By Mike Heuer
President of CIVA
In November of each year, the International Aerobatics Commission (CIVA) meets to review proposals from national aero clubs and to plan the future of aerobatics worldwide. CIVA is part of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world governing body for all air sports. The responsibilities FAI has for governance of air sports is carried out by its various air sports commissions including CIVA.
All countries which are members of FAI -- and there are over 80 -- are entitled to send delegates to CIVA if they have aerobatic activities within their countries. Though 40 countries are members of CIVA, usually between 20 and 25 nations actually send delegates.
By vote of IAC Board of Directors, I hold the position of United States delegate to CIVA. Alternate delegate is Howie Stock. Debby Rihn-Harvey serves as reserve Alternate Delegate in the event that Howie could not attend and also to provide her considerable experience and advice to the US delegation.
I have served as CIVA’s President since 1986 and, therefore, cannot represent the United States at the meeting because I sit in the chair. Howie Stock carries out these duties on behalf of the United States. Howie also serves on the CIVA Rules and Judging Sub-Committees. Other Americans active at CIVA include Marti Kalko, member of the CIVA Glider Aerobatics Sub-Committee.
While our membership is "international", IAC only represents American interests at CIVA, through a letter of agreement with NAA in Washington, DC, which is contained in the IAC "Policy & Procedures" manual. Therefore, IAC has specific American responsibilities and duties -- including selection of U. S. Aerobatic Teams (Unlimited, Advanced, and Glider), the administration of the US National Aerobatic Championships, and American representation at CIVA. Though IAC has called itself "international" for over 33 years, from an FAI and CIVA standpoint, it is strictly an American organization. It holds no international sanctioning authority whatsoever.
The meeting of CIVA was held at the Burg Rabenstein, a beautifully restored castle, near Waischenfeld, Germany - north of Nuremberg -- on November 16th, 2002. A total of 23 countries were represented either in person or by proxy. There were 58 meeting attendees and some other guests who joined us for the social occasions. FAI President Wolfgang Weinreich and Secretary General Max Bishop were also in attendance.
CIVA operates under a rules-making procedure which was new in 1999 and more orderly and deliberative than in previous years. National aero clubs were required to submit proposals by April 1st, 2002. Rules and Judging Sub-Committees met in Slovenia, just prior to the AWAC, to consider the proposals applicable to powered aerobatics. The Glider Aerobatics Sub-Committee met at the European Glider Aerobatic Championships in Pasewalk, Germany. The Catalogue Sub-Committee conducted its meeting by e-mail. Recommendations on rules were agreed at those meetings and subsequently posted on CIVA's website.
Plenty of time is now allowed for consideration of proposals and for our various constituencies to comment on them to their representatives at CIVA. The positive results of this are: (1) CIVA does a better job of considering proposals since the aerobatic community has more than ample time to respond to their Delegates, and (2) quick action on the proposals is possible at the meeting since the recommendations from Sub-Committees are not presented at the last moment.
It is possible for every person in the aerobatic community worldwide to see what CIVA has before it and to be able to place your comments where they will do some good. To help facilitate the US Delegation receiving the input it needed, I distributed a questionnaire to various interested parties --- including the three US Aerobatic Teams (Glider, Advanced, and Unlimited) --- last Fall. The response was quite good and I subsequently compiled the results of that questionnaire and presented it to the IAC Board of Directors in November.
The IAC Board then provided its guidance to the US Delegation, with regards to voting on the rules proposals, at the IAC Board meeting in Oshkosh. Howie Stock and I were both in attendance at the Board meeting. I appreciated those people who took the time and trouble to respond. It was very helpful.
It was also interesting to note the wide variety of opinions among Team members and the dangers you find when one person purports to "speak for the Team". It usually is not that simple as was exemplified, for example, by a split down the middle on whether the Four Minute Free should be counted in the overall results of the WAC. For those of you interested in the IAC Board votes on these issues, please consult the January 2003 issue of SPORT AEROBATICS, pages 14-15.
Informal Planning
On Friday, November 15th I chaired an informal planning and discussion session at the Burg Rabenstein which lasted almost 3 hours. These discussions are non-structured and free-wheeling and is a feature of the CIVA meetings which I began in Prague in 2001.
It was enjoyable for everyone and will be continued in the future. This year, the planning session dealt with the various rules changes recommended by Sub-Committee. I knew there would be plenty of controversy over those alone, so nothing else was included on the menu for that day, as there simply was not time. The Delegates are able to blow off steam in these discussions, which saves considerable time during plenary, and we were subsequently able to finish the plenary meeting on Saturday night. Everyone also came away with the feeling that they had their "day in court" and a chance to speak their views. This helps build unity within CIVA behind the decisions that are ultimately made during plenary.
The following is discussion on the various Agenda items:
President's Report
CIVA Website
FAI Sporting Code and CIVA Regulations are only available on the website for download. Printed copies are no longer being produced. The documents are all in PDF format. I expect all three Parts of CIVA Regulations and Section 6 of the FAI Sporting Code to be on line by the end of February 2003. The revision of the regulations is being done by Alan Cassidy of Great Britain. I will discuss the amendments approved by CIVA later in this report.
The 2003-1 version of the FAI Aerobatic Catalogue is now available for download. It has been on line since December thanks to the work of Alan Cassidy who finalized it immediately after our Germany meeting. Changes this year are minimal. "Crossover" spins have been deleted from the Catalogue. They now go the way of the barrel roll and super slow roll (power) and into the trash bin of aerobatic history. Few will miss them.
Sanction Fees Account
CIVA now collects $100 per pilot in sanction fees from all Glider, Advanced, and Unlimited World Aerobatic Championships ($75 from Continentals in all three). One of our most substantial expenditures now is the payment of a $500 stipend to Judges that the Bureau (CIVA's executive committee consisting of the officers) selects as "FAI Judges" at World Championships.
The Bureau reviews the Judge Performance Factors (JPFs) of all Judges under consideration and picks the best we can based on their performance history. The stipend is quite popular and has made it possible for some Judges to attend who may not have otherwise. Selection is only done for World Championships, not Continentals, to keep the costs down. Up to 7 FAI Judges can be selected per contest by the Bureau.
This year, I recommended to CIVA the Jury members also be paid these stipends, since they often travel at their own expense and put in the same hours as Judges. CIVA agreed to the proposal. CIVA also agreed to pay the expenses of some additional CIVA officials who travel to our contests, at my request, in order to help with technical aspects of the competitions or others who travel to various FAI meetings in my place. CIVA also agreed to these additional expenditures in the budget.
Sanction Fees will also be collected in a slightly different method this year. One or two Teams will be directed by CIVA to send their Entry Fees directly to the FAI. After the "successful" completion of the events --- according to the opinions of the Chief Judge and International Jury --- the applicable sanction fee will be deducted from the amount and sent on to the contest organizers.
While this will not help the chronic problem we have had in the past of Teams being late in paying Entry Fees, which I had hoped to address, it will solve the problem of the prompt collection of Sanction Fees. Sometimes, CIVA has had to wait months to get its money and this was clearly not acceptable.
Historical Records
I have also decided to begin a CIVA historical archive of past Championships. I have much material on hand myself from those I have attended down through the years but our files still have vast holes in them.
Madelyne Delcroix, 1968 Women's World Champion and a tireless CIVA volunteer, has already turned a box over to me with materials from World Championships in the 1960's. James Black has also promised me some of his archives. I believe it will be a wonderful project with this material eventually being turned over to FAI. I love the history of this sport --- and the men and women who built it --- and they should not be forgotten. It is why programs like IAC's Hall of Fame are so important.
International Corps of Judges
The Bureau selection of the Corps of Judges for our World Championships this year in power Unlimited and Glider will begin soon. I will invite the United States and all other member countries of CIVA to submit names to the Bureau soon for the Judges it wishes for us to consider.
Of course, any country is entitled to send a Judge to the WAC and WGAC. The Bureau will select 7 to be FAI Judges and the remaining slots will go to other countries. This is the way we insure that new people have a way to break into the judging arena at the world level.
ACMS
The CIVA contest scoring system that many of you saw in use at the US Nationals last year is now being refined and perfected by Michel Dupont of France. The new name will be the CIVA Aerobatic Contest Managing System (ACMS). The ACMS will be used at the WAC in Lakeland.
Championships Reports
CIVA always receives reports on championships held in the past year as well as those planned for the following calendar year. Reports are submitted by Contest Directors, Presidents of International Juries, and Chief Judges.
This year, reports were received from the AWAC in Slovenia; the EGAC in Germany; and the European Aerobatic Championships in Lithuania.
Anyone who wishes a copy of any of these reports should contact me. They are far too extensive to include here and are mostly routine. Rules changes suggested by the various officials above are considered by CIVA in the subsequent year.
World Air Games
The III. World Air Games were an important agenda item for CIVA this year. The Bureau of CIVA has been working with the World Air Games Coordinating Committee (WAGCC) and its chairman, B. J. Worth (USA), for some time now in preparing our specifications for the Games.
One thing was obvious early in the discussions --- the Games must be smaller, more compact, more centrally located, and feature the top competitors in the world. They also must be able to be televised and easily understood if we are to expect wide media coverage of the event in the future. Thus, CIVA's mission --- as directed by the WAGCC and the FAI itself --- is to provide a format that will fit into this new concept.
While the work is far from finished and regulations must be written and approved, we envision a fairly small "masters" type of event featuring the world's best pilots flying free style sequences to music. In fact, this is what has been done at the World Grand Prix of Aerobatics (WGPA) events, directed by Jean-Louis Monnet, for many years. Thus, we actually hope to have the World Air Games --- from an aerobatic standpoint --- as a Grand Prix style event. These have been immensely successful in Asia as consistently reported by our CIVA officials who have worked the WGPA in Motegi, Japan. I believe that a Grand Prix at the Games will greatly enhance the overall impact of the WAG as I have long believed that aerobatics is one of the most spectacular of air sports.
We will announce more news on this subject soon.
One more important point. The WAC can no longer be held at the World Air Games. Thus, CIVA will accept bids for the 2005 World Aerobatic Championships as we have since 1960.
New Rules for 2002
The rules changes being implemented for 2003 are always of the most interest to aerobatic competitors, organizers, and judges. This year, the slate of recommendations from Sub-Committees was fairly lengthy as we had received 14 sets of proposals from Delegates and CIVA officials. Those proposals were posted on the CIVA website last April. The recommendations of the CIVA Sub-Committees on these proposals were published last Fall.
Let me mention that the CIVA Rules, Judging, and Glider Aerobatic Sub-Committees play an extremely important role in our work. Each year, members of these sub-committees are elected at the plenary meeting of CIVA. These positions are highly sought after and usually a large number of candidates run for the positions. Members of sub-committees not only include Delegates and Alternate Delegates but also highly regarded members of the aerobatic community who have considerable experience in our sport.
The Sub-Committees discuss each proposal in detail and then issue their recommendations to the plenary. Any rules proposal which does not survive sub-committee discussion is not presented at plenary. The sub-committees can also modify and alter proposals as well before presentation to plenary. Of course, this gives the sub-committees a tremendous amount of power but their work has always been highly regarded by Delegates and most of their recommendations are usually adopted, though not without some spirited discussions at times. It is the nature of competition aerobatics for sometimes the smallest rules changes to be hotly debated.
The following is a summary of actions taken by CIVA at the plenary meeting in November on rules. As you will note, if you viewed the proposals last year on the CIVA website, CIVA did not adopt all of the sub-committee recommendations.
JPFs
Those of you active in competition know that CIVA uses a fairly simple method of evaluating judge performance which we call "Judge Performance Factors (JPF)". The aerobatic contest scoring software we use automatically provides these numbers and the International Jury uses them to review the quality of judging at every Championships. JPFs are also taken into account after each flight programme and, in the past, judges have been deleted from the line if they did not perform up to our standards. A full explanation of the JPFs can be found in the appendixes of the various Parts to CIVA Regulations.
Beginning this year, JPFs will be manually adjusted upward (a worse rating) for those judges who fail to see zeroes or zero when they shouldn't, as determined by the majority of the Board of Judges. "Majority rule" is a key feature of our regulations in various areas but remember that sometimes this majority is achieved after a review of the video of the figure(s) in question takes place. Thus, there are many safeguards built into the system.
It is CIVA's view that JPFs must be adjusted if a judge is not seeing zeroes that occur and is subsequently overruled by the majority of the judging panel. In the past, the zero has been raised to at least the lowest mark given by another judge and then fed into the computer. Now these judges will be identified and their JPFs changed accordingly. This will give us more realistic JPFs and will answer one of the principal complaints against our JPF system. Judges who have missed zeroes consistently in the past will no longer be able to "hide" behind majority rule.
By the way, the reverse will also be true. If a minority of Judges give a zero and their grades are subsequently upheld in video conference, then the other Judges will have their JPFs adjusted as well since they missed the zero. As you will note, there are new rules this year also on video conferences, which tie into this, and restrict its use. We will not be seeing conferences in the future on "soft" zeroes, though the International Jury will continue to have full use of the video in protests.
Programme 4 in WAC Final Results
Known as the "Four Minute Free" here in the United States, this flight programme is one of the most exciting and innovative in aerobatic competition. It is always enjoyed and favored by spectators and the media as well. It was introduced into the WAC in 1972 and has been a part of the Championships ever since. For many years, the results of Programme 4 were included in the WAC official results. Only Team results did not include Programme 4.
In recent years, however, it has been flown as a separate trophy event. The results from Programme 4 have not been included in the overall results to determine the World Champion. This was because there was concern on CIVA's part over the judging criteria and the subjectivity of the judging.
In 2001, CIVA introduced new judging criteria for the flight which was the result of considerable work on the part of an experienced internal working group. It is much more detailed today and the criteria are well defined. Since we introduced the new criteria, there have been no proposals to change it.
Thus, CIVA agreed last year to re-introduce Programme 4 into the final results beginning on 1 January 2003 ---- after two years of experience with the judging criteria including the World Championships in Spain in 2001 and the European Aerobatic Championships in Lithuania in 2002. However, some of our Delegates were not satisfied that the aerobatic world is ready for this change just yet, so a proposal was introduced by France to delay the inclusion of this flight programme into the final results until 1 January 2004. This was agreed by CIVA in November.
I am hopeful there will be no further delays. This flight programme is immensely popular with the public and also requires a pilot to show elements of skill beyond the technical flying which characterizes classical competition. He or she must show innovation, versatility, creativity, style, and flair. While these elements can be different to judge than the roundness of a loop, they are all a part of the wonderful world of aerobatics. I hope we can return to more of the artistry that characterized our sport in the early years, including 1972 when Charlie Hillard won this flight and the World Aerobatic Championships.
International Jury Eligibility
CIVA agreed to open up the eligibility to serve on International Juries to anyone elected by CIVA. This is a good move as we have been under heavy pressure to provide 3 International Juries each year to our Championships. It has been a huge burden for a limited number of people, since Juries were restricted to Delegates and Alternates in power.
Advanced Unknowns, Eligible Aircraft, and PIlots
CIVA agreed that 360 degree turns will be deleted from the Advanced Unknown list of figures. In addition, outward rolling turns are now added. Rolling turns to the outside do require additional skill techniques but do not require higher performance aircraft --- something CIVA has been keen to avoid. So IAC members will now see rolling turns to the outside now begin to creep into Unknowns in Advanced.
For several years, CIVA has had a rule which prevents Unlimited pilots from flying in Advanced Championships for at least one calendar year after they have competed in an FAI Unlimited Championships. This year, that limit is increased to two years. CIVA does not want Advanced to be invaded by Unlimited pilots seeking medals and trophies, as was made clear when the one-year rule was adopted. This change had overwhelming support with the vote 17-3 in favor.
Keeping the Advanced category truly "Advanced" is a difficult task for CIVA. We wrestle with it each year, usually when it comes to the approval of aircraft types for the category. There is interesting news in this regard.
Sub-Committees had recommended French and British proposals on the addition of aircraft, i.e. CAP 231, Pitts S-1-11B (with up to 300 hp --- it is eligible now with an engine of less than 260 hp), Pitts Model 12, and the Interavia SP55. These proposals went down to defeat.
The approval of the CAP 231 was defeated in a vote of 12-8. Historically, in CIVA voting, this was very fairly decisive.
However, in the case of the other aircraft (which was a separate British proposal), the vote was disappointing. 10 Delegates voted in favor of these aircraft, only 4 against, but we had an astonishing 8 abstentions. Since any motion must achieve an absolute majority in order to pass, these proposals went down to defeat.
I do not appreciate "abstentions" in voting unless there is a conflict of interest and this was very discouraging to me. I believe it is the responsibility of Delegates to vote and not abstain unless there is a conflict-of-interest. However, I can almost guarantee these issues will be discussed again in November.
Order of Flight
The Russians had proposed a change to the way the order of flight is picked. There are proposals almost annually to do away with the "rank order" method of choosing the order of flight but CIVA has never agreed to change the system as most of the Delegates who have actually seen it in use --- including the officers of CIVA --- think it is a good system. It leads to a real "climax" at the end of the competition which is exciting to watch and to see who will be the next World Champion based on that last hour or so of flying.
The Sub-Committees modified the proposal and an order of flight drawing will now take place amongst the top 10 pilots after Programme Q. The rest will fly in reverse rank order. Proponents of change have claimed this will help change the perception that judging is affect by the rank order, i.e. Judges "expecting" to see better flying at the end, as well as reduce the psychological pressure on the pilots flying last.
Bonus Points
Bonus points are changed to a new scale. A Free Programme of 10 figures will receive a bonus of 0% and a 6 figure Free will gain 15%. This change recognizes the fact that the vast majority of competitors are flying 7 figure Frees or less. As I recall, there were nearly 50 competitors in Burgos who flew 7 or less.
Reserve and "A" Marks
Reserve grades are now eliminated. Reserves were given when a Judge assigned a zero to a figure and if it did not stand with the majority, his mark would be raised to the reserve. CIVA has instead instituted a system --- which will be handled by the new CIVA ACMS software --- which will raise the zero to the average of the majority Judges.
Unknown Figures - Unlimited
Unlimited pilots will now face the possibility of more rolling turns in Unknowns. Rows 18 and 20 in Family 2 of the FAI Catalogue have now been added to the Unknown list of figures. These are 270 degree turns and will add more flexibility to sequence design. This is a good change.
Video Conferencing
A Russian proposal was modified and adopted by CIVA to place additional rules on the use of video for judges' conferences. Here is a summary of the new rule:
A competition flight video record may only be used for confirmation of a zero when considering: Whether a maneuver was performed; whether unlinked or opposite rolls/rotations were performed correctly; the type of tailslide (wheels up or down); number of hesitations performed; whether a figure was missed or a wrong figure performed or whether there was an interruption in the sequence; whether the wing dips were performed correctly; for timing purposes in the final free programme.
Of course, there will be no restrictions on the International Jury when it considers protests and any figure/sequence can be viewed by the Jury when it conducts its protest hearings.
FAI Aerobatic Catalogue Changes
Only one change to the Catalogue this year --- the deletion of the crossover spins, as previously mentioned in this report.
New Classes of Competition
John Gaillard, Delegate of South Africa, introduced a proposal to write new rules for "single class" competitions based on Advanced category for YAK 52 and Pitts S-2B aircraft. These airplanes are fairly numerous throughout the world and John believes that providing another venue for pilots to fly in FAI competition would be a wonderful way to promote our sport. CIVA agreed and work is being done as of this writing on these new rules. They would not be introduced until at least next year. This may afford the opportunity to have more FAI competitions in the United States as well.
Knowns for 2003
For Unlimited, the French proposal was adopted on the second ballot. The final vote was 12 in favor of the French sequence and 9 in favor of the American proposal.
In Advanced, the British proposal was adopted. The vote was 14 in favor of the British sequence and 7 in favor of the American submission.
The Glider Known as proposed by the Glider Aerobatics Sub-Committee was adopted without opposition.
The selected and approved sequences have been published by CIVA and IAC on their websites.
Future Championships
This is the time on the agenda where we discuss and act on bids and proposals from various nations on hosting future Championships. We took final action on events scheduled for 2003. They are as follows:
2 - 15 August 2003: World Glider Aerobatic Championships; Pér, Hungary
The Hungarians have a long and successful tradition in organizing FAI Championships in both power and glider and I am convinced they will do an excellent job.
25 June - 4 July 2003: XXII World Aerobatic Championships; Lakeland, Florida, USA
Everyone at IAC who is working on this project every day --- Phil Knight, Lisa Popp, Gerry Molidor, and others --- are doing an excellent job. I think you will be very proud of the WAC when it begins and is finally completed on that evening of the 4th of July. What a wonderful day to end this historic competition.
Gerry made the presentation at CIVA on WAC. He did an excellent job and was assisted by Howie Stock. Gerry came well prepared with a slide presentation and a nice professional handout for the Delegates. However, the presentation was not without controversy.
The United States proposed a considerable jump in entry fees this year. With the cost of insurance taking such a dramatic upswing, as well as all the other contest expenses, the entry fees proposed by Gerry at the meeting were entirely in line. My view is that Delegates have become somewhat spoiled by artificially low entry fees. The fees at WAC have always been a tremendous bargain --- imagine two weeks in a hotel, three meals a day, and all the fuel and oil you need for your airplane, for $1,000. Times have caught up with us.
Initially, the proposal of $1,900 (single room) and $1,500 (double occupancy) was defeated. However, after a recess and some time discussing other issues on the Agenda, we returned to the matter and the US was finally successful in getting these fees adopted in a vote of 14-5. Gerry and Howie did a fair amount of lobbying during breaks as well and Delegates were reminded of all the fees did include. This helped break the deadlock.
Contest Director Phil Knight and Technical Commission Chairman Mike Mays were approved by CIVA.
25 July - 2 August 2003: Advanced European Aerobatic Championships; Karlsborg, Sweden
The AEAC 2003 website will be available in March.
The Entry Fee of €1,300 was approved by CIVA. Ironically, with the decline of the US dollar against the Euro in the last year (20%), this is about the same as our double occupancy fee proposed for WAC.
The Karlsborg airport is actually an old military field. Hangarage will be available for 20 aircraft. Line Judges (boundaries) will be used. Contest Director Lars-Göran Arvidsson (Sweden's Alternate Delegate) was approved by CIVA.
2004 Advanced World Aerobatic Championships
No additional proposals other than the one from the United States (proposed in 2001) were received. Thus, the United States will be expected to host the AWAC in 2004. A full report is to be presented at the meeting in November.
2004 European Aerobatic Championships
Once again, the Lithuanians have stepped forward and CIVA agreed that they will again host the EAC. Location will be the same: Istra Airfield. Dates will be the end of July. No other details are available.
2004 European Glider Aerobatic Championships
Competing proposals for this Championship were made by the Czech Republic and Russia. The Czech bid was accepted by CIVA in a vote of 14-4.
The competition will be in Moravska-Trebova, Czech Republic in the middle of July 2004. Entry fee will be approximately €400.
Even though the Russian proposal was not accepted, they confirmed their interest in hosting the 2005 WGAC. Location would be Drakino Airfield. More information will be provided in November.
2005 World Air Games
This has previously been discussed in this report, however, I might also mention that bids for the Games will be solicited beginning early this year. Regions of countries, cities, and commercial entities are welcome to bid --- not just national aero clubs. CIVA, of course, will decide on its own rules and participation, keeping in mind the time restrictions that will be placed on us at a central airfield location. Once again, a "masters" style competition is contemplated. John Gaillard is heading up CIVA's discussions and work in this area with Osmo Jalovaara's cooperation.
No other Championships bids were received or discussed for 2005. WAC, AEAC, and WGAC are scheduled for that year.
FAI International List of Judges
As discussed at the IAC Board meeting last November, the following Americans were deleted from the FAI Judges List by the US delegation: Veva Becker, Bob Davis, Betty Stewart, and Don Taylor. These individuals who have contributed so much in the past and are due a debt of gratitude, are no longer active in contest judging.
The United States added Nikolai Timofeev. This came at Nikolai's request and did raise some eyebrows. Nikolai now resides in the US and is a very popular trainer and coach. He is a former member of the Soviet Aerobatic Team. I am happy to have Nikolai on this list. He is a great pilot and judge.
Elections
A list of the CIVA Officers, Sub-Committee members, and officials for the 2002-2003 year is attached to this report for your review. My congratulations to Howie Stock, who managed to be elected to both the Rules and Judging Sub-Committees as well as Marti Kalko, who continues on the Glider Aerobatics Sub-Committee.
There were several changes in Sub-Committee composition. Rules Sub-Committee underwent considerable change with new members Christine Genin-Zanetta (FRA) and Lars Frölander (SWE). New Judging Sub-Committee member this year is Mikhail Mamistov (RUS). The Russians were quite aggressive in nominating people for every position and also came with a very large delegation. The other Sub-Committees (Catalogue and Glider) stand largely unchanged.
For the WAC this year, CIVA will provide a superb International Jury. All are looking forward to coming to Lakeland. Jury members are as follows: Mike Heuer, President; Ernst Paukner (GER); Jiri Kobrle (CZE); Robert Chomono (FRA); and Liz Cook (AUT). Reserves are Lars Frölander (SWE) and Giorgio Marangoni (ITA).
Chief Judge is John Gaillard (RSA). John has now chiefed every WAC since Oklahoma in 1996 in addition to several AWACs. He will be assisted by our own Brian Howard.
For the WGAC, the Jury will be Karl Berger, Chairman; Marti Kalko (USA); Helmut Stas (POL); Manfred Echter (GER); and Madelyne Delcroix (FRA). Chief Judge is Pavol Kavka (SVK).
In Closing …
Visit the CIVA website often --- I expect the 2003 versions of the FAI Sporting Code and CIVA Regulations to be "on line" before the end of February. I am also posting news all the time over there with links for more information.
The 2003 meeting of CIVA will take place between Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland in November. The meeting will actually take place on a cruise ship. We will board the ship on Friday night, dock in Helsinki on Saturday morning, and back to Stockholm by Sunday.
My personal thanks to Gerry Molidor, Howie Stock, and Debby Rihn-Harvey, who represented IAC and the United States at this meeting. They did a fine job and were well received. I think they were all very effective and well accepted by other Delegates. The meeting was cordial and friendly --- and as I have mentioned many times before, personal relationships are everything at this level. The key players in CIVA has become a team of workers who function well together and who are friends at the same time. We manage to have our debates yet join each other at dinner after hours. It is a very gratifying to be a part of such a group.
I welcome any questions you have and please feel free to e-mail me at any time.
CIVA OFFICERS, SUB-C0MMITTEE, SPECIALISTS, AND WORKING GROUP MEMBERS
2003
Officers of CIVA:
President Michael R. Heuer (USA)
First Vice-President John Gaillard (South Africa)
Second Vice-President Jiri Kobrle (Czech Republic)
Third Vice-President Osmo Jalovaara (Finland)
Vice-President, Gliders Karl Berger (Austria)
Secretary Liz Cook (Australia)
Rules Sub-Committee:
Jiri Kobrle (Czech Republic), Chairman; Howard Stock (USA), Liz Cook (Australia), Alan Cassidy (Great Britain), Christine Genin-Zanetta (France), Lars Frölander (Sweden)
Judging Sub-Committee:
John Gaillard (South Africa), Chairman; Hermann Liese (Germany), Osmo Jalovaara (Finland), Mikhail Mamistov (Russia), Helmut Stas (Poland), Howard Stock (USA)
Glider Aerobatics Sub-Committee:
Karl Berger (Austria), Chairman; Madelyne Delcroix (France), Jerzy Makula (Poland), Carlo Marchetti (Italy), Ludwig Fuss (Germany), Manfred Echter (Germany), Helmut Stas (Poland), Marti Kalko (USA), Georgi Kaminski (Russia), Beatrice Gugelmann (Switzerland), Pekka Havbrandt (Sweden), Bela Guraly (Hungary), Premysel Vavra (Czech Republic)
Catalogue Sub-Committee:
Alan Cassidy (UK), Chairman; Madelyne Delcroix (France), Manfred Echter (Germany), Brian Howard (USA), Carole Holyk (Canada), Karl Berger (Austria)
WAC 2003 International Jury:
Michael R. Heuer, President; Jiri Kobrle (Czech Republic), Ernst Paukner (Germany), Robert Chomono (France), Liz Cook (Australia), Lars Frölander (1st Reserve, Sweden), Giorgio Marangoni (2nd Reserve, Italy)
AWAC 2002 Chief Judge:
John Gaillard (South Africa), Pavol Kavka (Reserve, Slovakia)
WGAC 2003 International Jury:
Karl Berger, President; Helmut Stas (Poland), Madelyne Delcroix (France), Manfred Echter (Germany), Marti Kalko (USA), Ludwig Fuss (1st Reserve, Germany), Carlo Marchetti (2nd Reserve, Italy)
WGAC 2003 Chief Judge:
Pavol Kavka (Slovakia)
AEAC 2003 International Jury:
Jiri Kobrle, President, Ernst Paukner (Germany), Alan Cassidy (Great Britain), Osmo Jalovaara (Finland), Robert Chomono (France)
AEAC 2002 Chief Judge:
Pavol Kavka (Slovakia), Graham Hill (Reserve, Great Britain)
