General Assembly of the EMF

The EMF General Assembly was held on 30 October 2021 at the headquarters of the French Microlight Federation in Maisons-Alfort. As a reminder, the EMF (European Microlight Federation) brings together 22 countries and more than 60 000 microlight pilots in Europe.

Given the difficulties of travel within countries in Europe caused by health restrictions still in force, the EMF General Assembly was again held by videoconference, with 3 members of the EMF Board attending in person: Rieteke Van Luijt / Netherlands (treasurer), Hans Havager / Denmark (vice-president), Louis Collardeau / France (president), and 14 countries attending by video on Zoom. The FFPLUM headquarters served as base camp for organising this videoconference.

• As is traditional, the conference began with words of welcome from the host country's authorities: Sébastien Perrot (president of the FFPLUM), who spoke about the FFPLUM's 40 years and the success of the Mondial de l'ULM; and Pierre-Yves Huerre (head of the MALGH), who represented Damien CAZÉ, Director General of the DGAC. He stressed the quality of the constructive exchanges with the FFPLUM, explaining the importance of microlighting in France, which must remain safe, simple, responsible and accessible, but must also take new environmental issues into account; microlighting, through its declaration-based system, makes it possible to bring innovative solutions, with modern, cleaner engines, particularly in the development of electric propulsion.

• Louis Collardeau, EMF President, then gave an overall review of the year 2021, marked by the cancellation or postponement of several events such as Aero-Friedrichshafen. Nevertheless, most countries saw a good recovery in flying activity. In every country, the health crisis has increased ecological pressure and we will have to respond, by better quantifying the environmental impact of our activities. Microlighting is undoubtedly a less polluting, quieter and more modern form of powered flight than aviation, while leaving more room for innovation. We must also highlight the biodiversity spaces that our aerodromes and microlight strips represent. The organisation of our events, shows, competitions and meetings must also give greater consideration to sustainable development
• 2022: continued modernisation of the website, participation in events: Aero-Friedrichshafen, MULM Blois, sharing among EMF members of good environmental practice, safety and training.

• Rieteke Van Luijt (treasurer) presented the financial report, which shows good reserves allowing further actions to be pursued.

• Hans Palsson (Sweden) presented the work to modernise the EMF website and update the "Flying in Europe" pages.

• Paul Windey (Belgium) presented the foreseeable constraints on our activities in the future U-Spaces (airspace usable by unmanned aircraft), and the ongoing discussions led by EAS (Europe Air Sports) with EASA on the need for "conspicuity" based on electronic collision-avoidance devices for better safety. At its General Assembly, the EMF adopted and formalised in a letter to the EAS representative, explicitly asking for the possibility of supporting the use of simple, non-certified devices, including mobile-phone-based applications, which have the advantage of very good coverage at the low altitudes mainly used for U-Spaces.

• Camille Menard (France FFPLUM) presented the main lines of the 2021 MULM and the prospects for the 2022 MULM, with an invitation to every country to take part under the EMF banner.

• A round table with representatives of each participating country gave an overview of developments in microlighting: regulations, Opt-out, difficulties, trends…

• Jonas Sturla (Iceland) presented microlight activity in his country with a view to its joining the EMF.

• Votes: financial report, renewal of the Board, approval of Iceland's application. All votes were approved by a show of hands, unanimously.

From left to right: Rieteke Van Luijt, Sébastien Perrot (standing), Pierre-Yves Huerre, Hans Havager and Louis Collardeau ©FFPLUM

It was proposed and approved that the next EMF General Assembly be held in Blois, France, at the time of the Mondial de l'ULM 2022.

In summary, an EMF General Assembly full of varied topics and exchanges among participants, despite the constraints of videoconferencing. European microlighting is on a good footing, driven by the specifics of each country's national regulations, but with the awareness that this has the advantage of avoiding the risk of regulatory harmonisation that would inevitably come at the expense of freedoms. Even if this sometimes creates some constraints for intra-European flights, each EMF member country is working to simplify these with its supervising authorities.

Louis Collardeau

EMF President

https://emf.aero