The Plenary Meeting of the FAI Aeromodelling Commission (CIAM) took place online on 14 November 2020.

Traditionally, this event is held in March or April at the FAI Secretariat; previously in Paris, France, and now in Lausanne, Switzerland. This year was to be no different, but the COVID-19 outbreak decided otherwise.

Nobody could have predicted such disruption, which explains the absence of a Plan B. This year, the CIAM Plenary could not take place as usual. Other Air Sports Commissions faced this unique situation with equal difficulties.

The CIAM Bureau carefully assessed the situation. It was important not to cancel or postpone the annual meeting, but to find a way to proceed differently while achieving the same results. Of course, nothing will ever replace face-to-face meetings and the opportunity to meet each other in person. However, instead of doing nothing, the Bureau decided to make use of the available technology to hold the meetings. For this purpose, the Bureau chose an electronic platform that provides the tools for the conference, elections and voting.

The Bureau had to resolve many issues. The main one was the time difference around the world and how to ensure a wide participation of delegates and observers. With that in mind, the Bureau decided to schedule all the Technical Meetings and the Plenary Session during weekends, when most people are at home.

The new web page www.fai.org/ciamplenary2020 was the core of the plan. It contains all the information available to the delegates prior to the event, and the decisions and the videos taken during the meetings. It will be available for several months.

We also ran elections for the Bureau, nominations and votes for the Sporting Code proposals.

Beside the decisions about the Sporting Code during the Plenary Meeting, important topics were also discussed such as:

• The future of CIAM-sanctioned events for 2021, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Communication between the involved parties (CIAM Bureau, Organisers and NACs) will be taking place until the end of the year. We hope not to have to consider cancellations for 2021 as well.
• A provision for all the Juniors who missed the opportunity to participate in competitions in 2020.
• The new rules about UAVs are affecting aeromodelling activities directly or indirectly. Authorities around the world communicate with each other, but not with CIAM. This means that different decisions are implemented in different places for the same matter. CIAM will take charge of the coordination to improve communication between all parties
• A decision was made to find a way to collect results of all the World or Continental Championships organised by CIAM from the early years. A dedicated web page will be created to honour the CIAM History and Heroes forever.
• In total, close to 15 hours were spent during the scheduled meetings. Forty-six NACs participated and over 100 delegates, experts, or observers attended the various meetings.

Links

• 2020 CIAM Plenary Meeting - Awards winners
• 2020 CIAM Plenary Meeting - Revised Events for 2021
• 2020 CIAM Plenary Meeting - Bureau Members

Article written by CIAM President Antonis Papadopoulos