Administration (Page 3)

Report on the Meeting of the FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC)

held in Paris, France from Thursday 9^th to Saturday 11^th November 2017.

By Frank Eckard

The meeting was attended by delegate Hans Schwebel and alternative delegate Frank Eckard.

South Africa will host the 2020 World Rally Flying Championships and World Air Navigation Race Championships. Our organisation will be celebrating its centenary in 2020. As part of the 100 year celebrations the SAPFA committee decided to bid for these two prestigious competitions. France gracefully postponed their bid and our bid was unanimously approved.

We would like to encourage all South African pilots who have aspirations to obtain their Green and Gold to start their campaign and training in order to qualify to represent their country in these two prestigious World Championship events. Please speak to any SAPFA committee members for more information.

The Rally Flying Sub Committee. The chairman had through the year obtained the majority opinion and drafted a new set of rules for our future competitions. The new rules will allow the crews to plot their maps before the start point, however still challenging them with accurate navigation, timing and observation.

The next World Rally Flying Championships will be held in Dubnica, Slovakia from the 5 – 11 Aug 2018.

The Precision Subcommittee With the advances in GPS equipment installed in the modern cockpit, the precision committee decided to lift the ban on using GPS devices for these competitions, this will mean that pilots will no longer miss the turn points, but map reading skill will still ne required to win the competition.

The next World Precision Flying Championships will take place Castellon, Spain – June 2019

The Air Navigation Race Subcommittee Following the experience at the 1^st World Air Navigation Race Championships in Spain, they decided to amend the rules and the clock will now continue to run when you are out of the parcour, and not stop at 300 points.

The second World ANR Championships will be held in Santa Cruz, Portugal – September 2019.

The calendar therefore was accepted as follows.

2018 – World Rally Championships – Dubnica nad Váhom, SLOVAKIA 5 – 11 Aug 2018

2019 – World Precision Flying Championships – Castellon, Spain – June 2019

2019 – World Air Navigation Race Championships – Santa Cruz, Portugal – September 2019

2020 – World Rally Flying Championships – Venue TBA, South Africa – Date TBA

2020 – World Air Navigation Race Championships – Venue TBA, South Africa – Date TBA

2021 – World Precision Flying Championships – France

2022 – World Rally Championships – France.

Election of officials.

Hans Schewbel will continue to serve as Vice President and Frank Eckard as the Chairman of the Rally Flying Subcommittee.

The South African Power Flying Association’s (SAPFA) main focus is to organise and promote power flying sports. We also represent the interests of our members by providing input on matters that affect GA pilots. We maintain links with the General Aviation Commission (GAC) of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).

World Air Games – Dubai
Based on their performance at the 19th FAI World Rally Flying Championships held in Torun, Poland, Frank Eckard and Cally Eckard were nominated by the FAI to represent South Africa in the World Air Games which were held in Dubai. At these World Air Games the team was awarded the FAI Gold Medal for the Landing Competition which was held in difficult cross wind conditions, and also the Bronze Medal for the Overall Result in the Air Navigation Race.

President’s Trophy Air Race
Bethlehem Aero Club set a new standard as hosts of the 2016 President’s Trophy Air Race.
After two days of racing the local team of Philip Jacobs and Nico Smith, took top honours. They had put in many hours of practice to hone their skills and the effort was rewarded with 1st place.

The 2017 race will be held at Springs. This promises to be yet another great event. Get your entries in early as the field is limited to 100 aircraft.

Precision and Rally Competitions
Our Fun Rallies were held at Rand Airport, Stellenbosch, Virginia, Brits, Morning Star, Hoedspruit, Secunda, Krugerdorp, Grand Central and Baragwanath.

The National Rally Flying Championships were hosted at Brits. At the 20th FAI World Rally Flying Competition held in Santa Cruz, Portugal, the South African Rally Flying Team were awarded the FAI Silver Medal for a team second place in the Advanced class of this event. The Team consisted of Frank Eckard and Cally Eckard, and Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk. A joint second place in the Landing Competition was also awarded to Hans Schwebel and Ron Stirk.

Adventure Rally
SAPFA arranged yet another successful Adventure Rally at the EAA Sun and Fun which was held in Brits. Crews enjoyed solving the cryptic clues as they flew around the Brits Area and great fun was had by all competitors.

SAPFA continues to be run by volunteers who give up their personal time to attend meetings, organise events, study legislation and more.

Thank You.

Frank Eckard
Chairman
South African Power Flying Association (SAPFA)

Report on the Meeting of the FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC) held in Limassol, Cyprus From Thursday 3rd to Sunday 5th of November 2016

By Frank Eckard

The meeting was attended by delegate Hans Schwebel and alternative delegate Frank Eckard.

While much transpired, here are the key highlights.

The Precision Subcommittee adopted an updated set of rules which are written in a better quality of English. There are also some minor changes. The next World Precision Flying Championships will take place in Spitzerberg, Austria 28 Jul to 03 Aug 2017.

The Air Navigation Race Subcommittee has also made some small adjustments to the rules. The scoring software has now been released in a PC based package rather than the previous internet base software. One of the ANR committee members, Armin Zueger, is now managing the software and also looking at new technology for loggers. Spain entered a bid to host the first World ANR Championships in Castellón, Spain at the end of September 2017.

The Long Distance Air Race committee gave us a presentation to the race to Georgia and also the Crete to Cape race which started departs Crete on the 12th November.

World Records is managed by Art Greenfield and Chris Booysen. They have around 100 records per year. New classes are being introduced with Solar Powered, Electric Powered and Drones.

Technical Equipment Committee This committee is managed by Ralph Grunwald. They have approved the Slovakian landing system and also continue to approve alternative loggers systems, as they have been proven to be reliable.

The Rally Flying Sub Committee had a tough job with a major change to the rules. After a few years of having two classes in the World Championships, and a lengthy debate, it was decided by a vote of 17 for, to 1 abstention to revert to a single class in the World Championships and to adopt the “Advanced” rules for the new world championships. The next World Rally Flying Championships will be held in Dubnica, Slovakia in 2018.

Election of officials.
It was wonderful to see the master tactician Hans Schewbel at work during the meeting. While Hans has served for some 23 years, he volunteered to serve for another year. The only change to the committee was Paul Szameitat who stood down as chairman of the Rally Flying Subcommittee. Frank Eckard was nominated and elected unopposed.