22/09/2025
A must read for all pilots.
An open letter to the FAI, PWC and all the competition scene:
I never thought I would say this, but right now I am totally disgusted by what the culture of high-level competition flying has become. At every other event, someone dies or gets seriously hurt, and it is considered "normal". We turn the page quickly, saying it is the risk we all take and should accept it, bla, bla, bla. To a point where organizers don't even pay respect by issuing public statements. Where trusted organizations are knowingly taking us to places where a higher risk of incidents is a guarantee, because of the terrain or local conditions. Like the one in China that I abandoned. Money and politics often come first, while safety is not really an important consideration. Many times, if you were not there or did not have a friend at the event, you wouldn't even know about the accidents that happened. And if you know that someone got hurt, you often need to talk to a close friend to learn more. You need to become a private detective to find things out.
The 6th of July 2011, in Piedrahita at the World Championships, was a very dark day for our sport. Two experienced pilots in two separate incidents lost their lives and several others threw reserve. The FAI cancelled the event. It was the end of the Open Class (non-certified gliders) era and the CCC class was born. It was the only time when radical changes were enforced. Thankfully, it has never happened ever since, but we still keep losing people way too often. Do we really think it’s ok? Are you willing to take that risk? Or just stay ignorant believing it won't happen to you? At some point in my life I thought I would be ok to die for my passion, but 40 years and some close calls behind me, not anymore. It is easy for the one who goes, but the pain left behind is too hard to live through, over and over again. Do we really need to witness another double fatality to open our eyes again? I think we can do better!
- Why is nobody seriously talking about how to make the sport safer?
- Why are we not required to own a GPS Satellite tracker as a backup, instead of only trusting our lives on cellular network based trackers?
- Why nobody ever have to provide a video proof that she/he has the necessary experience stalling a CCC glider in order to qualify for a high-level event?
Instead, we are back at the limits like before, only flying with more complex harnesses that brake more spines and continue to argue about performance and scoring related issues in every meeting about the future.
The solution?
Besides the topics above, I am suggesting to step down to Sports Class (EN-C) level for World Cup and CAT1 events would be a good way to start. Many will hate me for saying this and might call me a p***y or whatever. I couldn't care less! I guess comps with CCC wings will remain to exist for a while. The resistance will be strong, but something needs to be done rather quickly, my friends! Why not try it out for one season and see how it goes? I feel like more and more people are welcoming the idea in private discussions, but they don't dare to speak up. While the evolution of CCC gliders is stuck for years, the EN-C performance became mindblowing, with both safety, maneuverability, and fun factors highly elevated. There is no real reason to fly CCC anymore, except for personal pleasure and goals, like chasing records or the love of experiencing maximum performance. After 3 full seasons of the SRS with 120 pilots each event, there were zero fatalities. It is time to think about that. I believe there are many “retired legends” who got tired of everything I’m talking about here a very long time ago and stopped because of the risk associated, but would be happy to come back.
Today, I was happy to learn that my friend and a very respectable figure in the competition scene, Julien Garcia, the french competition coach is sharing my worries and is in support for a serious change to improve the safety in competitions. After telling him that I was going to publish something, he asked me to paste the translation of the intro of a book that he is working on here.
Thanks Julian for sharing:
"Preamble
Accidents
Paragliding competition, like paragliding in general, generates its share of deaths and injuries. We are a small community, and many of our friends lose their lives every year. I won't name any specific names because there have been too many and my grief can't be prioritized, but I've lost count of my friends, and I've already lost two athletes from our federal performance project in just a few years. Lives, broken families, trauma galore, and great emptiness when night falls.
I don't want to trot out the numbers and talk statistics, but the accident rate in our activity and in international competition is not trending in the right direction. Despite this otherwise little-disputed reality, our community is relatively impervious and abnormally resilient to the accidents generated by our shared passion. Everyone manages their own path and their own grief. Most loved ones choose to continue flying. Others are silently stopping, and things seem to barely change in terms of safety from one year to the next. I was the first to believe that competitive paragliding was a safe activity, and I have often even said that it was safer than traditional practice in the sense that it offered a more rigid framework that I considered effective and protective. Today, I no longer believe that our activities are "safe" either in competition or in leisure, and through these lines I would like to invite us to look ourselves straight in the mirror. First, I will detail the myths and mechanisms that underlie this surprising community resilience. Then I will adjust the focus to competitive practice and current safety issues. [...] "
Condolences and prayers to the beloved ones of all our friends who are not here with us anymore...
I invite you to have a civilized discussion in the comments.
