CIVA Rules Proposals for 2011

The deadline for the submission of rules change proposals to CIVA has now passed. The deadline was 23.59 Central European Time on July 1st. Ten countries submitted proposals including the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the USA. Proposals were for both Power and Glider Aerobatics. The CIVA Rules and Judging Sub-Committees will meet in Jami, Finland on July 16th, just prior to the World Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships which begin the next day. The Sub-Committees will consider all of the proposals and then issue their recommendations to CIVA. CIVA will meet in plenary session in Oberhausen, Germany on 6-7th November. Proposals which do not survive Sub-Committee scrutiny will not be considered at the plenary. The CIVA Glider Aerobatics Sub-Committee (GASC) will also meet during the course of the World Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships, marking the first time these Sub-Committees have formally met at the same location. Power proposals did not include Known/Q sequences as the deadline for these will come later in the year. Glider Knowns, however, will be considered at the GASC meeting in Finland. The proposal packages for Power and Glider are attached here as PDFs and available for download.

Rules Proposals Due 1 July 2010

The CIVA Rules, Judging, and Glider Aerobatics Sub-Committees will be meeting prior to or during the World Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships in Jami, Finland in July to consider the various rules proposals submitted by Delegates for the 2011 contest season and beyond. The deadline for the submission of rules proposals, which must come from Delegates, is 1 July 2010. Rules proposals are to be submitted directly to the President of CIVA, Mike Heuer, by email (mike@mheuer.com). Once these rules proposals are reviewed by Sub-Committees, their recommendations will be forwarded to CIVA for consideration at its plenary meeting in early November in Germany. Proposals for the 2011 Glider Advanced and Glider Unlimited Known sequences must also be submitted by 1 July. Deadline for Power sequences will be announced at a later date.

Advanced Category Aircraft Restrictions end in 2011

Since the first World Advanced Aerobatic Championships was held in Cape Town, South Africa in 1995, CIVA has kept in place restrictions on the aircraft that can be used in these Championships. Through the years, there have been various modifications to these rules to keep them up-to-date and in touch with the changing situation in competition. At its plenary meeting in Oshkosh in October 2009, CIVA voted to end these restrictions effective January 1st, 2011. Any aircraft will be eligible to fly in future European and World Advanced Aerobatic Championships starting next year.

Judges Selected for WAGAC/EGAC in Finland

Judges selected by the CIVA Judging Sub-Committee for the World Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships and European Glider Aerobatic Championships in Finland in July have been ratified by the Bureau of CIVA. Chief Judge of the event will be Philippe Kuechler of Switzerland. Judges are LG Arvidsson (SWE), Stanislav Bajzik (CZE), Timo Bartholdi (FIN), Nick Buckenham (GBR), John Gaillard (RSA), Jan Gawecki (POL), Stephan Hau (GER), Peter Lambert (AUT), Remy Louvel (FRA), and Alexey Pimenov (RUS). This year's event will be the first Advanced Glider Aerobatic Championships in CIVA's history as rules for this category were recently adopted in hopes of attracting more glider pilots to aerobatic competition. The organizers have reported an excellent response and expect approximately 60 pilots to participate.

Judges Selected for WAAC and EAC

The Bureau of CIVA has ratified the selections of CIVA's Judging Sub-Committee for the Boards of Judges for the 9th World Advanced Aerobatic Championships in Poland and the 17th European Aerobatic Championships in the Czech Republic. Chief Judge of the WAAC in Radom, Poland will be John Gaillard (RSA). On the panel of CIVA Judges will be Violeta Gedminaite (LIT), Quintin Hawthorne (RSA), Vladimir Kotelnikov (RUS), Jan Maxen (DEN), Kimmo Virtanen (FIN), Lyudmila Zelenina (UKR), and Tom Adams (USA). In Touzim, Czech Republic, EAC Chief Judge will be Nick Buckenham (GBR). Judges will be Georges Brocard (SUI), Timo Bartholdi (FIN), Mikhail Bezdenezhnykh (RUS), Francis Itier (FRA), Vladimir Kotelnikov (RUS), Algis Orlickas (LIT), and Lyudmila Zelenina (UKR). To fill out the Boards of Judges, other Judges will be invited who have applied or been nominated by their Delegates. This selection process will take place in late March.

CIVA VP Alan Cassidy Awarded the MBE

Twice a year, at the time of the Queen's official birthday and at the end of December, the British Government publishes a list of those citizens whose dedicated service to the nation is to be officially recognised. In the New Years Honours List for 2010, British Aerobatic Association Chairman Alan Cassidy was created a Member of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his services to aerobatics. The medal that accompanies the award will be presented at a ceremony at one of the Royal Palaces at some time during the early part of 2010. This is the first time that anyone specifically involved in aerobatics has been so honoured and is a significant step forward in terms of the sport's official recognition. Alan, born in 1949, learned to fly in June 1967 following the award of a Flying Scholarship from the Royal Air Force. In 1970, when a third-year undergraduate at Trinity College, he was chosen to represent Cambridge University Air Squadron in the annual aerobatic competition against Oxford, Nottingham and East Midlands Universities and this clearly set an idea in Alan's head that only came to fruition many years later. Alan was commissioned into the Engineering Branch of the Royal Air Force in 1971 and remained in the RAF until January 1990, at which time he was a Wing Commander on the Directing Staff at the Royal Military College of Science. He then qualified as a commercial pilot, but his commercial flying career came to an abrupt halt in 1991 when the first Gulf War forced thousands of redundancies among newly qualified civil pilots in the UK. In response to this setback, Alan decided to work for himself and started an aerobatic training business, based within the West London Aero Club at the wartime ATA airfield of White Waltham, near his home in Maidenhead, England. This is now the leading aerobatic training establishment in the UK, preparing many new pilots for competition flying each year. Alan joined the British Aerobatic Association in 1983, while serving on the Harrier Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Wittering, near Stamford in Lincolnshire. He flew his first civilian aerobatic competition in 1984 in a CAP-10B from the flying club at Cranwell, the RAF College. In 1989 he became the Head of Contest Organisation for the BAeA, and in 2006 was elected Chairman by his fellow Directors. Alan has represented the UK regularly in International Aerobatic Championships since 1995, winning three Team Medals, and has been the British Unlimited Aerobatic Champion on four occasions. Alan has been the UK Delegate to CIVA since the mid-1990s and currently holds posts in its Bureau, Rules and Catalogue Sub-Committees. He is the author of the Aresti Software system for computerizing aerobatic sequence notation and of an aerobatic text book, "Better Aerobatics" published in 2003. In 2009, Alan led the BAeA organisational effort for the World Aerobatic Championships held at Silverstone Circuit, which was also instrumental in raising a significant sum for Charity in the form of the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance - a service funded solely from private donations. The Order of the British Empire recognises distinguished service to the arts and sciences, public services outside the Civil Service and work with charitable and welfare organisations of all kinds. It was created during the First World War in 1917 by George V. The King recognised the need for a new award of honour which could be more widely awarded, in recognition of the large numbers of people in the British Isles and other parts of the Empire who were helping the war effort both as combatants and as civilians on the home front. For the first time, women were included in an order of chivalry, and it was decided that the Order should also include foreigners who had helped the British war effort. From 1918 onwards there were Military and Civil Divisions, as George V also intended that after the war the Order should be used to reward services to the State in a much wider sense. Today the Order of the British Empire is the order of chivalry of British democracy. Valuable service is the only criterion for the award, and the Order is now used to reward service in a wide range of useful activities. Citizens from other countries may also receive an honorary award, for services rendered to the United Kingdom and its people. There are more than 100,000 living members of the Order throughout the world. Other notable sports people created Members of the Order alongside Alan are Jensen Button, the Formula 1 World Champion racing driver and 2009 World Champion gymnast Beth Tweddle. One aspect of the award that should be emphasised is that there was initially a lot if reluctance from the award authorities to acknowledge aerobatics in the Sport category. Although previously many motor sport practitioners have been recognised, especially in Car and Bike racing (Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jackie Stewart plus at least 2 others). With the World Aerobatic Championships held in the United Kingdom last year, recognition of aerobatics as a sport became much easier and this honors all the participants as well.

CIVA Judges List for 2010

At the 2009 plenary meeting in Oshkosh, CIVA approved new nominations to the FAI International Judges List for Aerobatics. FAI Aerobatic Championships scheduled this year include the World Advanced Aerobatic Championships (Power), a combined World Advanced Glider and European Glider Championships, and the European Aerobatic Championships (Unlimited Power). This schedule, along with special and national events, will keep many of these Judges occupied this year and our thanks to the new ones who have volunteered to serve FAI and CIVA. The new list is attached below.

New FAI Secretary General Appointed

Stéphane Desprez, former Competition Director of the 2008 Rugby World Cup in France, has been appointed as the new Secretary General of the FAI – the World Air Sports Federation. He will formally take up his appointment in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 1st February 2010.

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CIVA Publishes Known Sequences for 2010

The Known/Q compulsory sequences for the 2010 contest season are now available. Pending their publication elsewhere on this website, they are available below as downloads in PDF. The Glider Advanced, Glider Unlimited, Power Advanced, Power Unlimited, and YAK 52 Known sequences were approved by CIVA at its plenary meeting in Oshkosh, Wisconsin USA on 17-18 October. The PDF's contain the Form B only with a table of Catalogue numbers and K-factors for the sequence. VSD files and PDF's with all the contest forms will be published later.

CIVA Publishes New List of Judges

At the 2009 plenary meeting of CIVA, new Judges for the FAI International List of Judges for Aerobatics were approved and inactive Judges were deleted. During this past contest season, more time was demanded of our contest officials than any time in CIVA's history. The 2010 season will not be quite as intense, however, the World Advanced and European Glider Aerobatic Championships (Finland), the European Aerobatic Championships (Czech Republic), and the World Advanced Aerobatic Championships (Poland) are all scheduled to take place in 2010. Panels of 10 Judges each will needed in addition to the Chief Judges, Assistants, and other personnel on the judging line. The new 2009-2010 list of Judges is available below as a download in PDF. It can also be found at the tab at the top of this page.