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2nd WORLD AIR GAMES - Decision Time Nears
The race to host the 2nd World Air Games in 2001 has reached the home straight, and three bidders remain in contention: Austria, Spain and Turkey. At the round of negotiations held in Paris on 28/29 March, Poland withdrew its candidacy for 2001, and announced a firm intention to bid for the 3rd World Air Games in 2005. Good progress was made on planning for media coverage of the Games, including TV, public relations and advertising. FAI Air Sport Commission experts are working intensively with bidders on the technical requirements for the WAG events, to enable final candidate files to be completed by 30 April. A final round of negotiations, focusing on the financial structure, will be held on 14/15 May. All is set fair for a final decision on the host country for the 2nd World Air Games to be made by the FAI Council in Paris on 29 May 1998.  |
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Air Sports Commission News
Three new FAI Air Sport Commission Presidents have been elected at recent annual Commission meetings:
All three automatically become FAI Vice Presidents and members of the FAI Council. It was encouraging to note among newly elected Vice Presidents of Commissions a woman hang-glider pilot, Riika Vilkuna of Finland. FAI is a signatory to an international charter to promote opportunities for women in sport, at the administrative as well as practical level. There was lively debate at all recent Commission meetings on the need to modernise air sport competition rules so that contests become more interesting for TV and the general public. Several Commissions have established working groups to develop new contest philosophies. Aerobatics to music, slalom racing on hang gliders, and "hare and hounds" soaring races are some of the radical ideas under development. |
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Aero Club of France celebrates Centenary
On 30 March, the FAI Secretary General attended the Aero Club of France's opening celebration marking the centenary of the world's first Aero Club and the "International Year of Aviation and Space". The French Transport Minister was present, together with many prominent aviation personalities, including Betrand Piccard, pilot of the Breitling Orbiter 2 which flew from Switzerland to Burma on its recent "Round the World" attempt. |
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Obituary
It is with great regret that we inform you of the death of FAI's much-respected President of Honour, Maurizio Obregon of Colombia, at the age of 77. His son has informed us that he was still flying barely a week before he suffered a massive heart attack. A condolence message has been sent on behalf of FAI to his son, Sancho Obregon.
Letter from Sancho Obregon to FAI President, Eilif Ness Following Mauricio's wishes, as what he feared most was to be buried under the ground, his ashes were thrown about the Caribbean space and waves off the coast of Santa Marta, Colombia, his favorite hideaway, where flying formations of pelicans and swift sea-gulls escorted him in his last voyage. Mauricio was active in aviation until his very last days: In late 1997 he made a 3.5 hour cross-country flight on a Romanian Lark sailplane over the Valley of the Cauca in Colombia, and his last flight was made barely a week before his death on an experimental airplane built and owned by Mr Michael Rose of the Aeroclub de Colombia in Bogota. Knowing Mauricio's long time attachment to the FAI, I am taking the liberty of enclosing a copy of Mr Neil Rudenstine's (President, Harvard University) "Message about Mauricio Obregon" received shortly after his death, which you may, if I dare request of you, read at FAI's next general meeting, should you deem it appropriate, and/or distribute to his many friends in FAI. The Office of the President at Harvard University has let me know that Mr Rudenstine has authorized public use of this Message. Sincerely, Sancho Obregon
A Message about Mauricio Obregon
Only moments ago, I learned of the passing of Mauricio Obregon a remarkable human being who left an indelible impression on so many of us. His many friends and admirers at Harvard University - and I am privileged to count myself among them - join with you in mourning his death and celebrating his extraordinary life. Mauricio received his bachelor's degree from Harvard fifty-five years ago, in 1943. He served as a member of Harvard's Board of Overseers from 1980 to 1986, bringing his abundant wisdom and unusual insight to bear on any number of important questions facing the University. But his service - indeed his devotion - to Harvard and to the larger academic community around the world went far beyond that. He was a historian, a man of ideas, but also a man of action, deeply engaged with contemporary affairs. He was a man of the world, committed to his own country and yet cosmopolitan in his outlook, always concerned to enhance relations among nations and among individuals in different circumstances and with different points of view. He was a leader - in education and scholarship, in aviation and navigation, in diplomacy, and in the life of his nation and beyond. And he was a friend, someone whom many of us will long remember not only for his professional contributions, but for his personal warmth, his generosity of spirit, his prodigious capacity for telling stories, and his enthusiasm for life. Today we mourn Mauricio Obregon's death with great sadness. But in the days to come, I know that we will remember his life with gratitude and with joy. |
