Minutes of Meeting Date(s): 29 Nov 2014 Title of Meeting: Start Time: 1030 End Time: 1530 Distribution date: Nov 2014 Second Competition Committee (CC) Meeting 2014/15 Location: Present: Apols: Bicester Mark Holden (MH) Russell Cheetham(RC) Paul Candler (PCa) Liz Sparrow (ES) Alan Langlands (AL) Paul Crabb (PCr) Brian Spreckley (BS) Graham Garnett Pete Masson (PM) Chair: Distribution: Mark Holden Meeting Attendees + BGA Exec (once approved) Legend Type EVE OBS DEC AI Event Observation Decision Action Item No Type Due By DESCRIPTION Date Meeting and Comps Committee Admin 1 OBS MH opened meeting and thanked Dunstable for hosting. 2 OBS Date of Next Meeting Dates: 10 January – venue tba, then 31 Jan, 21 Feb. Awayday to be Sunday March 8th after BGA conference 3 AI Approval of Minutes Minutes of last meeting were agreed; Mark to send to Exec to publish 4 OBS Action Log Was reviewed and updated as attached. FLARM 5 OBS Committee thanked Russell for his excellent paper on a revised stealth mode. CC agreed that this proposal seemed a sensible solution. Brian has drafted letter from FAI to FLARM on need for a review – FAI view is positive for a change and are talking to FLARM on a wider basis around potential future product. FLARM will be issuing a new protocol in late winter which needs to include our changes. Brian noted that this will need to be followed by an FAI rule change. CC will consider putting revised FLARM procedures into the UK competition rulebook if feasible. 6 AI 10 Jan Issue final FLARM paper for publication Competition Safety Resp. MH RC Minutes of Meeting No Type 7 DEC Due By Date 8 AI 10 Jan 9 AI 10 Jan 10 AI 10 Jan 11 AI 10 Jan 12 AI 21 Feb Competition Rulebook 13 AI 10 Jan 14 AI 10 Jan 15 OBS 16 AI 10 Jan 17 AI 29 Jan 18 OBS DESCRIPTION Exec have asked CC to look at competition safety. Alan has liaised with Hugh Browning on this to attempt to arrive at a realistic view of the risks involved in competition flying as per his presentation. Conclusions that:  there is currently no like-for-like comparison possible between comp and non-comp XC flying  accidents in comps have increased over recent years  field landings pose a significant risk in XC flying that we should address in the competition context, with late selection being a driver in all where contributing factor was specified  collision risk is highest in thermals where FLARM is arguably not going to help Safety culture to be addressed with both pilots and comp organisation. See also notes below on Comp Survey results. CC intention to establish Directors’ Seminars initially with ‘strongly advised’ to attend; potentially mandated in future. Issue final FLARM paper for publication Alan to talk to Hugh Browning re possiblity of XC accident rate analysis BGA conference slot on comp accident reduction Directors' seminars - venues/date/structure – to include revised version of accident stats presentation Develop Comp safety presentation for next year – to include revised version of accident stats presentation Proposed Rule changes - DHTs see action from last meeting; Safety and FLARM pending progress; Russell to draft changes re handicaps and all selection areas inc women's qualification and proposal re existence of 20m class. Mark to solicit Coaches’ views on selection for mountain flying comps. Russell identified the option for thought of invoking World team selection criteria instead where a European event is identified prior to the qualifying events to be of “special needs” Club Class adopting FAI rules Russell had circulated a paper clarifying the options. In general CC agreed that if there were to be a change, the option identified by Russell to adopt just the FAI Rules for Handicapped Competitions seemed sense (and would also apply to a 20m class) rather than to adopt Annex A itself. We noted also the FAI intention to reduce handicaps from the reference for those underweight - Brian confirmed most recent information that IGC do intend to handicap for reduced weight as well as overweight. This will mean that weighing implementation would be much more of an issue with full Annex A adoption whereas the adoption of the Handicap rules would mean that weighing issues could be overcome more simply. Views varied within CC as to whether we should adopt the change and CC concluded that we would publish Russell’s paper explaining the issues and solicit views of club class pilots to support their decision. Issue final version of clarification paper Develop survey of Club Class pilots Winglets - CC reviewed papers on this supplied by Russell and agreed that handicap for winglets should be changed from 1% to 0.5% Resp. RC AL MH AL/BS AL / ES/ MH RC MH RC ES Minutes of Meeting No Type Due By DESCRIPTION Date 19 AI 10 Jan Cloud Flying - CC remain of the view that this issue needs to be addressed for sporting reasons. It seems that the paper we wrote last year was never published on the website, Mark to review and revise for publication with the intention to solicit wider comp pilots’ views on pros and cons. Committee Membership 20 DEC Committee reviewed the applications received. Mark recommended the appointment of Andy Cockerell, Richard Hood, Matt Cook and committee endorsed this selection. 21 AI 6 Dec Contact new members of the committee and thank other applicants Awards 22 AI asap Phil Lever Trophy nominations from Pete/Andy prior to next meeting 23 AI asap Club services - nominations from CC and post a note on website/ BGA newsletter asking for nominations IGC Matters 24 OBS Rule change proposals needed before Christmas for next year. We discussed possible start procedures last time; FLARM change may not address our concern, viz to reduce advantage of following others at the start and hopefully also reduce gaggling as a result. CC agreed to submit a year 1 proposal; and we might want to trial something next year after we've developed detail. Brian also noted that the World championship structure working group are deliberating on potential changes – we may need to review depending on what emerges. We considered the possibility of a four- year cycle which might help manage costs and align us with the Olympic cycle.. 25 AI asap Possible max height loss requirement? Possible block start? Any other options? – all to consider 26 AI asap Draft a Year 1 Proposal on start options 27 OBS 2018 World Championship Bid- has been submitted - venue to be decided - a subgroup to be established to manage this. 28 AI asap SGP 2016 - Bids close end Jan for SGP - be nice to get a bid from the UK for 2016 - put it into next BGA newsletter; each to talk to any useful contacts UK Competitions 29 OBS Junior Championship 2015 - Aston Down are submitting a bid for 30 DEC this; Pete is liaising Directors’ reports 2014 > two themes arising are either covered elsewhere - DHT, FLARM. > Suggestion of putting G-reg on the registration form was agreed. > Chiltern Park – parachute dropping is stopped when Compton Box is opened – a NATS requirement we consider unnecessary and provided for by our normal use of active parachute zones. Mark has asked Colin Rule to speak to NATS about this. > Pilot Safety Committee vote can be carried out prior to initial Comp Briefing and CC encourage Directors to do so. Resp. MH MH PM/AC MH All BS MH Minutes of Meeting No Type Due By DESCRIPTION Date 31 OBS Competition Survey – Liz had circulated summary results presentations. Highest level messages are: > over 400 responses – a very significant proportion of comp and XC pilots – was great news and CC will definitely continue to use surveys to solicit pilot feedback > the biggest barrier cited as preventing pilots fly rated competitions was not having crew (feels fixable!) then cost and time commitment > when comp pilots were asked to rank what really matters in a competition, overwhelmingly they picked the competition organisation > the next two priorities were weather (but noted as not guaranteeable in the UK!), and challenging but achievable task setting which ties in with the safety issue above on raised risks around field landings. 32 AI 6 Dec Liz to write an S&G article summarizing results of comp survey – will also be used in presentation at BGA conference, comp forums and Directors’ seminars 33 AI 10 Jan Paul to get feedback from HusBos on the Bonus Day scoring they tested this summer International Team and Competitions 34 DEC World Champions competing in the Europeans The CC support the Exec's request that we send the World Championship gold medal winning team to the Europeans. Note that there is no funding available from the 2015 budget and there is currently no procedure for entry in this class; in all other respects the entry will be fully integrated into the team and infrastructure provided. 35 AI 10 Jan Team budget Juniors are being lent a container - thanks to Will Chappell. Graham to confirm intentions to spend and costs – currently awaiting previous year info from BGA. In debate it was noted that we have no plans to reduce spending, indeed we need to increase spending – so income needs to increase accordingly. Liz to help Graham draw up budget. CC asked Graham to ensure radio is not sensibly reparable before 36 AI buying a new one. 3 Dec UK Sport Funding Consultation response - CC endorsed Diana’s draft and all to submit any further suggested amendments by 3 Dec Resp. ES PCr GG/ES All 5 Year Plan 37 AI 10 Jan Planning Day Sunday 8 March Liz to liaise with Mark, Richard and Matt re a planning day to follow the BGA conference . ES Attachments: None.