As the dust settles at the 2010 Plenary its back to snowy Laragne for a few days.
On the journey back it was interesting to talk with the other guys in my car - all experienced FAI/civl bods, about what had happened during the 4 days, the people who are the guys who supposedly represent 'our' views and how both the short term - this year to the next Plenary - and the long term future will pan out.

From a Plenery newcomers point of view it was good to see that our sport and theoretically the views of the pilot community were being represented by some national delegates with knowledge and interest. But it was evident that while this applied to some nations, that equal power in terms of voting rights rested with delegates who seem to be pure bureaucrats; badge collectors who neither fly paragliders or hang gliders and have very little knowledge of our sport as well as to a few 'dinosaurs' who live in the world where HG's are king and pesky paragliders haven't darkened the sky.
Surprisingly certain delegates act 'under orders' from their national associations to vote in predetermined ways irrespective of the discussion, debate and reasoning that happened during the meetings. I'm not sure that arriving with a closed mind is the way to progress anything, anywhere!
I'd be interested to know if those orders reflect the views of the pilots in those countries, as opposed to the 'suits' in their ivory towers. It seemed that some Aeroclubs regard pilots as a necessary evil and responsible for getting in the way of the smooth running of their 'club'.
We the pilots, and most particularly the competition pilots are apparently an undisciplined bunch who have no respect for our own well being or safety and need to be protected from ourselves. To make matters worse we keep insisting on having accidents that make our esteemed national authorities look bad. The logic that competition pilots actually like flying and want to wake up the morning after to go flying again seems lost in the redtape strangled minds of these guys.

Will the decisions made in the meetings actually have any effect on safety? That will depend on whether the subcommittees and working groups do any work, which from talking to those involved has been a big issue in recent years. We should remember that these roles aren't paid jobs. All the guys working on this are volunteers who may need to give up time devoted to their own fun in order to focus on this work.
For sure, the decisions on helmets and harnesses have the potential to improve some things for some pilots but personally I feel that the choice of venue for Cat.1 competitions and the task setting is much more significant.
Conflict of interest was an often heard phrase from the new civl president but without interest there is little point or value in anyone becoming involved at all!
Overall, it was an interesting and intense few days - all I saw was the inside of meeting rooms for 10 hours a day but surprisingly I didn't fall asleep...quite!! Perhaps next year I'll go back to see how much has changed....