The World Air Sports Federations FAI and CIAM
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is the global governing body for air sports. It was founded in 1905 and is a non-political, non-profit organization for the promotion of all air sports activities. More than 100 national associations are affiliated to the FAI and it regulates the sporting conditions of 2'000'000 air sportsmen of all kinds. The Aero Club of Switzerland is one of the founding members of the FAI and today the headquarters of the organization is located in Lausanne. The FAI's expenses are financed by contributions from the national associations and, on a case-by-case basis, by sponsors. All functionaries of CIAM work on a voluntary basis. The FAI secretariat in Lausanne and the websites are professionally managed and are also available to CIAM.
The department which deals with model aviation within the FAI is called CIAM or "Commission Internationale Aeromodelling". CIAM defines and administers the rules according to which the affiliated National Associations (NAC) conduct international competitions as well as World and Continental Championships in all model aviation categories. The National Associations have sporting sovereignty in their countries, which means they are the only ones authorized to issue sporting licenses to participate in World and Continental Championships, to conduct such events according to FAI rules, and to award corresponding titles. The official language of FAI/CIAM is English and the organs of CIAM are:
The Board of Directors ("Bureau")
He manages the administration and publishes the rules, the "Sporting Code" for all model flight categories.
The CIAM General Assembly („Plenary Meeting")
Each affiliated national association provides an official delegate with one vote each and the interests of the Swiss model pilots are represented by the CIAM delegates of the AeCS:
The General Assembly decides, with a simple majority, conclusively on:
- Adaptation of technical rules and procedures for models and competitions.
- Awarding of world and continental championships to organizers.
- Publication of an international calendar of events (Sporting Calendar)
- Presentation of awards to deserving athletes, functionaries and organizations.
- Election of officers within CIAM.
The General Assembly of CIAM is held each spring at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne-Ouchy. The conference language is English and non-voting observers are admitted and welcome.
The CIAM Expert Commissions ("Sub-Committees")
They deal with the technical rules of the individual categories. There are nine technical commissions for:
- F1 Free Flight: Ian W. Kaynes
- F2 Tetherred Flight: Bengt-O. Samuelsson
- F3A Aerobatics: Michael Ramel
- RC Gliding: Tomás Bartovsky
- F3C Helicopter: Horace G. Hagen
- F3D Pylon: Rob Metkemeyer
- F4 Scale: Narve L. Jensen
- F5 Electric Fight: Emil Giezendanner
- Space (Raketen): Srdjan Pelagic
- Education: Gerhard Wöbbeking
The decisions taken at the General Assembly are incorporated in the rules of the "Sporting Code Section 4" published every year. Edition "ABR" general rules for all categories and specific rules for categories F1 - F7 and SM (Space). The latest versions of these documents can be downloaded. So is the international calendar of events for FAI competitions.
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