By Frank Eckard

The Delegates to the GAC meeting

The FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC) is responsible for overseeing
international air sport competitions and developing the rules for Rally, Precision and
ANR competitions and GA Records.

This year Switzerland hosted the annual Plenary Meeting of the FAI General
Aviation Commission (GAC). The meeting took place in Luzern on 26–27 February
2026.

South Africa has actively participated in the work of this Commission since it’s
inception.

We missed the diplomatic presence of Hans Schewbel following his retirement as
President last year. It is believed that he represented South Africa at every GAC
meeting since 1999, and his long service was widely appreciated.

When planning my travel, I chose to avoid the Middle East and instead flew via
Istanbul to Zurich — a decision that proved wise in hindsight.

The GAC Bureau has been meeting monthly via Zoom throughout the year, so much
of the preparation for the annual meeting had already been completed before the
plenary session.

Rally Subcommittee
The Rally Subcommittee reviewed the most recent World Rally Flying Championship
held in Ferrara, Italy. Several minor rule changes were agreed upon. These mainly
addressed the quality of training routes, and the definition of “envelope time” was
extended to include taxi time.

General Rules document
To simplify the competition rules for competitors and organizers, a proposal was
made last year to extract all provisions common to the various competitions and
place them into a new General Rules document. A draft was prepared by Frank
Eckard, and comments were received from the subcommittees. The Bureau will now
finalise this document.

FAI Athletes Working Group.
The FAI has proposed an Athletes W orking Group to give a direct voice to our
Athletes. The GAC is to propose one of its athletes to the working group.

Calendar of World Championship Events
2026
26th FAI World Precision Flying Championship – Toruñ, Poland
Training: Tue 4 Aug – Sat 8 Aug 2026
Competition: Sun 9 Aug – Fri 14 Aug 2026

2027
4th FAI WANR Championship – Zwickau, Germany
Training: 23 Aug – 29 Aug 2027
Competition: 30 Aug – 4 Sep 2027

2028
25th FAI World Rally Flying Championship – Greece
Training: Mon 15 May – Fri 19 May 2028
Competition: Sat 20 May – Fri 26 May 2028

Long Range Rally Events
Rallye Toulouse – Tarfaya
14 May 2026
Rallye Toulouse – Saint-Louis
19 September 2026

For further information, please contact: Frank Eckard

The closing dinner was held underneath the aircraft display in the Swiss Museum of
Transport