Covid-19 editorials
News from 6 April 2020. Last updated on 24 April 2020: some information may have changed. Latest news
It all starts on the ground!
Plan to acquire federation airfields.
This quite special period lets us look differently at the essential things. In aviation, being deprived of flying is a chance to remember that everything starts from the ground. France, a pioneer of aeronautics, has always benefited from very high-quality aerodrome infrastructure. A few years ago, the DGAC heritage committee published a remarkable Atlas of aviation airfields, available online. After the very dynamic phases of the pioneers, the Popular Front and the post-war reconstruction, State policy took a completely different turn over the last 20 years.
The transfer of airfields from the State to local authorities from 2007 onwards has caused a great many difficulties, closures, challenges and taxes. The battles over the postponed plan to privatise ADP are a recent example. Defending existing airfields seems to be the only "development" policy. It takes up the Federation's energy on cases that are always very specific, based on two principles:
- As far as possible, carrying out coordinated action with other disciplines and all users (within the CNFAS) on the one hand.
- And on the other, tackling the problem early, before the situation gets stuck.
To this end, the Federation has set up a legal ticket system with the Federation's lawyer (Maître Serge Conti). Get in touch with us.
But alongside airfields open to public air traffic, the microlight movement has the possibility of creating microlight strips, which are listed on our BASULM site.
The success of our movement owes a great deal to the richness and friendliness of these strips, which have very varied legal statuses: owned by a manager, run by an association renting farmland, and so on. However, the complexity of the regulations, issues of liability and insurance, and uncertainty over the long-term future of the land are obstacles to creating or keeping certain strips, particularly in regions structured around large cities.
On this basis, certain federations with similar problems have launched a land acquisition programme for their sport; this is the case of the French Free Flight Federation, the French Model Aircraft Federation and the French Motorcycling Federation. The Board of Directors has decided to do the same, and we will present acquisition options at the next General Assembly for certain ongoing projects, the aim, to be clear, not being to become "capitalist" but to be a player in the development and preservation of our flying fields in the general interest.
Taking into account the experience of other federations and adapting it to our particular features, the main principles of the federation airfield acquisition project are as follows:
- Acquisition of land by the federation in the most suitable way (outright purchase, long-term lease, AOT temporary occupation authorisation of public land for a maximum of 70 years...).
- Acquisition in regions where access to flying is difficult, with the aim of bringing areas back to life so that plots can be maintained and put to good use, contributing to safety with airfields useful for medical evacuations and fire protection.
- Management entrusted to an affiliated association, which will pay no rent but will take care of maintaining the airfield in line with precise specifications; the delegation will be renewable every three years.
- In particular, we will need to promote training, ensure diversity between disciplines, meet environmental requirements and preserve biodiversity by promoting clean technology: electric paramotors, unleaded petrol, photovoltaic hangar infrastructure... An affiliated company may be set up there in liaison with the managing association and the Federation.
The territorial network of our movement is a real asset and we certainly have opportunities to turn into something concrete by becoming part of local areas; airfields are also assets for municipalities in terms of outdoor sports and agritourism, complementing accommodation providers and the promotion of local products. If you have ideas or projects, we will study them together with the Regional Committees.
Contact us: acquisitionbasefederale@ffplum.org
In the meantime, don't forget the microlight strip safety kit. It's now or never to think about the future.
Let's stay at home and stay responsible.
Take care of yourselves!
Sébastien Perrot
President of FFPLUM
When we fly again!
If we look at the tragic experiences of the Covid-19 disaster around the world, it is certain that lockdown will last throughout April and probably a good part of May. Easing will also be very slow and gradual, in stages, with social distancing measures lasting some time and specific arrangements for receiving the public.
Since the start of this lockdown period, the Federation has considered that no flight should be undertaken whether for leisure or instruction, by affiliated clubs or companies.
Last week the French Aeronautical Federation (FFA) obtained from the authorities a certificate of participation in public-interest missions; for the sake of equality and consistency, we obtained a certificate specific to microlights. We invite you to use this legal tool with great care and restraint. It is valid for clubs. Our affiliated companies already have the possibility of such measures under the general framework of the decree of 23 March 2020. Everything rests on the responsibility of club presidents or company managers. For private owners, we invite them to turn to clubs or companies. We stress that there is no urgency whatsoever and that all this must remain exceptional in a period when the notion of the general interest and everyone's public-spiritedness are essential. From a purely technical standpoint, our machines can very well remain grounded for many weeks.
For the sake of clarity in a complicated period, we have prepared a Covid-19 Memo which will be updated. Below you will find examples of certificates of participation in missions of general interest issued by some DSACs, to be added to as more become available. If you have any doubt about the scope of this text, please contact the federation.
Despite our requests, we still have no precise answers on licence derogations for non-professionals in general aviation. As the European Agency and the DGAC have ruled on professionals for a period of four months, renewable for four months, it would be logical for the derogation to follow at least the same extension. So there is no short-term cause for concern. It would be desirable in the coming weeks, both at the aeronautical federations and at the DGAC, to favour simple, common and agreed decisions.
The main aim is to prepare the return to flying, which will happen in a homeopathic way when we are given the green light. To encourage all pilots to get back to the fundamentals with our instructors, the Federation has decided to raise the Return to Flying (REV) aid from €40 to €60. The application has been simplified further. You can register if you have not yet done so. We will put major resources into ensuring the quality of this restart.
Until then, let us be very attentive and set a collective example. More than ever, individualistic lapses in following the rules will affect everyone. We will also have to bear in mind that public opinion is getting used to some positive effects of this extraordinary period on the environment. We will therefore need to be particularly sensitive to this requirement in the use of our machines, which have many assets in their favour: lightness, modern engines, accessibility compared with traditional aviation, and a resolutely "fun" spirit coming from the free-flight culture.
But let's take it step by step, week by week. The Federation continues its work of contacting and supporting our organisations. A small clarification that is always useful: it is FFPLUM that supports, defends and promotes our activity, even though our microlights benefit everyone.
Take care of yourselves and your loved ones!
Sébastien Perrot
President of FFPLUM
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Nord
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Ouest
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Centre-Est
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Nord-Est
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Sud-Est
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Sud-Ouest
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Sud
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Océan Indien
Certificate of participation in a public-interest mission signed by DSAC Antilles Guyane
As if...
The Federation's General Assembly should have been held this Saturday at the headquarters of the Directorate General for Civil Aviation. I thank the DGAC staff and the employees of our Federation who prepared this key moment for our movement in advance. It has of course been postponed. We plan to hold the General Assembly on Saturday 29 August in the late afternoon during the Blois microlight show, followed by a big celebration. All of this is of course subject to how the current crisis develops.
Wall maps, posters and materials for clubs and affiliated companies will be distributed to you later. The Federation's physical head office has been put on standby but has not stopped. The team and employees are working every day, remotely, on all the ongoing projects.
We are neither receiving nor sending paper mail for the time being. All employees are now working from home. I wanted all the Federation's organisations to be contacted by head office to take stock. That will soon be the case for everyone.
In this period we all know the possibilities and the limits of remote working. Nothing beats discussion and physical presence, especially for a General Assembly. However, I wanted you to have the Federation's financial information, and I would like to give a brief progress report "As if" we were opening a General Assembly, around three questions: What objectives? What team? What tempo?
What objectives?
You will certainly have received the latest issue of ULM-Info (available here), in which the 2020 work programme is set out:
- Preparing the delegation of the microlight theory exam for implementation in early 2021
- Preparing the Microlight World Fair in Blois in 2021
- Paramotor world championship in the Paris region
- The new momentum from the creation of the National Sports Agency, which will let us develop our activity across the whole country with better-suited resources
These are only the priorities of the moment, which must not make us forget all the actions undertaken over the past three years, a summary of which, as regards safety and training, can be found in the editorial "Flight safety, training and class struggle". We also wanted to answer certain questions or controversies, hoping to reply argument for argument, action for action ("The Federation works for its members!"). This whole policy was launched from the "Generations ULM" programme, which has been updated for three years before each General Assembly, and these have been moments of constructive sharing.
One further novelty for 2020, which we mentioned last year. We want to create federation microlight strips in regions where access to flying and changes in land ownership are problematic, as the motorcycling, free-flight and model-flying federations do. We will put the principle to a vote at our "real" AG.
If we had to sum up in one sentence everything we have done for three years, we could say that the tremendous momentum of the microlight movement has not been matched by the human and financial resources needed to support our activity over the long term, in particular by supporting our instructors and our organisation managers. This is the groundwork we have undertaken. Without comparing ourselves with others, developing our own path, rebuilding our relationships with our main partners (Ministry of Sport, Ministry of Ecological Transition and DGAC, insurers) and creating new ones: ENAC, and soon the French Navy ("The sailors of the sky").
What team?
Its objectives can only be achieved with a fine team, of which I am very proud. A team of employees, a team of elected officials, supporters of everyone who wishes to join in its objectives. You will find an updated organisation chart here. You are welcome if you wish to join in the work undertaken. I want the team to keep growing around the divisions and also to renew itself periodically. If I had to name names, I would particularly like to thank two young Board members: Julien Tourbez, in charge of IT, and Océane Guinard, who leads, with Marie-Françoise Vallée Dubus, the superb youth team with very varied skills: broaden and rejuvenate, building on the experience of those with more experience, that's the equation!
What tempo?
For those who follow the life of the federations from a distance, which is tied to the Olympic cycle, we are in the last year of a four-year term. This year will obviously be very special, but we must always prepare what comes next, aware that time passes quickly, even in difficult moments. In the short term, we will need to prepare the restart as well as possible. In the long term, we will certainly need to rethink the main operating frameworks of traditional aviation. We have tremendous assets for that.
In 2020, if we look at the indicators, they are good: a rise in the number of members (over 500), a good flight safety trend (to be sustained over time), and balanced finances despite heavy investment.
From now on we will communicate every week through the newsletter.
Look after yourselves and your loved ones!
Courage to you all. We'll have great celebrations afterwards.
Sébastien Perrot
President of FFPLUM
Please find an extract from the draft financial report for 2019 by clicking here.
Optimists!
Pascal writes in the Pensées:
"When I have sometimes set myself to consider the various agitations of men, and the perils (…) from which spring so many quarrels, passions, undertakings bold and often evil, etc., I have often said that all the unhappiness of men comes from one single thing, which is that they do not know how to stay quietly in a room. A man who has enough to live on, if he knew how to stay at home with pleasure, would not leave it to go to sea or to the siege of a town."
For pilots, instructors and managers who are drawn to nature and mechanical sports, often passionate about the sea and the mountains, active in community life, and driven by a taste for passing things on and for projects, being confined is therefore a real mental revolution.
The frenzy of social media, the difficulty of working remotely, the cramped family quarters and the loss of the most basic points of contact in life do not make things easier. Yet, more than ever, it is thanks to our civic spirit and the support of the emergency services and all health professionals that we will get through this exceptional crisis, which is not a war in the classic sense of the word.
It therefore goes without saying, even if the authorities' communication may seem uncertain, that flights, even purely private ones, even above one's own home, must not be undertaken. The Federation does not make the regulations, and it is not for us to say that VFR flights are prohibited. A fatal accident, wrongly linked to a microlight by some media (we had it corrected), mobilised 28 firefighters. What more is there to say?
It also goes without saying that all calendar and administrative deadlines, examinations and refresher requirements concerning microlights will have to be postponed. It is likely that forthcoming ordinances will clarify this point, which concerns all administrations.
It also goes without saying that this crisis will deeply affect the resources devoted to sport and leisure activities. But it would be a mistake to want to sacrifice them right now. Aviation has always inspired dreams; it is a sensational experience. Young people will need meaningful activities, sport and culture more than ever, rather than hollow virtual socialising or a sanitised digital workspace.
Despite this exceptional upheaval, we must stay optimistic, because science, which is "without borders" (like aviation), will overcome this pandemic. We must also be optimistic because our humanity will surely emerge stronger from this painful ordeal.
We must therefore prepare for the end of the crisis. The Federation remains at your service, and head office has adapted to work normally. We have set up a COVID-19 monitoring unit that supports event organisers, clubs and affiliated companies. The Executive Board meets every week (remotely). Elected officials and managers are listening to you. We will have to hold out for the long haul; this is a marathon, not a 100-metre sprint. We will communicate every week through the newsletter.
Any initiatives or ideas that could help collectively will be welcome. Going it alone is not on the agenda, nor are side issues.
Take care of your loved ones and of yourself.
