Safety
South Wales Airspace Restriction for NATO Summit. A temporary airspace restriction will be put in place around the NATO Summit in Newport, South Wales from 3-5 September 2014. It will cover a broad area from Bristol in the east, to Bridgend in the west, and from Crickhowell in the north, to the Somerset coast in the south. The restricted area will extend from surface up to FL105. Aircraft entering the restricted area without authorisation will be subject to interception by police or military. Full details of the restrictions are in AIC Mauve 081/2014 available on the NATS webs site at http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com and a NOTAM issued.
Regulatory
Proposed EASA Regulatory Changes. We are pleased to announce some potentially very good news that follows sustained and prolonged effort by the BGA and our colleagues in other airsports to reduce the regulatory impact on our activities. EASA has RECOMMENDED a number of changes to regulation that aim to alleviate concerns about training and licensing requirements raised by the BGA and other members of the air sport community. The package of recommendations, including a deferment in the need to convert to Part-FCL licensing and implementing ATO requirements until 2018, will be voted on by the Member States in October 2014. A briefing is at http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/newsitems/regulatoryupdate0714.pdf. The BGA remains close to and engaged in the issues and will advise of any new developments.
Towing With Permit to Fly Tugs. The ANO prevents aircraft that have a Permit to Fly (rather than a C of A) from being used for ‘aerial work’. Noting the increasing interest in self-build tug aircraft and the increased scope of aircraft supported by the Permit to Fly system, the BGA discussed this limitation with the CAA some time ago and agreed a way forward that was described in a letter of agreement supplied by the CAA. The CAA has now produced a formal exemption that can be viewed at http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/power/documents/permittowing.pdf
GP LAPL Medicals. We have had reports that some GPs have had problems in submitting the medical assessment using the CAA online form. Technical advice on how to overcome these issues is at http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=33&pagetype=70&gid=1881&faqid=1057.
BGA
Child Protection Awareness/Blue Card Training. A Child Protection Awareness training session will be held at Lasham on Tuesday 9th September 2014 at 7 pm. It will last around 90 minutes and will comprise discussion, situational exercises and a Q&A session. To book your place on this training, please contact Sharon White at the Lasham office (01256 384900).
2015 Conference. The 2015 conference will be held at the Belfry Hotel, Nottingham on Saturday 7th March. The conference will, as always, be free to attend and the programme will include presentations on aerobatic competition flying, conspicuousness and pilot perception, and an update on what’s new in the world of instrumentation. You can also enjoy browsing the

exhibits at the exhibition and catch up with friends in pleasant surroundings. Tickets for the Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony will be available via the BGA website from October. We have arranged for accommodation to be available at the hotel for the Saturday night at a special price of £91 for double occupancy. These rooms are on a first come, first served basis and you should contact the hotel directly on 0115 793 9418, quoting ‘BGA CONFERENCE’ when booking. We look forward to seeing you there!
Club Management
BGA Club Management Conference. A date for your diaries. The one day conference for people who run gliding clubs will be held on Saturday 22 November at Warwick University. More details will follow shortly.
Competitions and Cross-Country
World Championships. The British Gliding Team has had a great summer of competition. The team competing in the Club, Standard and 20m Multi-seat classes at Rayskala, Finland won the Team Cup by a large margin from France and Sweden. Brothers Steve and Howard Jones took the gold medal in the newly inaugurated 20m Multi-seat class, having dominated the event from start to finish. Britain took bronze in the very closely-fought Standard Class, with Jez Hood (3rd) narrowly pipping his brother Richard (4th) for a medal spot. G Dale and Tim Milner finished in highly creditable 5th and 9th places in the Club Class, completing a great fortnight for the team. The team in Leszno, Poland where the 15m, 18m, and Open classes were held was not to be outdone, again winning the Team Cup. Andy Davis was narrowly pipped at the post to the Open Class gold medal, winning a silver medal to go with the gold medals he won in 1993 and 2003. In a another strong all-round performance, Pete Harvey finished 6th in the Open Class while Russell Cheetham narrowly missed out on a medal in the 18m class, finishing 4th with Mike Young 12th. In the 15m class, Leigh Wells and Phil Jones were 11th and 12th respectively. You can watch Andy Davis talk about his silver medal on BBC Points West, available on iPlayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04d8rmc/bbc-points-west-13082014
National Championships. Two national championships were decided in the last month. In the Club Class Nationals, held at Dunstable, Pete Masson emerged victorious, followed by Tim Milner and James Ewence. The 18m Nationals, held at Husbands Bosworth, were won by Andy Davis, with Russell Cheetham and Stephen Ell second and third.
2015 Nationals Dates and Venues. The dates and venues for next year's Nationals will be: Standard Class/15m Class Nationals (Husbands Bosworth): 23rd May to 31st May 2015; Club Class Nationals (Bicester): 11th to 19th July 2015; Open Class/ 20m Class Nationals (Cambridge): 1st to 9th August 2015; 18m Class Nationals (Lasham): 15th to 23rd August 2015
New UK Records. David Masson’s flight on 2nd June 2013, which had previously been ratified as setting new UK 750km out and return records in the 15m and 20m classes, has now also been ratified as setting new UK 15m Out and Return Distance and Free Out and Return Distance records.
Cottesmore. Lt Col Steve Lonnen, Head of Establishment at the Army Garrison at Cottesmore (formerly RAF Cottesmore, which does still look like an airfield from overhead), has advised that a significant amount of military training takes place on the site and the unexpected arrival of gliders can cause them considerable inconvenience. The Army understands a genuine need on an exceptional basis for a glider to land there for safety reasons.

Comps Survey - Your Feedback Wanted. The BGA Competitions Committee would like to see more pilots flying more competitions and are inviting all pilots to let them know what competitions you fly and why, what competitions you don't fly and why or, if you don't fly competitions, why you don't. They are also asking for feedback on competitions and venues so that we can help clubs improve the competition experience. They have set up two surveys, one for those who fly rated competitions at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YQJCF8K and one at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MXCBH92 for those who don’t fly in competitions or who only fly non-rated competitions. The committee thank you for your help and will feed back the results to you later in the year.
General
Met Office Courses. The Met Office is running two courses at its Exeter HQ this month. The two day Meteorology for Aviators course (18/19 August) is aimed at light-aircraft pilots of all levels of competency and covers topics such as basic meteorological theory and the interpretation of meteorological charts. A one day Weather Decision Making course (20 August) brings together knowledge in aviation meteorology theory and interpretation skills with Meteorological Threat and Error Management (TEM). More details are at https://elearning.metoffice.gov.uk/course/category.php?id=21
Ben Fogle Goes Gliding. In Harbour Lives this Thursday (14th August, ITV1, 8.30pm), Ben Fogle explores the Dorset coast with 84-year-old glider pilot Bill Cook, who takes him up to 3,000ft for some of the most spectacular views the Jurassic coastline has to offer.
Sir Ian McFadyen. The BGA sends its congratulations to Air Marshall Ian McFadyen who received a knighthood (KCVO) in the recent Birthday Honours List. Air Marshall McFadyen had a distinguished career in the Royal Air Force, Governor of the Isle of Man, and was Chairman of the RAFGSA.