posted Jan 9th, 2006 - The last NSL News story on January 3 mentioned that the Airspeed membership of Thomas Hughes for the World Meet 2006 still depended on a final word from USPA. Marylou Laughlin, USPA's Chair of the Competition Committee, explained for the NSL News at the World Cup 2005 in Eloy that the Board of USPA Directors usually adopts the FAI/IPC rule changes. She only had to wait until the final language of the eligibility rule would be provided by FAI/IPC.

The second to last step on Thomas Hughes' way to Germany was now completed. Max Bishop, Secretary General of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), sent the official wording of the new rule language to the Aero Club of Italy on January 6, 2006. He made clear in his message that this rule has to be applied "with immediate effect".

The FAI had to communicate the issue with the Aero Club of Italy directly due to a pending Italian appeal to an earlier FAI/IPC decision. The NSL News had reported on this issue extensively under the so-called "Pete Allum Case" headline.

Max Bishop's message to the Aero Club of Italy concludes the controversy as of the rules for international eligibility. Italy's IPC Delegate Sara Sacchet has already confirmed that she contacted the General Director of the Aero Club of Italy to officially withdraw the appeal.

FAI's Max Bishop also provided the official final language of the disputed rule section in his message to Sara Sacchet. The eligibility rules for international FAI competitions are defined in the General Section of the FAI Sporting Code.

The Italian IPC Delegate was glad to see that the rule change was made in this general part of the rules. The IPC Meeting at the end of January will not even have to deal with this topic any longer since it is not specific to Parachuting only. The on-line version of the FAI Sporting Code has not been updated yet. However, the current version of the General Section, including the last rule changes "with immediate effect", applies for each FAI sanctioned event, obviously including this year's World Meet in Germany.

Italy's national team Sinapsi PD with Pete Allum is already in full training swing with its second winter camp in DeLand, and Thomas Hughes is looking forward to his first training camp with Arizona Airspeed beginning at the end of this week. His friend Pete Allum is already past any possible obstacles, while Thomas Hughes still has to wait for the last and final step on his way to Germany.

USPA has scheduled the BOD winter meeting for February 17 - 19 in Eloy. This will be the time and date when the USPA Competition Manual will most likely be updated, according to the FAI rule change and USPA policy. Thomas Hughes will then be cleared to compete with Airspeed at the World Meet in Germany this year. The publication of FAI's revised official version of the FAI Sporting Code was the last missing piece in the rule puzzle. Now there are seven months left until the scores on the board in Germany will speak the final and most important word.