The 2013 FAI Annual Report, which gives an overview of the FAI’s activities in 2013, has been released.
It features chapters on all air sports, including hang gliding and paragliding.
In paragliding it highlights the development of the CIVL Competition Class as a major achievement, while in hang gliding pitch stability is top of the agenda.
It notes that 220 paragliding and 78 hang gliding Cat 2 comps took place in 2013.
The chapter reads:
The FAI Hang Gliding and Paragliding Commission spent a remarkable amount of energy in the improvement of safety with satisfactory results such as the definition of the CIVL Competition Class Paragliders and several changes in the Sporting Code.
On the events side, 2013 was a very busy year with a great number of competitions all over the world. The World Games in Cali, Colombia, saw the very successful unfolding of the Paragliding Accuracy events, whose pilots had the chance to compete in front of thousands of encouraging and cheering spectators.
Some 220 Paragliding and 78 Hang Gliding Category 2 events took place in 2013.
The most active discipline was by far Paragliding cross-country followed by Hang Gliding cross-country.
There was an increase in Hang Gliding of all disciplines and Paragliding XC competitions were back up again, while Paragliding Accuracy continued to increase.
Although there were only a few Paragliding Aerobatics contests in 2013, this discipline is being developed by the Commission and more competitions are expected in the next few years.
Safety is an important part of the Commission’s activities. In Hang Gliding, the initiative taken to control and adjust the pitch stability settings worked well to motivate pilots and educate them on the importance of this safety topic.
The checking of the settings is now an integral part of all world and continental championships.
In Paragliding, the definition of the CIVL Competition Class Paragliders (CCC) was finalised after taking into account feedback and constructive comments from Commission Delegates, manufacturers and other parties. The final result of this ambitious project was voted on and approved at the Commission’s 2014 Annual Meeting.
Other projects towards improved safety in Paragliding competitions were achieved in 2013, such as the introduction of changes to the End of Speed Section (ESS) including the conical form and altitude bonus, to encourage pilots to cross the ESS line at higher altitude and thus to reduce their speed in the final glide.
Launching the report FAI President John Grubbström said: “The 2013 FAI Annual Report covers the most significant activities of the year, including the success of our sports at The World Games, the FAI Gold Air Medal for Russian aerobatic pilot Mikhail Mamistov, the new FAI-Breitling Awards and the agreement with Red Bull Air Race.
“Hopefully you will find the 2013 FAI Annual Report interesting and enlightening, whether you are part of the air sports community or want to discover our Federation and what we do. With this publication our objective is to give our readers an overview of all our achievements and projects, as well as facts and figures, results, records and much more.”
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