News flash: pilots are "allowed" to use supplemental oxygen

Glad that was cleared up.

Can anyone enlighten us as to why any FAI member pilot, or the FAI
itself, would care about the non-binding opinion from yet-another
alphabetism (WADA)?

The appropriately titled article from ssa.org follows...


A Collision of Bureaucracies

The President of the International Gliding Commission has asked that
glider pilots around the world be notified of the following conflict
resolution. The conflict, and its resolution, should be clear from the
following letter:


10 July 2008
Dear FAI Members,

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List 2008 specifically
prohibits the artificial delivery of oxygen, whereas the International
Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) mandates the use of supplemental
oxygen to counter the effects of hypoxia.

WADA agrees that the health and safety of our athletes is paramount
and does not consider the transportation of oxygen in an aircraft to
be an anti-doping rule violation.

FAI is therefore pleased to inform members that they may use
supplemental oxygen in aircraft during FAI events. If you need any
further information, please contact the undersigned.

With best regards,

Rob Hughes
General Projects Manager

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
Avenue Mon-Repos 24
CH-1005 LAUSANNE
Switzerland

FAI - The World Air Sports Federation
Tel: +41 21 345 1070
Fax: +41 21 345 1077
Email:
Website : http://www.fai.org

WADA is the world organization against doping in sport. In most
countries, anti-doping laws are in effect and implement the rules laid
out by WADA. That means that as gliding is generally considered a
sport, and WADA considers supplemental oxygen as doping, a pilot could
be prosecuted for using it, even if air rules make it mandatory. That
contradiction has now officially been dealt with.

On Aug 14, 10:40*pm, stephanevdv wrote:
WADA is the world organization against doping in sport. In most
countries, anti-doping laws are in effect and implement the rules laid
out by WADA. That means that as gliding is generally considered a
sport, and WADA considers supplemental oxygen as doping, a pilot could
be prosecuted for using it, even if air rules make it mandatory. That
contradiction has now officially been dealt with.

Bet they worked overtime to resolve this important and thorny issue.

Actually, I was contemplating setting a racing height limit of 12,500'
MSL so I could file a protest and have everyone ahead of me in the
standings disqualified - allowing me to pick up a championship or two.

9B

Yeah, seems silly, but at the next race if you discovered a competitor was
using a drug to counter fatigue, thereby increasing awareness and
performance, wouldn't you be a little annoyed? Following WADA mandates
allows ejection of the pilot without having to resort to federal regulatory
oversight (most useful performance enhancers are banned by FARs).

I like to use Os during competitions... regardless of height. I find it
keeps me alert. Add some caffeine and I'm ready to pa-ha-a-a-a-ar-tay! Glad
I'm no longer breaking any rules.

In fact, we may have a few more issues... given the median age of glider
pilots, we're probably ingesting all sorts of things that would get younger
sportsmen bounced out of the game. That said, maybe we should just open
soaring up to unfettered competition. Can you imagine? A grid full of
grey-haired, acne-prone mesomorphs snapping at their crews and each other
prior to the launch...

OK, maybe the whole thing is pretty silly.


wrote in message
...
On Aug 14, 10:40 pm, stephanevdv wrote:
WADA is the world organization against doping in sport. In most
countries, anti-doping laws are in effect and implement the rules laid
out by WADA. That means that as gliding is generally considered a
sport, and WADA considers supplemental oxygen as doping, a pilot could
be prosecuted for using it, even if air rules make it mandatory. That
contradiction has now officially been dealt with.

Bet they worked overtime to resolve this important and thorny issue.

Actually, I was contemplating setting a racing height limit of 12,500'
MSL so I could file a protest and have everyone ahead of me in the
standings disqualified - allowing me to pick up a championship or two.

9B

On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:44:18 -0700 (PDT), VARR
wrote:
[snip]

FAI is therefore pleased to inform members that they may use
supplemental oxygen in aircraft during FAI events. If you need any
further information, please contact the undersigned.

OK, but where do I complain if I see some cheater using a harness to
artificially hold himself in his seat?

rj

So the solution is to route the pee tube directly to a container that
is turned in with the flight log. Can't have cheaters! But what about
the aging pilots who need Viagra just to FIT the pee tube?

Mark628CA wrote:
So the solution is to route the pee tube directly to a container that
is turned in with the flight log. Can't have cheaters! But what about
the aging pilots who need Viagra just to FIT the pee tube?

Nappies? And turn them in?


--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* Updated! "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* New Jan '08 - sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

Mark628CA wrote:
....But what about
the aging pilots who need Viagra just to FIT the pee tube?


No, no! That's a performance enhancing drug. :-)

Tony

Offset by the extra drag created for PW-5 pilots. (See last year's post
about tapping off with the rudder.)

At 12:14 17 August 2008, Tony Verhulst wrote:
Mark628CA wrote:
....But what about
the aging pilots who need Viagra just to FIT the pee tube?


No, no! That's a performance enhancing drug. :-)

Tony