Fai Aviation & Space Education Commission (C.I.E.A)
FÉDÉRATION AÉRONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONAL
FAI AVIATION & SPACE EDUCATION COMMISSION (C.I.E.A)
MEETING HELD AT THE AERO CLUB D’ITALIA, ROME, ITALY
ON MARCH 29, 30 & 31, 2001
M I N U T E S
Present:
In The Chair : Mr. Raymond J. JOHNSON, President
AUSTRIA ……………………………………Mr. Sepp Hannes SCHLAGER, Delegate
FINLAND ……………………………………Mr. Osmo JALOVAARA,
CIEA President of Honour
FRANCE ………………………………….…Mr. Roland PRÉ, Delegate
…………………………………………….….Mrs. Suzie GEBB, Young Artists Contest
Jury President
GERMANY ……………………………….…Mr. Klaus STRIENZ, Delegate
ITALY ………………………………………..Contessa Maria Fede CAPRONI, Delegate
………………………………………………..Mr. Carlo MARCHETTI, Alternate Delegate
& CIVA Representative
………………………………………………..Mr. Enzo CISARO, CIA Representative
JAPAN ……………………………………….Ms. Sachie SAKASAI, Delegate
NETHERLANDS ……………………………Mr. Michiel M. W. KASTELEIJN, Delegate
& CIEA 2nd Vice President
RUSSIA …………………………………..…Prof. Dr. Vladimir BRUSOV, Delegate
………………………………………………..Ms. Liubov L. KIRIY, Translator
SPAIN ……………………………………….Mr. Gabriel GOMILA FRAU, Delegate
………………………………………………..Mr. Rafael Garcia SOLSONA, Observer
SWITZERLAND ………………………….…Mr. Charles-Henri THEODOLOZ, Delegate
UNITED KINGDOM …………………….….Mrs. Sheelagh BAILEY, Delegate
& CIEA 1st Vice President
U.S.A. …………………………………….… Mr. Gordon HOFF, Delegate
…………………………………………….….Mr. Kirk S. THOMAS, CIEA Secretary
………………………………………….…….Dr. Mervin K. STRICKLER, Consultant
FAI :Mr. Max BISHOP, Secretary General & CIEA President of Honour
NOTE:These Minutes reflect the order of the Agenda and do not necessarily correspond with the order in which they were discussed.
ITEM 1.OPENING PROTOCOL
1.President’s Opening Remarks. CIEA President Johnson welcomed everyone to Italy and expressed our gratitude to Contessa Caproni and the Aero Club d’Italia for hosting us this year in Rome. Mario Testa, President of the Aero Club d’Italia, also thanked everyone for coming to Italy for this meeting and for the work of the CIEA in disseminating educational information. He also thanked the Contessa for her organizational work for this meeting, which is the first important international meeting to be held in the new aero club building here in Rome. President Johnson then asked everyone to introduce him or herself.
2.Apologies For Absence. Apologies for absence were received from:
Mr. Malcolm YEO, Delegate Australia
Mr. Martin DILLY, Delegate New Zealand
Ing. Aleksandar STOJANOVIC, Alternate Delegate Yugoslavia
Mr. A. Ihsan TUNA, Delegate Turkey
Mrs. Dorota WLODARCZYK, Delegate Poland
3.Minutes of the Meeting Held In Lausanne, Switzerland on 5 & 6 July, 2000. Ms. Sachie Sakasai pointed out that her name had been misspelled. The Minutes were approved as amended.
4.Discussion Paper Announcement. President Johnson distributed a discussion paper on the future of the CIEA and announced that the Delegates would be discussing this paper in small groups on the following day.
ITEM 2.FAI REPORT
4.Mr. Max Bishop reported on FAI activities and developments in the past year.
A.Last year was very important for FAI as after 20 years of discussion, the General Conference agreed to a new organizational structure. The FAI Council was eliminated and replaced by an Executive Board consisting of 6 Directors and the FAI President. All the Committees of Council also disappeared, and the Board now handled all their work, with each Director in charge of a part of the old responsibilities. The Board has already met twice and is more responsive than the old Council. A subcommittee of the Board is also looking at membership and financial issues at this time.
B.World Air Games. The Spanish organizers have not gotten the levels of funding they had anticipated, but FAI is confident that they will come through with a great World Air Games in the end.
C.TV Contracts. For 2 years running FAI has been working on a project through Trans World International, a major TV sport distributor, to make films on air sport which have been distributed all over the world. There has been a steep learning curve for FAI, but it has been worth it. Now FAI has signed a contract with the Discovery Channel, which is keen to keep working with us in years to come. FAI will cover the World Air Games with news clips and documentaries. TV still has not been the financial breakthrough FAI had hoped for as they are finding that this is more difficult than they hoped. FAI will be setting up a Business Unit to take care of this in future.
D.The new FAI President, Mr. Wolfgang Weinreich (GER), is an active glider pilot who is leading FAI well.
ITEM 3.CIEA BUREAU REPORT
5.Only fragmented meetings have taken place since the last plenary, but the Bureau had a full meeting this morning. The President had invited Osmo Jalovaara, CIEA President of Honour, to attend the meeting. Everyone has received the report President Johnson made to the FAI General Conference in October. The President also met with the Air Sport Commission Presidents while there, and has made good contacts with them concerning outreach to young people. He also met with a representative of the Environmental Commission about airports, and he has proposed to his President that we meet with them at the next FAI General Conference in Montreaux, Switzerland.
6.Analysis of the last 10 years shows that only half of our Delegates come regularly to the CIEA Plenary Sessions. However, it appears that those who do not attend do read the Minutes and mailings. We have e-mail addresses for most of the Delegates and hope to use the Internet more as a communication tool. The CIEA President will issue a quarterly bulletin via e-mail and post in addition to the usual ciea-com-l mailing list communications.
7.The President noted that some National Reports had been received and distributed in advance of the meeting. The early arrival of the reports made it easier to fully read and digest the substantial information in them, while those first seen at the Plenary Meeting often were overlooked. He felt that it might be best to have the National Reports distributed to the Delegates before the Plenary in the future.
8.The President and Bureau felt that it was time for the CIEA to re-establish a new focus for the Commission’s work. It was noted that when Mr. Jalovaara became President, we changed our focus to begin creating usable materials. Now that this has been accomplished, it is now time to re-focus once again.
ITEM 4.NATIONAL REPORTS
9.Australia. (Annex 1) See written report. Aviation education in Australia is undertaken in four areas: 1) Air Training Corps, a youth organization tied to the Air Force; 2) Air League, a youth body similar in organization to the Boy Scouts; 3) Secondary schools which have aviation in their curricula; and 4) University degree programs aimed at producing professional pilots.
10.Austria. (Annex 2) See written report. 2000 was the centenary of Austrian Aero Club. Many activities took place and the finals for the cyber-flying contest will take place in Vienna in June. The new glider-flying simulator has been used by 1000 children so far, and is very popular. The government is providing money for cheap glider training for young people and the use of the simulator helps get them interested at a young age. The Aero Club hopes that there will be a breakthrough for the future in the schools by the end of the year.
11.Finland. The Finnish Aero Club has been having activities and promotions as usual. But new extra-curricular activities include ones with the Red Cross instructing young people about first aid and then with aeromodelling instructors teaching kids about models. Now the Aero Club is using parascending to interest children as young as 12 to bridge the gap between aeromodelling and gliding, which has a minimum age of 16.
12.France. (Annex 3) See written report. The ‘Wings of the City’ program, with 15 young people, aged between 18 and 25, built an aircraft entirely without adult help. Now all of them have found jobs or started getting their qualifications in the industry. Virtual cyber-flying licenses are available at . More than 500,000 people are participating in this program and it is now available on a CD. France had 800 participants in the Young Artists Contest, which is a large increase from previous years. The French National Association of Youth, Science and Technology is one of the most dynamic in France, with many youth programs taking place in the summer for up to 10,000 youngsters. The Association also has a link with a television program where the young people can win a trophy.
13.Germany. (Annex 4) See written report. Nothing special has happened this last year. However, two universities published two good books on aviation education, aimed at primary schools. Also, the device mentioned last year for attaching powered aero models to a pole with bearings has been perfected now. With this, even a beginning young person can launch, and land, an aero model. Also included in the report is information on the European Space Agency, also available on the web at . Mr. Streinz and his students also started a project with a local company to create a rocket launch system using pressurized water, with very good PR results.
14.Italy. Mr. Marchetti reported that last autumn the Aero Club tried an experiment by meeting with the top grades of two high schools (400 pupils) and found that most or the interest in aviation came from girls. The Aero Club divided the pupils into groups of 20-25 (with teachers in each group) for a 20 minute film on sport aviation and then 20 minutes of discussion about the possibilities of a young person learning to fly, followed by another 20 minutes devoted to filling out a questionnaire on sport aviation (history, technical questions) and also to check their aptitude for flying. The best scoring pupils received a flight from the Aero Club and also an hour on a flight simulator (courtesy of Alitalia). Next year the Aero Club will expand this program to other areas of Italy. Also, the military and a local town will set up a campus for students to study aeronautics, with room for high school students included. This will take a couple of years to get EU financing, but the Delegate will make a more detailed report next year. Maria Fede Caproni reported that 200,000 people have come to the Caproni Aeronautical Museum in Trento, and 3000 disadvantaged children came for classes and also got some experience with ballooning and gliding. The museum specializes in creating exhibitions for new artists using aviation subjects.
15.Japan. (Annex 5) See written report. This past year the primary activities of the Aero Club have been promoting sky sports to children by taking advantage of existing events. This year they used the World Parachuting Championships as a draw and attracted 500,000 visitors, including 3000+ school children. The Aero Club also distributed copies of the Young Artists Contest winning paintings and managed to get 900 entries this year, compared with only 200 last year. The Aero Club also established a new organization, the Young Air Sports Promotion Working Group, for creating youth activities to promote youth activities. Mr. Bishop pointed out that Ms. Sakasai had organized the World Parachuting Championships very well.
16.Netherlands. (Annex 6) See written report. New activities for the Aero Club including the promotion of aeromodelling and new setup of summer camps (for young people ages 12 – 20’s) are building together with success. Gliding has had the development of a new training program supported by government for youngsters 16-18 years old. The IACE program expanded with new countries and this is the 50th anniversary of Netherlands participation in IACE. There are also new improved museums in Netherlands, which will hopefully be joining the FAI Recommended Museum program in the near future.
17.Russia. (Annex 7) See written report. There are many problems in Russia, including language and educational disorganization, but it is very important to work on the foundations of youth education. There is no government support for aerospace education for young people. But last year many youth camps were organized all over the country.
18.Spain. (Annex 8) See written report. Activities in Spain were similar to last year. The Young Eagles program is still popular. The World Air Games will have a youth camp at Burgos with paragliding, hang gliding, powered aviation and aeromodelling for Spanish young people. The organizers held a two-day camp last year in preparation. There will also be a conference for the young people there on aviation and a seminar for teachers. This will also be good PR for the Young Artists Contest and other youth camps. Now, though, Young Eagle flights are forbidden without commercial licenses because they are seen as tourist flights. Mr. Frau and others, including institutions, are trying to re-frame these flights as free, educational programs and not commercial activity to get the government to change its mind.
19.Switzerland. (Annex 9) See written report. The Swiss Aero Club had some organizational changes last year, with some problems, but all is going well now. The Young Eagles of Switzerland were launched in September. Now that spring is almost here, they will really go into action. The Young Artists Contest last year had 755 entries – the best number ever. Also the Aero Club is continuing with aviation education in the schools – there is an after-school program in Wednesday afternoons, culminating with an hour-long flight for each student. There is a need to translate everything into three languages, which is a bit of a problem, as well as the need to organize activities in each Canton and state. But the Aero Club is pleased with its progress so far.
20.United Kingdom. (Annex 10) See written report. Due to the way the air sport organizations are constituted, getting information can be a bit difficult. This year is the centenary of the Royal Aero Club. The Young Eagles are still very successful. All four students sent through the ACE (Air Careers Exchange) program in Minnesota have gone on to become pilots and have career prospects in aviation.
21.USA. (Annex 11) See written report. There are three main things to report this year. First is the Young Artists Contest, which did well with 33 states out of 50 participating and with 10,500 entries. The number of entries has slipped a bit, so more work must be done. The ‘Flight 2003 Commission’, established by NAA to celebrate the centenary, is to be run by Alternate Delegate Debbie Galloway, who will create aviation education activities all over the country. The NAA also is planning a national meeting in April, 2001, to give more focus and direction to the 44 sport aviation groups in the country, and to bring everyone together for a common goal. There is a shortage of aviation technicians and pilots, and industry is starting to take note of this, so money will be available for Junior High and High schools in the future.
22.Yugoslavia. (Annex 12) See written report. The Aeronautical Union organized the Young Artists Contest in southern Serbia last year. Also, in Mr. Stojanovic’s hometown, they have organized an Elementary School for Astronautic & Rocket Technical Education. He feels that in addition to Young Artists Contest, perhaps CIEA could organize a Space Scale Model Building Contest?
ITEM 5.CIEA WORKING PROJECT REPORTS
23.World Air Games Youth Camp. The site for the camp was moved to Burgos, the aerobatic competition site. There will be 30 young people attending, all Spanish. Rooms with beds have been arranged. Activities include Paragliding with instructors, aeromodelling (the youngsters will build control-line model planes and fly them), talks by Delta wing (hang glider) instructors, flights in a trike (microlight), motor flights in planes from Burgos and also Ultralights. Aviation history will be covered, as well as aerodynamics, meteorology and aviation careers. Aerobatic champions will discuss their sport and the young people will see part of the competition. There will also be campfires and games. The dates will be June 24 through July 1 and the cost will be 35,000 pesetas (about $200) per student. There are already 20 entries for the camp.
24.Aviation/Space Related Youth Camps. (Annex 13) See written report. Also see the Swiss Camp follow-up written report (Annex 14). Mr. Hoff passed out a sheet detailing what each country is doing, taken from the surveys returned. Many countries are holding youth camps now, in association with many other groups. There is a growing interest, and this could be a growth area for youth involvement in aviation education. Mr. Theodoloz wondered what happened to the young people who attended these camps – did any go on to become pilots or have aviation careers? In Switzerland, out of 300 kids attending their camps, 12 got licenses, 5 went into hang gliding, 10 got gliding licenses, 1 got a parachute license and 20 got air force pilots licenses while others went into aviation mechanics, etc. This information was sent to the local Aero Clubs in Switzerland. The goal is to motivate kids to go further on into aviation. Follow through is very important.