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Safety rating for xc competitions

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Profile picture for user Malin Lobb
By Malin Lobb on Thu, 16 Oct 2025 - 17:03
Discipline
Paragliding XC
What do we want ?
A colour-coded safety rating for competitions, taking into account: Flying site, emergency services/rescue, Comp organiser, pilot requirements and equipment.
How do we achieve that ?
1) Create a WhatsApp working group. 2) Create the parameters for the safety rating. 3) Create a petition to CIVL for all competitions to have a safety rating. 4) Integrate into the pilot union website so comp organisers can get their rating and create their accident reporting ID to be used at their competition.
Issue category :
culture
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14
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14 votes with an average rating of 1.

Comments

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Fri, 17 Oct 2025 - 23:31
Louis Tapper
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This proposal outlines a concept for a shared, independent safety information platform for paragliding competitions. The goal is simple: to make safety-related information easier to find, understand, and act upon, without creating new layers of bureaucracy or imposing top-down control.
The prototype I have created (using completely fictitious data) is designed to show what is possible, not to represent any official source. https://preview--simply-supode-style.lovable.app It demonstrates how safety, medical, and logistical information could be presented in a central, structured, and user-friendly way, so that every pilot, organiser, and institution can benefit from the same foundation of knowledge.
The key principle is independence with collaboration.
Each organisation—whether a national federation, competition organiser, or safety body—would be able to contribute and update relevant information within agreed boundaries. Updates would be moderated to ensure quality and consistency, but the intent is not to control or enforce. Instead, it is to reduce duplication, improve accuracy, and save time for everyone who currently works in isolation to gather the same information.
For example, competition organisers could easily access consistent details about:
Nearest hospitals and emergency care capabilities
Medical response plans and regional capacity
Site-specific safety considerations and infrastructure
Contact details for local emergency services

Pilots can also personalise their experience through adjustable preferences. By choosing from preset profiles such as Safety First, Balanced, Points Hungry, Budget, or New to Comps, the system tailors competition recommendations to align with individual goals and priorities. Factors such as safety, cost, reliability, learning, scenery, social atmosphere, novelty, and points weighting can all be balanced to reflect what matters most to each pilot. This approach encourages self-awareness and informed decision-making, while acknowledging that pilots value different aspects of competition flying.

Much of the current safety discussion in our sport focuses on equipment and pilot skill, both of which are important. However, one of the most significant and underrepresented contributors to accidents lies in the sites we choose to fly and compete at. The inherent characteristics of each site—its terrain, infrastructure, accessibility, and available emergency care—play a major role in shaping risk. Yet this information is often fragmented, inconsistent, or difficult to access. By making site-related safety information more visible and comparable, we can strengthen both pilot decision-making and organiser planning in a practical, non-judgemental way.
This initiative does not aim to restrict or replace decision-making. It is about empowering better judgement through shared visibility.
By agreeing on common definitions and preconditions for a “safe competition”, we can build a consistent baseline while still respecting the diversity of sites, organisers, and flying cultures around the world.

This is a starting point, not a finished product. It will require collaboration on governance, moderation processes, and terminology. But even at this early stage, it shows how a shared approach can reduce friction, improve safety awareness, and strengthen trust between pilots, organisers, and institutions.
Thank you for taking the time to review the concept. A preview of the prototype can be viewed here:
👉 https://preview--simply-supode-style.lovable.app

5
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5 votes with an average rating of 1.
Profile picture for user Mateusz Gajczewski
Sat, 18 Oct 2025 - 00:36
Mateusz Gajczewski
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Really interesting concept - I like the direction! A few thoughts came to mind:

It’s worth considering how to ensure that the data in the system stays complete and up to date. Who would be responsible for filling it in, and what would motivate them to do so? Maybe the platform could sync automatically with existing competition data sources such as CIVL Comps or Airtribune to reduce manual work.

It would be valuable to collect feedback or post-event reports from each competition. This could help improve data quality and provide insights for future events.

I’d also like to see not only the organiser’s declarations, but also references to historical competitions run by the same organiser or at the same site - including details like who the Meet Director and Safety Director were, and how their performance was rated.

1
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1 votes with an average rating of 1.
Profile picture for user Flyluchofly
Sat, 18 Oct 2025 - 16:29
Flyluchofly
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I have been an organizer for the past fifteen years, and I believe this proposal is an excellent initiative — not only for competitions, but for the paragliding community as a whole.
Most competition organizers aim to promote their regions through these events. They are typically required to possess all the relevant information, as it forms part of the contingency plans needed to ensure a fast and efficient response in the event of an accident.
However, this initiative should be complemented by the parallel discussion taking place in this forum regarding the establishment of clear standards for Organizers, Meet Directors, and Safety Directors, as well as qualification criteria for event organizers.
I would therefore suggest the creation of a dedicated working group to further develop and consolidate these ideas collaboratively.

1
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1 votes with an average rating of 1.
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Sun, 19 Oct 2025 - 15:24
thomas senac
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I understand the safety rating to be based on the 'event organisational safety features' , including feed-backs from past events at this place with the same organisation ?
.
There should not be confusion with 'expected flying conditions at this place at the given period', this could be integrated from 'experiences' from past events at the given place.

1
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1 votes with an average rating of 1.
Profile picture for user thibaultrohmer
Mon, 20 Oct 2025 - 22:42
thibaultrohmer
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I like this idea.
Great prototype @Louis Tapper !

Suggestions:
- rating of takeoff: cliff or grass? rocks, trees around ? typical wind speed? number of pilots possible in // ; preparation area in shade or sun?
- rating of landing: obstacles, flat or not, size, proximity of dangers (road, fence, animals), gradient...
- clarify the take off and landings evaluated (they can change through time for same "site")

1
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1 votes with an average rating of 1.
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Tue, 21 Oct 2025 - 12:53
Martin Grössinger
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I also like the direction. But there also some questions:
1) what are we supposed to do with the colour code?
If I get it right, the goal is to define better qualification criterias for an organiser and its location for specific events, right?
Lets split it up:
Organiser Criterias from my point of View: Experience of Meeting director and his team. Are local experienced pilots in the team? Is there a professional meteo? Are there enough helpers,..
Rescue: Easy to evaluate.. how far ist the hospital, how fast ist the rescue Chain.
Site: From my point of view a bit difficuter. I site can have many flyable days, which lowers the pressure on the organisers to have tasks in bad conditions. (Maybe another topic) On the other hand, are those always-good-condition sites offen more turbulent, have less outlanding opportunity (what ist more relevant at low cloudbase). When thinking about flying site: Maybe we habe to define save and unsave weather conditions for specific flying sites?
Pilots: my 2cents to this: I don't think that world championships habe a bonus compared to local comoetition. Experienced pilots are offen mit locally experienced.
gear: I am a hangglider Pilot - no comment from my side.

The topic itselve shall not be limited to paragliding events!

1
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1 votes with an average rating of 1.

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