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For once, the title of this piece is inappropriate. During the World Air Games (WAG) in Spain (23 June - 1 July 2001) desks were consigned to oblivion and, in the company of FAI President Wolfgang Weinreich, I had the honour of touring all the WAG competition sites (from Burgos to Jerez, from Seville to Granada) and meeting many air sports men and women from the 45 or more participating countries. We were hosted by Spanish Aeronautical Federation (FAE) President Alvaro Calderon, happily now restored to full health. It was an enriching and humbling experience, and we learnt a lot from our many conversations and observations. The weather was uniformly hot and fine, and all contests were validated, some recording very high numbers of hours and kilometers flown. World records have been claimed for some flights, notably the gliding site at Lillo. There was a helpful and committed main sponsor, LG Electronics, with whom we hope to work further in the future. Some sites encountered organisational problems, but with good will and help from FAI officials these were mostly solved. There are of course many lessons to be learned from this second edition of the World Air Games, and a process of thorough evaluation has already begun. How can we improve the contact and communication between the various events, given that they cannot all be held on the same site? How can we achieve better media coverage? What to do about the logistical and financial problems caused by the high numbers involved (there were over 1000 people at the parachuting events alone)? How can we change the sporting rules to make our contests more comprehensible for the public? I could go on... What was striking was the near universal feeling that the idea of the World Air Games was a good idea, one that still needs refinement and development, but that must be maintained. There is a real community of interest in the world of air sports, that does not exist to anything like the same extent in, say, water sports. And for good reason: we all need access to airspace, and that is a rapidly diminishing resource. The World Air Games is the outward embodiment of that solidarity between people of very diufferent aeronautical backgrounds. A further milestone has been reached in the history of the FAI. We can be proud that we have created a new event that now has a firm place in the international sporting calendar. Much work remains to be done, and this has already started. Back to the desk.
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