“Starting with the 2008 events, the World Soaring Championships
will be held in two major venues, one regrouping the
Open, 18m, and 15m classes, and the second grouping
the Standard, World, and Club classes.”

Outstanding. Have any of the people who dreamt up
that idea ever flown a glider…?

Let me spell it out. This means that 40+ fully laden
Standard Class gliders will be flying with 40+ Club
Class gliders and 40 PW5s (assuming 40 people bother
to show up with a PW5). Having attended a number of
international events it is highly apparent that the
most dangerous aspect of flying gliders in large competitions
is pre-start gaggling. Despite recent moves towards
distributed starts, all classes inevitably end up crammed
into two or three thermals around the airfield. On
two occasions I have seen all 100+ gliders in one thermal.

A fully laden Standard Class glider has completely
different flight characteristics from a PW5 or (empty)
Club Class glider. The Standard class ship will fly
approx 12 to 15 knots faster, with a larger turn radius
and higher sink rate. These differences will undoubtedly
pose a very dangerous problem. Even the comparatively
small difference between Open Class and 15m/Standard
Class ships provides challenges in current comps.

I suggest the IGC reconsider this decision urgently.

Regards,

Ben Flewett.


At 18:00 07 March 2004, Charles Yeates wrote:
With Spring and a new season arriving, here are some
absolutely GREAT news
for the World Class:

- Our Breakfast event at the Convention was the best
attended ever. A full
room, with 36 attending, made this the largest breakfast
event for the
World
Class, and one of the largest breakfast events at the
Convention. We are
definitely growing...
Our friend Miroslav Rodzewicz from Warsaw University
of Technology gave a
beautiful presentation about the history of gliding
in Poland and about
the long
series of Polish glider designs, including of course
the Orlik, Foka,
Zephir,
Jantars, SZDs, and PW-5 and 6, among many others. I
gave a brief
overview of
the WCSA status and plans for 2004. With the National
in Hobbs and an
Eastern
Regional at Bermuda High Soaring, it looks like a great
year in the making.

Now to the several VERY GREAT NEWS: The IGC (International
Gliding
Commission, the international body of the Federation
Aeronautique
Internationalle - FAI,
that deals with all matters of Soaring internationally)
has a World Class
Subcommittee, which is responsible for following-up
and reporting to IGC
the
developments related to the World Class. I am on that
Subcommittee,
together with
6 other people. The 2004 plenary meeting of the IGC,
where all important
matters and proposals related to international Soaring
are presented and
voted on,
took place Feb 27-28 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The
World Class Subcommittee
decided to hold a meeting the day before the IGC plenary
meeting to address
important issues. Of concern was a proposal by the
German delegation to
discontinue having World Championships of the World
Class after 2009
(the World Class
was guaranteed to have World Championships until 2009
in previous
meetings) and
replace that event with a new 20-meter two-seater class
World Championship.
Similar proposals were also submitted by the French
(replace with a 13m
class)
and the Italians (replace with a 13m motorglider class).
- After discussing the matter, the Subcommittee decided
that the proposals
were likely the result of a lack of information about
the progress of
the World
Class, and decided to prepare a presentation, which
I delivered during the
plenary session the next day, outlining the successes
of the World Class
in many
countries. As a result of the presentation, the Italians
and French
withdrew
their proposals. The German proposal was voted upon
and overwhelmingly
defeated
(with only the German voting for their proposal). So
the IGC overwhelmingly
reiterated their support of the World Class, in particular
as a class in
the
World Championship. First very great news.
- The IGC Subcommittee on World Championships Structure
had a proposal
regarding the organization of the post-2006 World Championship
events.
This proposal
was voted on and passed. So, it is now official: Starting
with the 2008
events, the World Soaring Championships will be held
in two major
venues, one
regrouping the Open, 18m, and 15m classes, and the
second regrouping the
Standard,
World, and Club classes. Each country will be allowed
up to two pilots per
class. This essentially puts all 6 FAI classes on the
same level for these
events, and it is another great news for the World
Class.
- For the 2006 World Championships, the Lithuanians
and the French
presented
their proposals to hold events combining the World
and Club classes. The
French won, and the 2006 World Championships of the
World and Club
classes will be
held June 30-July 15, 2006 in Vinon, France (about
30 Km south of St.
Auban,
where the 1997 WGC took place). This is a great place
to fly, about 50
miles
from the foothills of the Alps, with beautiful scenery
(it is in the
heart of
Provence) and with great weather, which practically
guarantees a lot of
great
flying and a superb contest. I talked with the French
delegation and
they are
very aware of the need to, and very willing to work
on, finding local
(European)
gliders for overseas teams. So, things look very good
for 2006.
- By the way, the bid for the 2008 WGC regrouping the
Standard, World, and
Club classes will be due in March 2005. Is hosting
this 2008 WGC in the USA
something we should start thinking about...?
- An additional great news was announced at the IGC
meeting by the PW-5
designers regarding the previous altitude limitation
on the PW-5. The
long process
of tests and formalities has been completed and the
altitude limit for all
PW-5, including all previously manufactured, is now
11,000 meters
(36,500 ft..
Brrr, must be cold up there). The official papers should
be dispatched soon.

So, I thought you'd like to hear all these great news
as a good start to
the
Soaring season. By the way, the Regional at Bermuda
High, SC is but 60 days
away, and the National is only 4 months away... Make
your plans, and if
you are
halfway sure that you will come, PLEASE register on
line on the SSA
Website as
soon as you can. It definitely helps the organizers
to have an early
count so
that they can plan on tow planes, etc...

Spring is here. Happy flights to all.
Francois