Plenary 2013 - What’s up in Paragliding?

The Paragliding Committee came up at the 2013 Plenary with no less than 28 items on its agenda. 43 delegates, alternate delegates and observers took part in its Open Meeting.

The main subject of discussion was the implementation of a new Competition Class. This has been reported on in a previous News on this website. The minutes and annexes will detail the different steps that led to the Plenary decision.

Associated to this new Class, a new End of Speed Section with altitude bonus was adopted. The original proposal was amended to accommodate special conditions, altitude measurement issues, etc.

Last November, the CIVL Bureau made mandatory the use of a second rescue parachute. The Bureau decision was amended as follows: “As an alternative to two reserve parachutes, a single reserve parachute easily deployable by either hand may be used.” This means: deployable in all conditions, even degraded flying conditions (spin, etc.). The Plenary also allowed a 2,000€ budget for the development of an automatic deployment reserve system.

The Pilot Declaration Form implemented last year, which purpose is to make pilots aware of their skill levels (or lack thereof), was updated. The Paragliding Committee will now work on a new IPPI Competition level or Super Licence or their equivalent, to define skills and procedure that could be made mandatory for pilots to enter Category 1 events from 2015 on. Probably one of the most important issue the new PG Committee will have to work on.

Many proposals, done in conjunction with the Software working group, were studied and not many passed, needing more work on their formula or consequences. Still it was agreed that GAP will become GAP PG 201x or GAP HG 201x and that the parameters that can be modified by the competition organisers will be fewer and clearer. It was also agreed that there should be some formalisation of how new features and software releases are tested prior to voting; they should be scheduled for introduction in a Cat 1 championship the following calendar year and be thoroughly tested in Cat 2 competitions in the interim.

Procedures were revised to allow the Committee to be more proactive in the review of bids for World and Continental Championships.

Live tracking is now mandatory in all PG Cat 1 events.

Joint Asia-Oceania Championships should be allowed soon. The aim is to help the development of these regions. In parallel, the Committee will study how to make the WPRS less Eurocentric.

The 2015 World Championship will take place in Roldanillo, Colombia from 10th to 25th January.

Stéphane Malbos (France) was elected to Chair the PG Committee. Members were appointed later. They are: Luc Armant (France), Hamish Barker (Australia), Raymond Caux (France), Josh Cohn (USA), Goran Dimiskovski (Macedonia), Joerg Ewald (Switzerland), Brett Hazlett (Canada), Didier Mathurin (France), Martin Scheel (Switzerland).