posted Nov 8th, 2005 - The NSL News story on October 17 had provided an update of the "Pete Allum Case" and FAI's revised rules for international eligibility.

The NSL News story on October 23 followed up with an update how the new FAI rules would work for Thomas Hughes.

Most of the people who have been involved in the rules discussion were on site at the FAI World Cup 2005 at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. The NSL News used the opportunity to ask questions and collect information and feedback.

IPC President Patrice Girardin took the time to discuss the whole story with the NSL News and was more concerned with the way how it came to the newly revised eligibility rules. He had the impression that it was the special interest of the Italian Aeroclub that dominated the path toward the rule change.

Italy's IPC Delegate, Sara Sacchet, was on duty in Eloy as the Chief Judge for Formation Skydiving. She was very happy with the FAI ruling and said that she does not feel that the decision was only based on Italy's special interest. She thought that the "Pete Allum Case" was only the trigger for a clean-up of the eligibility rules, which was overdue anyway.

The ruling is not official at this point since FAI and the Italian Aeroclub still have to approve the new language, which is currently in the hands of the FAI attorneys. However, the language of the new eligibility rules is already agreed on, and Sara Sacchet does not see any reason why the Italian Aeroclub would not approve it.

This means that Sinapsi PD with Pete Allum will join the pursuit of 4-way Open medals at next year's World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Germany. Sinapsi PD member Livio Piccolo was also on site in Eloy and competed at the FAI World Cup 2005 by filling an open slot for the Italian 8-way team Ex3mo.

Sara Sacchet and Livio Piccolo were both very happy to know that the near future of the Italian national team has been cleared. Livio Piccolo competed together with his former Sinapsi PD team member Marco Arrigo in the Italian 8-way team and helped to post the highest result in Ialian 8-way history with a 14.5 meet average in Eloy. Marco Arrigo had joined the Italian 8-way team after leaving Sinapsi PD and already competed at the Malevsky Cup 2005.

Livio Piccolo will soon be back to the 4-way business. Sinapsi PD will begin with a training camp at Skydive DeLand next week. The motivation is probably on the highest level possible since it will be the first camp with the security of elgibility for the line-up with Pete Allum.

There is a very good chance that the Ialian team will also post the first scores after passing this important milestone. Sinapsi PD members mentioned earlier that the team has the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2005 on the training agenda. The team is familiar with the event after competing as a guest team at Fantasy of Flight already in 2001 and 2003.

Thomas Hughes might compete at SkyQuest 2005, as well. However, his future as a competitor is still wide open. He worked at SkyVenture Arizona while the teams competed at the World Cup. He visited the competiton site at Skydive Arizona whenever his tunnel work was done.

The NSL News also met with USPA's Chair of the Competition Committee, Marylou Laughlin, in Eloy. The NSL News questions were related to Thomas Hughes' situation. Marylou did not see any serious problems for his possible eligibility for a US team in 2006, as she confirmed that USPA usually adopts FAI/IPC rules.

USPA will make the final decision at the winter meeting of USPA's Board of Directors. The NSL News mentioned that Thomas Hughes could be asked to join DeLand Fire or Arizona Airspeed in the meantime. Marylou Laughlin answered that she cannot make the final call by now. However, there does not seem to be anything in the way for Thomas Hughes to be eligible for US teams in 2006, as Pete Allum is now for Italy.