
August 2023
EHPU MC Newsletter August 2023

June 2023
EAS newsletter June 2023

April 2023
EAS newsletter April 2023

February 2023
EHPU AGM 2023 minutes

May 2022
EHPU MC newsletter May 2022

February 2022
FAI position on the conflict taking place in the Ukraine

May 2021
EHPU MC Newsletter May 2021

2021
EAS newsletter 2021

2020
EAS newsletter 2020

December 2019
Link to European Air Sports newsletter

20th February 2018
EAS
Newsletter February 2018

1st November 2017
EAS
Newsletter Autumn 2017

3rd May 2017
EAS
Newsletter April 2017

10th December 2016
EAS
Newsletter December 2016

22nd September 2016
EAS
Newsletter August 2016
3rd August 2016
EAS
Newsletter July 2016

4th May 2016
EAS Newsletter
April 2016

4th February 2016
EAS
Newsletter January 2016 part 1
EAS
Newsletter January 2016 part 2

10th November 2015
EAS Newsletter
October 2015

15st September 2015
Letter from the European Safety and Training Committee (ESTC) to WG 6
1st September 2015
EAS Newsletter
August 2015

5th August 2015
EAS Newsletter
July 2015

24th February 2015
EAS Newsletter
February 2015

7th January 2015
EAS Newsletter
December 2014

1st December 2014
EAS Newsletter
November 2014

29th July 2014
EAS Newsletter July 2014

2nd July 2014
EAS Newsletter June 2014

7th April 2014
EAS Newsletter
April 2014

17th March 2014
EAS Newsletter
March 2014

4th November 2013
EAS Newsletter November
2013

27th August 2013
EAS Newsletter
August 2013


4th June 2013
EAS Newsletter
May 2013

28th March 2013
Europe Air Sports General Meeting 2013
Europe Air Sports 25th General Meeting was held in Copenhagen
on March 23th and 24th 2013. Among the 50 participates was
3 former EAS Presidents and a former general secretary to
talk about the history and development of EAS from 1988 to
2013. It was a good meeting and EAS is taking good care of
hang gliding and paragliding interest in regard to EU legislation
and EASA. As soon as official minutes are sent out, it will
be sent out to EHPU members. But here is a shot summery of
items regarding hang gliding and paragliding.
New proposal in EASA for mandatory reporting for occurrences
are at the moment including hang gliders and paragliders together
with other annex II plains except model plains. Occurrences
are not serious incidents, which will be listed later in the
EASA document and must be reported to NAAs and EASA.
Peter Bombay was guest speaker at the meeting and is the
deputy head of Aviation Directorate in the European Commission
in EU. He was not against removing some of the annex II plains
from mandatory reporting of occurrences. The proposal is still
being discussed and EAS is working for that HG/PG together
with other specific annex II plains will be removed from the
final proposal.
Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS) are also being followed
by EAS and may affect our pilots. At the moment work is only
moving alone slowly and it will take several years before
EASA regulations are ready. It is the EAS opinion that RPAS
must fly safely without limitations for other airspace users
or demand for our pilots to carry more instruments.
At the following link you can get more information about
what EASA is working on at the moment in General Aviation
Safety Strategy and draft roadmap for regulation of general
aviation: www.europe-air-sports.org/activities/
NAA and NAC are changing in several countries to allowing
NAC or federation to do more of the governing for the NAA.
This may be seen as some of the positive effects of SERA and
the international financial crisis... EAS of cause supports
this development and are happy for the NACs and federations,
whom has good cooperation with their NAA and are allowed to
assume more responsibility for the daily operation of GA flying
on a national level.
EAS’s economics is good, but 2 NACs has terminated
their membership do to financial problems and one NAC has
asked for reduced fee. EAS has a good liquidity and has annual
expenditure of about € 170.000. With the current level
of activities and expected income, the budget showed a acceptable
positive surplus to be brought forward. The EAS annual fee
was therefore set to the same level as it has been for the
last several years. EHPU’s annually fee to EAS is €
9.230 for the amount of 30.-100.000 members.
Please read more about EAS activities 2012/2013 in EAS newsletters
at this link: www.europe-air-sports.org/activities/newsletter/

28th February
EAS Newsletter
February 2013

27th February
Recognition of pilot qualifications
EHPU AGM agreed to recommend the following statement to member
associations of EHPU:
“The member associations of the EHPU agree that the
only qualifications that (subject to national law) they recognise
and accept are those issued by Government Ministries, the
FAI, National Aero Clubs and National Associations.”
Please note that some countries may demand additional qualifications.
Please visit the national hang gliding and paragliding federation
for further information on national rules. Just click on the
national flag of member links here.


7th February 2013

29th January 2013
EAS - General Aviation Safety Strategy
Europe Air Sports is pleased to report
good progress on the General Aviation Safety Strategy. Readers
will remember that this strategy, endorsed by EASA's Management
Board, seeks to review the regulatory regime for the light
end of aviation in order to make it more appropriate for recreational
flying activities.
In the past weeks EAS representatives
have been in close dialogue with the European Institutions
in order to help implementing the strategy. As part of this
process EAS has just uploaded various new documents its website.
These include a Roadmap by the Commission, a living document
informing about the next steps, and EAS' submission in response
to the strategy.
These documents can be viewed here.

17th December 2012
EAS
Newsletter December 2012


28th September 2012

28th September 2012

3rd September 2012

2nd May 2012


Spain and Asociación de Vuelo Libre Española
AVLE has become a member of the EHPU
 |
The European family in EHPU
has just become one country richer as Spain is entering
as 18th member.
Asociación de Vuelo Libre Española AVLE
was formed one year ago to create a unified Spanish
association, independent from the NAC. At the moment
Spain has seventeen regional federations who deal with
all air sports disciplines. The AVLE has about 500 members
already and they believe that there are about 4.000
Spanish HG/PG pilots in total.
|
At the Annual General Meeting of EHPU on
11th of February 2012 in Dublin, the AVLE was offered
membership on the basis that they currently appear to
be the major representative body in Spain and that no
other body has ever come forward from Spain to be a member
of the EHPU.
The EHPU members hope that the membership will support
AVLE to unify the Spanish pilots and get positive benefits
of cooperation with the other 17 European members, who
represent over 100.000 pilots together.
The 18 EHPU members are now: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic,
Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands,
Norway, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland
and United Kingdom. |
24th Feb 2012
EHPU letter to FAI/CIVL concerning Serial Class
EHPU
letter to CIVL CIVL
statement


16th Feb 2012
EHPU letter to Romanian authority
EHPU
letter concerning regulation of Hang Gliding and Paragliding
in Romania

6th December 2010
EHPU concerns about Paragliding Competition safety cited
in Cross Country magazine
see article
1 and article
2

23rd September 2010
Italian new law for sport flight
The President of The Italian Republic has subscribed the
new law concerning the sport flight in Italy .
These are the most important new points of the law:
1) From next November 21 in Italy only free flight (not motorized
microlight or ultralight) can fly VFR with vertical limit
FL 195 in free “G” spaces (outside clouds ATZ
CTR & C.) about 5900 meters if space is free.
2) Free flight can fly over cities, roads, railways &
C. (before it was formally prohibited) at the flight level
that allows to gain a safe landing.
3) For the first time in Italy is officially ruled the flight
in thermals: the first pilot that enter the thermal decides
the left or right turn; the other pilots must turn the same
way; pilots inside thermals have right of way on pilots outside
thermals; pilots in thermals must give right of way to other
pilots that rise more in the same thermal;
4) Any free flight license of any European country is automatically
recognized in Italy.
5) In Italy the medical requirements are more strict than
before.
It was a hard work for FIVL and being inside EHPU was important
to convince Italian authorities. This is a good news for EHPU
too! Of course a good news for any European pilot.

26th March 2010


29th October 2009
EAS
Newsletter no 34 and Message of the President

12th Mai 2009

28th April 2009
EAS elects new President and Secretary General.
See
EAS newsletter No 32.

31st March 2009
EHPU
Letter to CIVL regarding hang gliding and paragliding competitions
safety


30th March 2009

9th February 2009
EHPU message to CIVL regarding safety and fair play in hang
gliding competitions
The EHPU wishes to express its deep concern about the continuing
situation in hang glider competitions relating to sprog adjustment.
Lowering sprogs confers a performance advantage at the expense
of pitch stability and pilots who carry out this adjustment
are either unaware of, or reckless about the adverse effect
upon hang glider stability. The EHPU believe that the competitors
who undertake this activity are introducing unacceptable dangers
into the competition and the improved performance is therefore
an unfair advantage over fellow competitors. In the view of
the EHPU this amounts to cheating and should not be permitted.
The EHPU is also concerned that the lowering of sprogs by
international level competition pilots sets a very bad example
for other pilots who might be tempted into copying this hazardous
practice.
We wish to see an effective program put in place to prevent
or dissuade competition pilots from making these dangerous
modifications.

14th May 2008
EAS Annual General Meeting 2008
Meeting
Minutes

24th April 2008
EAS is looking for a new Programme Manager
EAS is looking for a new Programme Manager starting 1st of
June 2008. Please
see recruitment brief for details.


16th October 2007
Briefing of EAS Activities - Latest EAS Newsletter
EAS Newsletter
No 27

11th
April 2007
First European Discussion Forum on General Aviation
See
here for Information

Hang Gliding and Paragliding not affected by COM 579
To a very important question concerning all hang glider and
paraglider pilots in Europe the EHPU President Martin Heywood
and EHPU General Secretary Klaus Tänzler could give a
clear answer in their annual reports for the EHPU AGM:
Will Hang Gliding and Paragliding fall under the European
Regulation?
This question has been raised during the current rule making
process for the Amendment COM 579 of Regulation 1592 which
deals not only with the extension of EASA competence for licensing
and operation setting but also with the creation of a new
framework for Leisure Aviation.
Meanwhile the rule making process is far advanced. And EASA,
European
Commission, the European Parliament and the Council have agreed:
"It would not be appropriate to subject all aircraft
to common rules, in particular aircraft that are of simple
design or operate mainly on a local basis, and those that
are home-built or particularly rare or only exist in a small
number; such aircraft should therefore remain under the regulatory
control of Member States, without any obligation under this
Regulation on other Member States to recognize these national
arrangements."

And therefore Hang Gliding and Paragliding will belong also
in the future to the aircraft which are excluded from the
regulation 1592 in Annex 2:
…"(g) gliders with a maximum empty mass, of no
more than 80 kg when single-seater or 100 kg when two-seater,
including those which are foot launched"…
..."(j) any other aircraft which has a maximum empty
mass, including fuel, of no more than 70 kg"…
Several other topics have been discussed in the 7th EHPU
annual General Meeting, e.g. "Speed-Gliding", and
the participants agreed that all in all it has been a productive
atmosphere.



Future European Air Space
One of the main topics of the EHPU annual general meeting
2007 was "access to airspace for hang gliding and paragliding."
Chris Bouman, a hang glider pilot who works for Eurocontrol,
presented a power point presentation made by Mr. Armit, Eurocontrol,
explaining the future plans.
After a discussion of this first hand information
the EHPU plenary agreed the following in addition to the EHPU
airspace policy paper:
"As regards revised class E airspace (i.e. future K
Airspace) outside CTR's, the EHPU strongly supports that the
norm is that no 2-way communication is required except in
those areas where this is necessary for demonstrable safety
reasons. Given the many issues still outstanding, including
health risks and the availability of suitable transponders,
the EHPU does not currently see a sound basis for requiring
hang gliding and paragliding to carry transponders anywhere.
It is the EHPU position that existing controlled airspace,
established in the past for reasons that were applicable at
that time, should be subject to reconsideration, with the
aim to change this airspace into uncontrolled airspace wherever
this is possible. Member nations are reminded that they should
constantly be aware about redundant controlled airspace and
take steps locally to encourage the authorities to release
this airspace as class G."
The EHPU is a member of Europe Airsports (EAS), where the
efforts of all airsports are coordinated. EAS has a delegate
in the two high level Eurocontrol committees which make policy
and approve actions of working groups: the Airspace and Air
Navigation Team (ANT) and Stakeholders Consultation Group
(SCG).
A Task Force named Alpha (TFA) is tasked by the Air Navigation
Team to prepare for a harmonised European Air Space. The reasoning
behind this was the variety of Air Space classification systems
used all over the ECAC States (European Civil Aviation Conference).
Europe Airsports Technical Officer Airspace Günter Bertram
is member of TFA. He is in good contact with EHPU and reported
recently:
"Currently airspace classification is still an important
issue. Above FL 195 the airspace is now mainly class C, harmonised
according to the wishes of the EU.

This slide shows the progress made with harmonisation
of the airspace above flight level FL195
Below FL 195 the classification is left to national regulators.
Here a major step forward was done without much hassle in
the spring of last year, by introducing the ICAO classification
in all of the ECAC states. ICAO uses the letters from A -
G to name the different air space categories. In use are mainly
air space C, D, E and G. This will be probably true for some
years to come."
Quotes from the Eurocontrol ASM Workshop on the Future Simplification
of Airspace Classifications in ECAC Airspace indicate what
Günter has reported:
"Asked if it is National Authorities which would decide
upon changes to the classification of airspace (..below FL
195..), Mr. Armit agreed that this is a State responsibility
but EUROCONTROL would provide guidance material."
Günter Bertram closed his report with a warning:
"Any air space infringement is bad for our reputation
as pilots. An accident due to a violation would probably lead
to more restrictions."

20th December 2006
Video of Hang Gliding and Paragliding
New on ehpu.org: Have a look at our Video
of Hang Gliding and Paragliding "Flying like a Bird".
This video has been presented in the lobby at the first EUROCONTROL
Sporting & Recreational Aviation Conference in Brussels
(see below) to provide basic information about Hang Gliding
and Paragliding. Other videos have been shown during the presentation
of Klaus Tänzler (see
here for presentation and videos).

8th December 2006
Eurocontrol Sporting and Recreational Aviation Conference
EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of
Air Navigation and EUROPE AIR SPORTS (EAS), the association
of the European National Aero Clubs and European Air Sports
Unions, held the 1st Sporting & Recreational Aviation
Conference at the EUROCONTROL HQ in Brussels on Friday 1st
December 2006. See
Europe Airsports Newsletter for more information.
See
here for presentations and videos

EHPU General Secretary Klaus Tänzler explained the needs
and concerns of Hang Gliding and Paragliding. His motivational
powerpoint presentation (with video clips) has been well received.

Beside the hang glider (from EHPU Airspace
Expert Chris Bouman) informed a video presentation in the
Eurocontrol lobby about Hang Gliding and Paragliding.

1st November 2006
Newsletter IAOPA
This link shows an extraction of the IAOPA Newsletter concerning
EASA policy: IAOPA
Newsletter 11/06.

21st July 2006
Newsletter Europe Airsports
This newsletter shows the current activities of Europe Airsports.
EHPU is a member of Europe Airsports. Especially the items
NPA 06/2006 on safety regulation of aerodromes, Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles and the Eurocontrol matters are currently being worked
on by EHPU. Newsletter
07/06.
On 25/26 March 2006 the General Meeting of EAS was held in
Cologne. Here
you find the EAS Newsletter with general information on
the meeting matters.


9th January 2006
EAS report
Europe Airsports report on last year's activities just came
out, see here.
EHPU supports the work of Europe Airsports as a paying member.


9th January 2006
Good relationship between EAS and EASA
Europe Airsports Consultant Rudolf Schuegraf is in close
contact with EHPU General Secretary Klaus Tänzler in
order to keep EHPU well informed about all legislation activities
in Europe. Rudolf reports from EAS/EASA Workshop Part M 04/05.11.2005
in Cologne:
"One major lesson I learned from the workshop was that
EASA
and its officials dealing with the content and conduct of
the workshop were acting as partners. They showed a strong
interest in improving the relationship to the recreational
and airsports aviation community. During the two years time
since EASA was officially established as Aviation Agency of
the EU the original staff experienced a steep learning curve
which resulted in a better and more complete understanding
of the airsports system in the 25 member states. It is now
acknowledged that
EAS is representing the expertise in that field of aviation,
the EAS advice is well accepted."
This Workshop Part M dealt with matters of no concern for
hang gliding and paragliding. EASA shows no intention to deal
with our affairs now or in the future.


20th October 2005
News from Brussels
An important issue is the redesign of European airspace.
Restructuring of upper-airspace has been decided upon. Lower
airspace issues finally resulted in a decision of Eurocontrol
to recommend not to define a common Lower Airspace
Level for the member-States. Regulation of lower
airspace is left to the National Authorities. This is a satisfactory
result – however, national developments should be monitored
carefully by our Members!
Another issue of great concern was the regulation for charging
air navigation services where an intended coverage
of VFR traffic would impact our community. The issue is suspended
at European level, also by pressures from EAS, but again National
regulators can impose unsatisfactory rules.


9th June 2005
EU Sports Consultation Conference on 14/15 June in Brussels
The EU is interested to identify areas in which an EU action
could present an added value in promoting the social function
of sport in relation to initiatives already developed by sporting
organisations and Member States. One of the questions to be
addressed: How can sport contribute to social cohesion in
Europe?
The European Commission has convoked this Consultation Conference
as part of its efforts to consult with all major stakeholders
on the present and future interplay between the EU and sport
– how best to match expectations. During two days, representatives
of the European sport movement, including Olympic and non-Olympic
sports, big and small organisations, elite and mass sports,
academics and NGOs active in the field of sport, have the
opportunity to make their voice heard and to share their different
experiences and perceptions. In coordination with FAI - who
formally represents sports matters with the EU - it is agreed
that a Europe Air Sports delegation will attend the Sports
Conference, since two important issues have a potential impact
on regulatory matters where Europe Air Sports represents the
air sports community.

27th April 2005
Lobbying
on national level
 |
Lobbying on European level has to be accompanied
by lobbying on national level. This
article shows an example of national lobbying in the
UK where the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
has joined the “GA Alliance” together with
other national airsports organisations.
Now the Under Secretary of State has met with GA Alliance
members and so connections on ministerial level have been
established. |


27th April 2005
Annual General Meeting of Europe Airsports (EAS)
At the EAS meeting in Friedrichshafen at 23. April 2005 the
president Sir John Allison gave an impressive description
of EAS in his presidents
report. It is worth reading!
The board election brought new board members:
Frank Peter Doerner (Germany) a lawyer specialized in European
Law and Aviation Law, Marcel Felten (Luxemburg) former TO
Airspace and Jean Paul De Looff (France). The re-elected Louis
Berger (Belgium) continues to hold good connections to the
European Commission and European Parliament.
The EAS president offered to the FAI, the European Unions
(such as EHPU) and the national Aero Clubs to send for each
an observer to the bureau meetings. The EMF
(European Microlight Federation), the EGU (European Gliding
Union) and the EHPU agreed to send Roland Stuck as their observer.
The aero modellers have not yet founded an European Union
but are considering the foundation. The EPU (European Parachuting
Union) is not an EAS member because of money reasons but has
been represented in this EAS meeting.
For the EHPU it makes sense to agree that the EGU president
Roland represents the Unions in the EAS board during the next
year, because the EGU has the same intentions in Airspace
matters as the EHPU. There is a close and friendly relationship
between the EHPU and the EGU. While hang gliding and paragliding
is exempted from EU regulations on licensing, airworthiness
and maintenance - gliding is not. As a result the EGU has
to deal with much more urgent European regulation problems
than the EHPU.
During the EAS meeting the representatives for powered flying
and gliding expressed their concern about the EASA opinion
on maintenance and the unwillingness of EASA to take on board
the EAS proposals. (We are exempted from this regulation.)
Knowing that the European Commission tends to accept EASA
opinions the EAS meeting agreed a strategy to tackle the problem.
The EMF presented their wish to propose to EASA a new definition
of microlights which is currently described in Annex
II of EC Regulation N.1592/2002. The EMF wishes to raise the
maximum take off mass to 600 kg. As changes of Annex II will
also affect other airsports the EAS has tasked a working group
with the creation of a new Annex II draft. It should then
be proposed to the European governing bodies by the EAS.


21st April 2005
Annual report on EAS activities
The report
of the Secretary General of Europe Airsports gives an
overview about the efforts taken last year.

19th April 2005
Rudi Schuegraf - new EAS Program Manager
 |
The European Airsports organisations
such as the EHPU coordinate their efforts within Europe
Airsports (EAS).
Europe Airsports has hired a Program manager with the
financial help of EHPU in order to further professionalize
their work in particular towards the European Parliament,
the European Commission and the European Aviation Authority
(EASA). The duties of the manager are
- Support the role of the volunteer, elected Board
and its technical officers
- Manage the internal process of analysing and responding
to regulatory developments and initiating policy and
position papers
- Source all information relevant to developments
in civil aviation regulation in Europe, assimilate,
analyse and disseminate summaries
- Manage the EAS programmes in co-ordination with
its wide network of air sport organisations, technical
experts and interested parties
- Develop and maintain wide knowledge-based network
of contacts in aviation
- Conduct research into specific aviation regulatory
areas.
|
The EAS Board has decided that,
as from June 2005, the duties of the Programme Manager
will be taken over by Mr. Rudolf Schuegraf. The former
Starfighter and PPL-A pilot has worked as Secretary General
for the German Aero Club for several years. Since 1991
he has worked voluntarily for the EAS as a member of task
forces of several European Authority bodies where he gained
a great deal of experience and insight. |


12th April 2005
European Charging Scheme for Air Navigation Services
This new Commission
regulation draft is based on a proposal made by Eurocontrol.
The good news is in article 9:
"Member States shall exempt from charges: a) flights
performed by aircraft of which the maximum take-off weight
authorisied is less than two metric tons."
But still it is only a draft.

11th April 2005
Report from the Eurocontrol General Aviation Day
 |
During the General Aviation
Day of Eurocontrol in Brussels at 8. April 2005 the Europe
Airsports President Sir John Allison adressed the conference
on behalf of the national Aero Clubs and the Airsports
Unions like the EHPU. You can find his speech here.
EHPU has been represented by EHPU Secretary General Klaus
Tänzler, who attended the conference together with
the EHPU Airspace specialist Chris Bouman (a Dutch hang
glider pilot, who works for Eurocontrol) and Hanspeter
Denzler from the Swiss Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
(SHV).
The General Aviaton Day brought clarification that for
the time being Eurocontrol will not propose regulation
for the Airspace below FL 195 if the European Commission
accepts this which is likely. That means the national
regulations will stay for the airspace used by us during
the next years. But work for below FL195 will continue
through Eurocontrol working arrangements, such as the
Task Force A, which will need continued attention, as
this will be an important basis of what states will do
without regulation in place, and of course a basis for
any future regulation. |
Another concern of aisports pilots is
that in the future also VFR airspace users might be
charged for using airspace by control service providers.
Up to now only IFR airspace users have to finance control
services which are provided also to VFR airspace users.
Eurocontrol stated that it is up to the states to make
exemptions from the charging but it is a request of
the European Commission that cross subsidies must be
made transparent.
Here you find some of the presentations made on: Mode
S, Charging
Policy, Airspace
Classification. |


6th April 2005
General Aviation Day of Eurocontrol on 8 April 2005
The yearly General Aviation Day is an important meeting
to get an update on developments that could affect General
Aviation. The majority of participants and subjects will be
on issues more related to motorised General Aviation (IFR
and VFR), but it is also the adequate forum for the European
Airsports organisations to make their points. Therefore EHPU
will attend the meeting. One of the issues at hand: We want
to avoid fees for using certain airspaces. A
Charging Scheme for Air Navigation Services has been drafted
already by Eurocontrol and there is an Exemption
Table relating to the Charges.

31st March 2005
EASA Fees and Charges regulation
The implications of this new regulation will be discussed
at the General Meeting of Europe Airsports in Friedrichshafen
on 23 April, where delegates of the EHPU and other Airsports
Organisations will be present. EHPU seeks to avoid EASA fees
and charges for our sport.
New Fees
and Charges regulation (pdf).

|