12th FAI World Paragliding Championships come to a close

Following the two fatalities in the second task of this FAI event, and the suspension of the certification of Competition Class Paragliders, the championship organisers have decided that it is not possible to continue with the competition. The two tasks flown to date are both valid under the rules and are therefore sufficient to meet the minimum requirements set out in Section 7B. The 12th FAI World Paragliding Championship is therefore considered to have been validated. At the competition, a safety working group formed by the pilots and team leaders, attempted to develop some ideas that could be adopted to save the event. Despite their best efforts, the CIVL Bureau decided that the only option was to suspend the certification of competition class gliders. The CIVL President thanks the committee for its work. He believes there are some very useful ideas there that we hope the relevant CIVL subcommittees will follow up. The Jury President, Vitor Pinto, and other CIVL Officials present in Piedrahita have stated that, the organising team has made every effort to comply with the FAI Sporting Code which covers all aspects of competition rules and safety considerations for FAI 1st Category events. These include the new and complex rules introduced this year for Competition Class paragliders. “We greatly appreciate the excellent work of the organisers and we are all deeply disappointed that, through no fault of the organising team, that this competition has resulted in such a sad outcome,”Mr Pinto commented. Competition Director, Steve Ham, also announced that the organising team is preparing a bid to run the first FAI World Paragliding XC Championship in Serial Class , here in Piedrahita at this time next year, “The CIVL President has told us that he welcomes the proposed bid and that the CIVL Bureau will be favourably disposed towards it,” he said.