Crises?

On the occasion of Aerobuzz's 10th anniversary, of which the Federation is a partner, Bertrand Piccard, the guest of honour, whose charisma, feats and flying experience, including in microlights, are exceptional, looked back at the change in public perception of aviation over the past year or so. "Flight shame" became clearly perceptible at the last Le Bourget show. The "green vests" then took over from the "yellow vests".

Even if this "bashing" is often caricatured and violent, it would be a mistake to ignore it or to take refuge in old and often hackneyed arguments. "Green" communication on every front, on the cheap, is a stopgap that creates more scepticism than real solutions. In this context, it is not easy to stand up for "carbon sports" in the same way as boating or motorcycling. As far as our sport is concerned, there are many old prejudices, about noise as well as engines. The temptation of "let's stay hidden to stay happy" also has its limits in the long run. A privileged pastime in a constrained environmental context has little future as it stands.

And yet!

For Bertrand Piccard, there is a tremendous opportunity to reconcile the environmental crisis and the social crisis by returning to technology, creation and the true profession of engineer. In this context, and on a modest scale, our activity is dynamic and promising. Our fleet of machines is recent, with clean engines on machines that are inherently optimised to fly as light as possible. We still have French manufacturers, and the non-certified regulatory framework is an ecosystem that favours innovation. And today's microlights are a long way from the prejudices about our sport. Microlighting also remains an accessible activity. With 30% of paramotors, which also feed the other classes, and a very active second-hand market, we are not in the price range of some high-end machines that hide the forest. So for innovative, varied and accessible flying, microlighting is still a project for the future, and the success of our sport continues. This voice is not easy to get heard in public opinion, at a time when a video of a cat falling into a swimming pool will always get a bigger audience than a feat by Bertrand Piccard.

The fundamentals are sound, and our activity has a tremendous hand to (re)play!

Don't forget the 2020 licence!

Happy holidays

Sébastien Perrot

President of FFPLUM

ULM Info no. 110 - December 2019