SIV Requirement for Competition Pilots

Discipline

Paragliding XC

What do we want ?

We want to ensure that competition pilots have the minimum skills required to actively handle their wing in critical situations.
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How do we achieve that ?

By introducing an obligatory SIV certification for competition pilots, which must be completed on the wing currently used in competition

Issue category :

Safety

rules

Comments

By andreacecchetto on Thu, 23 Oct 2025 - 14:07

I agree that anyone compeeting shuld have done SIV manouvers with an official SIV instructor
But doing an official SIV every time we change the glider is going to be really expensive, expecially for someone that is not already in a CCC.
Not every pilot in FAI1 competitions is using a CCC, so consider that.
I still do collapses, stalls, (SIV manouvers),... with my competition wing, but for actual training, not just for a certificate

By christiaandurrant on Thu, 23 Oct 2025 - 15:10

I would agree to mandatory SIV - not necessarily on the same model as raced.

By Jonas Prüssing on Thu, 23 Oct 2025 - 23:35

In the German league, we have a rule that you can only participate if you can demonstrate certain maneuvers with any wing of your choice.
After traveling through Asia for two years, I’ve noticed that many pilots progress extremely quickly from A to CCC wings — sometimes within just one or two years. They gain confidence after completing an SIV course on an A-wing and then overestimate their abilities on a CCC wing. The result is often accidents: crashing into buildings, spiraling or SATing into the ground, or experiencing collapses even in smooth conditions.
I want to help prevent pilots from becoming overconfident and believing that an A-wing is just as easy to handle as a CCC wing. From my own experience, I can say there are far too many pilots who underestimate the risks and demands of high-performance competition wings — especially C, D, and CCC two-liners — without ever having experienced how they behave in critical situations.

By Markos Siotos on Thu, 23 Oct 2025 - 21:17

I fully agree with comp pilots being able to handle the cases that are being taught in SIV courses but, I do not agree in requiring them to attend one of them and getting the "certification". I have friends that when they buy a new wing they go to Lake Garda and do the whole "sequence" of maneuvers to their satisfaction. The "certification" would cost them + 1000 Euros for something that they can do it already...

Having said that, I fully realize that leaving it to the pilot conscience, is not a 'calibrated' way to deal with the issue....

By Jonas Prüssing on Thu, 23 Oct 2025 - 23:48

In my personal opinion, you should always do an SIV course when switching to a higher wing class.
Of course, if you’ve already proven under professional supervision that you can handle a CCC wing, and then move to a C two-liner, there’s no need to prove yourself again. But for most pilots, it’s simply reckless to practice maneuvers on their own with a more demanding wing, close to the ground, and without ever having trained such situations properly before.
I know many pilots who overestimate their abilities and rush to higher wing classes. They try to stall close to the ground or experiment with maneuvers they’ve never done safely over water — and inevitably put themselves in dangerous situations.
In the German league, you’re currently allowed to prove your required maneuvers via video, which I think is a good step. But considering that most pilots only need to demonstrate this twice in their entire competition career — usually once on a B-wing and later on a C-wing — that doesn’t seem too much to ask.
I’d even be open to accepting video proof over a lake, equipped with a life vest and rescue boats, for your current wing class.
But allowing pilots to perform these maneuvers with any wing over land sends completely the wrong signal. It promotes a false sense of security, while in competition you’re flying under much more stress and often in turbulent air.
So personally, I’d much rather train under professional supervision — or, if you’re convinced you’re “the invincible,” at least do it safely over water with the minimum safety equipment: a life vest and a rescue boat nearby.

By georg.bube on Thu, 23 Oct 2025 - 21:48

I think if you can prove you can fly predefined maneuvers without attending an SIV, that should be acceptable as well. If you do not dare to fly those maneuvers in an environment comparable to an SIV (i.e. over water, with an (automatic) life vest, with a rescue boat on the water), then it is probably not a bad idea to attend an SIV.

Of course not everyone has easy access to a suitable place for such training.

PWCA Board

CIVL Delegate

By eduardosanchezgranel on Fri, 24 Oct 2025 - 04:32

Hi Jonas,

I like the idea of looking for ways of better selecting pilots that are really capable of competing XC with tools to sort out unexpected wing behaviour.
I think your proposal lacks some detail
Are you proposing for CAT-1 events ? All Cat1 or just Worlds and perhaps Europeans ?
Are you proposing for a larger array of events ? Which ?

What do you exactly mean by a SIV certification ? Who is able to certify ? Please think worldwide, not only central europe.

Regarding "on the wing used in the competition", you should be more comprehensive, because if a pilot changes from an Enzo to an X-One, would you require a new certification ? Would you require only a certification in the same type of wing ? How many years that certification holds its validity ?

As you see, there are many details to be explored here

By Malin Lobb on Fri, 24 Oct 2025 - 21:45

Submitting a video showing certain skills (catch & release, stopping rotations, cravat clearing spin etc), on a yearly basis to get you verified for the comp season is a good idea. Standardising where the camera needs to be mounted and what needs to be in the frame could mean that anyone can just go and do a flight and film the required skills and submit it to a website. I’m sure someone could train AI to verify the videos as there are some very obvious movements it could learn from.

Organiser

By Karlis Jaunpetrovics on Mon, 27 Oct 2025 - 15:33

I agree with what Malin has proposed. Pilots should be able to do certain things with the gear they fly, I don't think that training on EN-A wing will help you much on the CCC. At the same time some of us don't need SIV training anymore(I'm a big believer in currency and regular practice, but I don't need a course for it as I can do it on my own), we should be able to demonstrate that we are still able to control the wing. I think what Malin has proposed is a good way to go forward.

Organiser

By Josh Cohn on Sun, 26 Oct 2025 - 23:14

Even just defining what pilots should be able to do, as Malin alluded to, so that they can 'self-certify', which is to say satisfy themselves that they have those specific skills, would be a step in the right direction.

Better would be video of the maneuvers submitted but only spot checked or checked in case there is a question.

Best would be checked by experts.

Getting checked on the class of glider (CCC, D, C etc.) but not the specific model seems most important. Also, if a pilot is checked out on a higher class of glider they're probably ok on lower classes.

My personal impression is that after some amount of experience and currency an annual check may be less necessary. But it might complicate things too much to accommodate that perspective.

This is all keeping in mind that the SIV instructors of the world tend to be pretty booked up.