01 = Colibri Diploma

This proposal was accepted by the 2014 Plenary (both parts)

Proposal from

Richard Meredith-Hardy (CIMA President)

Proposal title

Alteration to Colibri Diploma to provide for group awards.

Existing text

2.1 THE COLIBRI DIPLOMA (BL 12.11.1)
2.1.1 This diploma may be awarded each year by the FAI on a proposal from CIMA to an individual who is considered to have made an outstanding contribution to the development of Microlight flying by his action, work, achievements, initiative or devotion.

2.1.2 Each active member of FAI may submit the name of a candidate for consideration by CIMA which must reach the FAI Secretariat at least 2 months before the CIMA plenary meeting for inclusion in the agenda. Only one diploma is awarded annually.

New text (Part a)

New text (Part b)

Note 1 This is an FAI award in the gift of CIMA therefore if these proposals are accepted by CIMA then they cannot take effect until FAI Executive Board has agreed to make the same amendments to FAI Bylaws.

Note 2 If part a is accepted it would be useful if the Plenary could resolve how diplomas were physically produced in the case of joint awards. For example it could decide the Bureau should instruct Secretariat whether one physical diploma is issued to the group (as it might be to an aero club or corporate awardee) or duplicate diplomas are issued to each member of the group (as would be reasonable to an aircraft crew of two people).

Reason

Part a

There's nothing wrong with the current text except in one case, when the outstanding contribution is made jointly by more than one person, the current wording only provides for an individual.

CIMA has sometimes awarded this diploma to pilots for making a remarkable flight like it did to Dave Sykes for his flight to Australia, but the current wording prevents the award being given to a crew of two who did a similarly remarkable flight like Richard Foster & Richard Bird's flight to Capetown and back earlier this year in a C42 or Per T. Hoyland and Hakon Fosso who flew across the North Sea in a trike to celebrate the exact centenary of the first person to do it in a Bleriot. In either case the award could only be given to one or other of the crew even though the achievement was a joint effort, and that doesn't seem right.

The same thing could apply to other kinds of outstanding contribution which was in fact a group effort, absolutely no reason why they should not be jointly eligible for the Diploma.

Part b

Simply seeks to rationalize the deadline to the same one which is used for all other Plenary agenda items as per Bylaws 3.4.4. A detailed Agenda for each Commission meeting shall be prepared at the direction of the President and shall be sent to the FAI Head Office in time to allow the distribution to all approved Commission Delegates and the FAI Members by the FAI Head Office not later than forty five days before the date fixed for the meeting....