posted Dec 19th, 2007 - The 2007 season is coming to an end, it is time to look forward to the events of next year and prepare the foundation for a successful new skydiving season. The International Parachuting Commission (IPC) is in charge of the rules for the sport. Max Bishop, Secretary General of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) has once again invited the IPC delegates of each nation to attend the annual meeting in January.

The meeting will be held in Paris, France, this time. It is scheduled for 22 - 27 January 2008. The agenda of the annual meeting includes reports of the 2007 events, evaluations of rules and events and proposals for changes. The IPC Formation Skydiving Committee prepares any rule changes for the 4-way and 8-way events, which are usually confirmed at the meeting by the general assembly of all IPC delegates.

Fiona McEachern from Australia is the Chair of the FS Committee. Dr. Rainer Hoenle from Germany, founder and manager of the Deutsche Sky Liga (DSL), is her Deputy Chairman. Carl-Erik Tuv (Norway), Anatoly Zhirov (Russia) and Vana Gulliver (South Africa) are committee members. Jérôme David (France) and Marc Hoornweg (Netherlands) are official Advisors for the committee.

FAI Judge Klaus Wellens from Germany used to be the third Advisor of the FS Committee. He passed away this year after months of illness, and Fiona McEachern reminded the IPC delegates of his great work for the sport:

"It was with much regret that the committee notes the passing of Klaus Wellens who was a very active advisor and well respected by all of us. He will be sadly missed."

The 2007 season was a smooth operation for Formation Skydiving competition. The report did not point out any serious trouble areas. The half-speed judging procedure was discussed between teams, judges and committee members at the Malevsky Cup 2007, and then again at the FAI World Cup 2007. This is the only topic that still causes controversial reactions on all ends and is on the agenda for the IPC Meeting in Paris. The NSL News will follow up on this topic.

Other parts of the rules need some clarifications and will only be fine-tuned. There is also a proposal in the works to allow a more flexible jump altitude for rounds in progress. Purpose of the modification is to get rounds completed from different altitudes, as long as the working time remains the same for all teams.

The dive pools for 4-way and 8-way remain almost completely unchanged, which speaks once again for the currently applied set of random formations and blocks. There has been a much better consistency for several years now, compared to the many changes of the dive pool in the past.

The only change in the dive pool is planned for Block 13 (Hammer - Hammer). The Tail position will no longer have a requested direction for the 270' turn. The arrow will be completely removed.

The current rules require the Point to turn away from the centerpoint of the formation, which is indicated by an arrow that points into the direction of a right-hand turn. All formations and maneuvers can be mirror-imaged, so the Point's turn could also be to the left if the first Hammer is built mirror-imaged.

The arrow for the Tail position points the other direction. This means that the Tail has to turn to the left if the Point turns to the right, and vice versa. Fact is so far that Point and Tail have to turn in opposite directions, determined by the position of the Point.

This scenario was even too complicated for some of the top judges in the world who did not detect a wrong maneuver at one of the major events this year. Similar mistakes occured at several smaller meets and gave enough evidence that the required turning directions can be confusing.

The proposed solution is very easy and logical. Nothing changes for the Point who still has to turn away from the centerpoint of the formation to complete the required 270 degrees. The turning direction for the Tail does not really make a difference for the second Hammer of Block 13. The Tail becomes the Point of the second Hammer, no matter whether it is after a 270' turn to the left or to the right.

This makes judging much easier. The judges will have to check only the turning direction of the Point (away from the center) and make sure that the Tail completes a 270' turn - either direction.

The only open question will be whether the teams will now find a better and faster technique for the same block maneuver. The rule change would open up a few more options how to perform the technique of Block 13. New videos of teams in training for 2008 will possibly show any differences.

This rule change is only a proposal at the moment and still needs to be approved by the IPC Meeting in January. The NSL News will follow up after the meeting in France.