claims to have been nearby at the time tells me, that as Eilmer the monk was carried away on a stretcher to the infirmary he was heard muttering - I can fly, I can fly, I can fly - now if I can only smooth out the landings. We have a number of people to thank - Breitling for so generously supporting this event with a beautiful brochure, Richard Cox of Key Publishing for his financial support, the British Model Aircraft Association for showing us some superb and unusual model rockets, John Blake for acting as our Master of Ceremonies and Most importantly you, ladies and gentlemen who have taken the trouble to come here this evening to support this most pleasurable event. And now I would like to ask you, Mr FAI President to present the awards. |
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Speech by the President of Fédération Aéronautique Internationale at the
Royal Aero Club’s Awards Ceremony 1997
It is indeed a pleasure and an honour for me to be invited to attend these ceremonies. Like you, the FAI carefully preserves traditions. Only a handful of aeronautical institutions are older than the FAI, and the Royal Aero Club is one of them: with its 96 years your association betters the FAI by four years. Your distinguished club belongs to the elite band of idealists who created aviation, whose enthusiasm drove aviation development long before it became commercially or even militarily viable. In that historical setting, both the Royal Aero Cob and the FAI typify the challenge that faces all old organisations that deal with dynamic activities. The treading of the fine line between adapting to changes on the one hand while preserving inherited values and accumulated knowledge on the other. And, doing that in a world where values and policies change as fast as fashions do, where what was in only yesterday is totally out today, and where what appears to be a fad today may be an important element of our life tomorrow. For nearly one hundred years you and the handful of venerable institutions that created the FAI have played an important role in aviation. We have filled this role by being responsive to new developments and by helping those new activities which we believed to belong to the future to develop in a sound manner, transferring our inherited values to them in the process. Over the years we have managed to expand the aviation family by accommodating gliding, aeromodelling, parachuting, modern ballooning, hang gliding, microlight aviation and paragliding. Together, we constitute the non-commercial aviation community; we represent the volunteers, the enthusiasts, the amateurs in the true sense of the world. The glue that holds us together is not very strong, but is simple: we all operate under the same Aviation law system. Our role, however, has changed over the years. Starting out as pure pioneers, our predecessors successively turned to socialising to leisure activities to top level sports to _ to what? To survival! Being non-commercial, we are under continuous pressure: commercial airlines want to squeeze us out of air space and airports, the aviation authorities push us into operational restrictions and higher costs, and environmentalists have made us their prime target. Today, being an elite group with a long and honourable pedigree is no guarantee for survival. Our continued existence requires that we are perceived by our surroundings to be useful to the society we live in. Private flying and air sports are the core recruitment areas of professional aviation. That makes us useful to society. Aviation administrations, however, are geared to the immediate needs of the heavy, commercial end of aviation, leaving light, non-commercial aviation in the position of being supervised by excessively complicated, costly systems that function country to our need. FAI policy is to advocate increased self-government by non-commercial, volunteer aviation organisations, freeing resources for the aviation administrations to put to more urgent use. some countries have already placed existing national organisations at the disposal of their aviation administrations to regulate and control private flying and air sports, your own arrangements for gliding is a good example of that. By continuing development along these lines, we will achieve, without any reduction in the levels of flight safety
That, however, requires financial backbone. As our core activities are non-commercial, it follows that adequate funding cannot be generated from their ordinary operations. So, the FAI has chosen to exploit the value of air sports as public entertainment, you may call it cashing in on our sex appeal: hence the effort called the World Air Games. As per today, it is only a successful World Air Games that holds promise of generating significant new income for the air sports community. Not today, not tomorrow, but in the longer term. The World Air Games has the potential to elevate air sports in the eyes of the public and make them commercially valuable. I consider the concepts not only to be our most important tool for future new income, but, as opposed to all other avenues, the only concept with such a potential over which we ourselves have some sort of control. This background constitutes a powerful reason for all of FAI's members to join in on the World Air Games and make them a gigantic success. This is an investment today for better air sports tomorrow! |
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MEMORIAM Delegates at the 90th General Conference of FAI at Rio, Brazil stood in silent memory of all friends of FAI who had passed away since the 89th General Conference in 1996: Ray Brotherston (United Kingdom) Formerly International Judge and Technical Expert for Aeromodelling. Paul Catry (Belgium) Formerly Vice-President of the Royal Aero Club of Belgium. Alfi Feltes (Luxembourg) Formerly Delegate to the FAI Ballooning Commission, he was well-known in the ballooning and airship community. Major General Dr James Gilliland (South Africa) Formerly Vice-President of FAI, Delegate to the FAI Medico-Physiological Commission and FAI Companion of Honour, he was well-known and respected in the air sport community. Wolfgang Haueisen (Germany) Formerly President of Honour of the FAI Ballooning Commission. Leo Loudenslager (USA) 1980 World Aerobatic Champion. Tim Mouatt-Biggs (South Africa) Well-known record-breaking glider pilot. Dipl Ing Stjepan Paulin (Croatia) Formerly Alternate Delegate to the FAI Aeromodelling Commission Dr Robert P Purves (Canada) Past President of the Aero Club of Canada, formerly Vice-President of FAI, Awardee of the FAI Bronze Medal in 1990, an ardent supporter of sport aviation who has greatly contributed to the work of FAI. Sumanto Soimitro (Indonesia) Well-known microlight pilot. Toshiyuki Yamauchi (Japan) Formerly Secretary General of the Japan Aeronautic Association |
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OTHER ARTICLES OF ASI JANUARY'98 ISSUE | News In Brief | Letters To The Editor | World Records | | 13th World Hot Air Championship, Saga | | Parachuting and Skydiving at the World Games : Lahti 1997 | | World Air Games 1997 - Turkey | | 20th Australian Free Flight Society Championship | | Long Range Air Race | |
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