AIR SPORTS INTERNATIONAL

At the recent annual meeting of the General Association of International Sporting Federations (GAISF), FAI was asked to make a presentation on "Air Sports - Education For Citizenship". The presentation gave rise to considerable interest and discussion amongst our friends in other sports. Parts of it may be useful for those of you who are called upon to defend air sports in your various countries. Here is the summarised text:

- elitist, dangerous and foolhardy.

There is a widespread, but absolutely wrong, perception that you have to be rich to take to the skies, that your chances of surviving are slim, and that you must be slightly mad to even want to try.

The media do their best to reinforce these prejudices. In general, they cover our sports only when accidents happen.

The reality is that people from all walks of life take to the air. Whilst some sports, like ballooning, are undeniably expensive, others - paragliding springs to mind - cost no more than comparable ground-based adventure sports. And the passion that flying arouses in the chosen few means that they will make all kinds of sacrifices - even trading in TV sets and videos - to pursue their sport.

As for the danger, again air sports obviously entail risk - that is why education is so important in air sports - but these risks are entirely manageable, and no higher than in other dramatic and exciting outdoor sports.

Let me explain why I think air sports have such an important role to play in the education of our citizens.

The first hang glider pilot who demonstrated the need for education was Icarus. He attached his wings with wax and then flew too close to the sun. The wax melted, with disastrous results. Clearly Icarus had not paid attention during his physics lessons.

These days, the paraglider pilot's wing is attached to his body with sophisticated composite-material lines. They don't melt in the sun, but the pilot must still have an understanding of the loads on the lines and the wing, and how these react to the aerodynamic forces of weight, lift and drag. In other words, he must know something about physics.

It is also essential that he understands the forces at work in meteorology. He (or she) must know the mechanics of wind, cloud formation, air turbulence and thermal generation.

To understand the limitations on the human body (tolerance of low temperatures and oxygen deficiency), he must have knowledge of biology.

To stay airborne using rising currents of warm air, he must understand the principles of geography, notable topography and differential heating of soil.

And to calculate glide angles, ranges and climb rate, he must be mathematically literate.

Finally, it helps to have a knowledge of the law - particularly air law of course, but also landowners' rights - and when you are flying abroad and land in a remote area, knowledge of foreign languages comes in useful.

So for someone to be successful as a paraglider pilot, he must have absorbed elements of virtually the entire school curriculum. And he will have done this not as an austere, book-learning duty, but with passion, in pursuit of his chosen sport. Air sports produce people with a rounded, practical education who can make valuable contributions to the community in many other walks of life.

But the educational value of air sports is not restricted to theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Real gains, for society as a whole, also come from what I would term "character development".

Air sports help develop certain moral qualities which society badly needs:

First, courage. You need some of this to overcome the instinctive human aversion to launching oneself into the 3rd dimension. It is a rich educational experience for any human being to be brought face to face with his fears and limitations, and to overcome them. This teaches self-control and "mind over matter".

Second, self-discipline. Nobody lasts long in air sports if they endanger themselves and others through recklessness and poor discipline. There are rules that need to be applied for flight safety. But only the individual pilot can apply them. There is no referee standing on the touch-line to blow a whistle for infringements.

Third, mutual respect. Because we share a beautiful, but challenging and alien environment, there is a fellow-feeling between air sports people throughout the world which is hard to find elsewhere. I imagine that mountaineers probably feel the same way. This is not an elitist feeling of exclusivity. It is rather a feeling that we have seen and experienced marvellous things that we would like to share with everyone, but which cannot be explained - only experienced.

Finally, perspective and sense of proportion. An invaluable quality in any walk of life is the ability to put things into perspective, and to assess priorities. Flying definitely gives one an ability to see the world with different eyes, to assess the real importance of things. Some matters that, at ground level, may appear to be of overwhelming importance, seem utterly insignificant when viewed from aloft.

So air sports can play an important role in the education of the community as a whole. But, beyond that, I believe that we have much to offer in the wider sporting family represented here at GAISF. Whilst, as you would expect, I consider air sports to have more to offer than other sports, I think that we can all gain by stressing more vigorously the general advantages to society of the qualities learned through sport.

Far from being "elitist , dangerous and foolhardy" as I suggested as I suggested at the outset our sports are sometimes perceived, they are in fact open to anyone who is prepared to take up a challenge. The risk is finite and manageable, given self-discipline. And the people who fly for fun and for sport are anything but fools - in fact they are all well-educated people - not because they went to the best schools, but because they have been educated through sport.

Strangely enough, the adjective "educational" is frequently used by air sports people. When somebody is searching for a way of describing a particularly memorable flight of parachute jump, they will often reach for the word "educational", meaning they learned a lot from it. In fact, this is one of the main attractions of our sports. Every flight or jump is different, no matter how experienced one may be. The characteristics of the air are in a constant state of flux. Clouds form and dissipate; the effects of light are always varying. Wind and turbulence is never quite the same twice. So there is a constant feeling of renewal, of learning new things, of advancing one's own limits and horizons.

Some turn to competitive air sport and create new challenges that way. But even the grass roots air sports people, with no competitive ambitions, are embarked on a life-long educational adventure. For our sports are genuinely for all ages. Given reasonable health, there is no reason why someone cannot learn to fly even well into their seventies. There are plenty of successful examples to show this.

So all of you are welcome to come and try one of our sports and extend your education."

Next month's will be the last page to be prepared in Paris. We leave with a sense of great affection for our historic roots, which we will continue to cherish, and with a sense of excitement about the new opportunities and challenges that await us in Lausanne. The FAI continues to adapt to the modern world. The move to Lausanne is a crucial step in this process. We will let you know all the details of our new seat next month.

Max Bishop
Secretary General FAI

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