04-01-2016
Posted by IBA
Upcoming IPC Plenary Meeting & The State of Indoor Skydiving
The Federation Aeronatique Internationale (FAI) is the non-governmental, non-profit organization that is currently overseeing indoor skydiving through one of its 10 air sport commissions - the International Parachuting Commission (IPC).
Every year the IPC meets to discuss important matters pertaining to the development of air sports and their respective sporting events and rules – indoor skydiving included. This where the future of sports take shape -- changes to the rules are made, locations of sporting events are decided, and future decision-makers are appointed. This year’s meeting begins on January 26th in Frankfurt, Germany.
Who are the people working to make our sport the best it can be? Currently the Indoor Skydiving working group is composed of:
Chair Mohammed Al-Delayel – Qatar
Deputy Chair Ron Miasnikov – Israel
Chris Dixon – USA
John Hitchen – UK
Claire King – South Africa
Martin Lemay – Canada
The 2016 Agenda has been published and can be found on the IPC website under Meetings - Agenda. Annexes 25-26 and 44-47 highlight the topics to be discussed by the Indoor Working Group. Also see Annexes 48-55 for 2016 and 2017 host bids.
Here we have summarized them for you:
The 2015 Working Group Report written by Chairman Al-Delayel, dated 30 October, states that the working group alone does not establish or change rules but exists to establish better communication between the IPC and operating wind tunnels. The report highlights the success of the 2015 World Championship at Hurricane Factory Prague with their high-quality livestreaming and judging.
The important piece lies in the Future Proposals section. A tunnel world tour is up for discussion wherein top competitors (former champions perhaps?) are sponsored to “spread the word”. Another important point is the acknowledgment that not everyone agrees that indoor skydiving should be underneath the IPC and would be better served on its own underneath the FAI. It is that IPC’s position that the current overlap of tunnel flyers and skydivers deems that for now, indoor “should be able to grow under the wings of IPC and in cooperation with it”. Another facet of their 2015 report is the duty of the working group, 2 options are given. First, whether the working group is “done” and the currently standing discipline committees (Artistic and FS) oversee both indoor and outdoor or second, whether the indoor working group becomes a “committee of itself” representing IPC, Competitors, and the industry.
Additional items brought to the table for discussion include:
- In Freestyle - Replacing the Breaker (FR-4) and Cartwheel (FR-2) with different compulsory moves [Annex 44]
- In Dynamic - using 5 criteria to judge the free routine, but only the final score for each judge should be recorded into the scoring system. [Annex 44]
- In VFS - a camera situated below the net must be used for judging. [Annex 45]
- Changing the date of first category events from the Fall (as it is currently) to the Springtime, the end of northern hemisphere’s winter, which is the traditional indoor skydiving season. [Annex 46]
- Introducing 8-way FS at the indoor skydiving events wherein the host tunnel is at least 16’ diameter. [Annex 47]
- Increasing the number of dynamic judges at FAI-sanctioned events from 5 to 8. [Annex 25]
We look forward to the outcome of the plenary meeting and the progressive direction of our sport. We will be back to report the results.
Want to voice your opinion? E-mail us at info@tunnelflight.com or Deputy Chair Ron at ron.miasnikov@gmail.com.
Want to attend? Registration form can be found here.