OITAF, which stands for Organizzazione Internazionale Trasporti A Funi, or International Organization for Transportation by Rope, meets every six years. Previous venues have been Rome (1957), Paris (1963), Luzerne (1969), Vienna (1975), Munich (1981) and Grenoble (1987). There was strong sentiment among delegates to hold the next Congress in the United States.
OITAF-NACS was authorized at the Vienna congress in 1975 and became operational soon thereafter. In recent years it has been holding its own technical gatherings every other year, the last one being at Steamboat Springs, Colo. in 1992, and the next in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 1994.
An OITAF-NACS subcommittee was formed to investigate the feasibility of being the host country for the next OITAF International Congress. Given the substantial costs and organizational burdens involved, the subcommittee’s task is a daunting one.
There was considerable dissatisfaction evident at this year’s Congress with what many felt was the poor quality of the papers presented. “Too academic,” “out of touch,” “old hat,” and “terminally boring” were some of the most commonly heard criticisms—and not just from the Americans. In fact, several European leaders who had attended an OITAF-NACS meeting were urging the parent body to model its future congresses more along the less stuffy, less rigidly formal American style of the NACS.
A hint of changes to come in future directions of OITAF came in the election of Garaventa’s Karl Trutsch to the presidency. He is the first in that position from the ranks of manufacturers. (Previously, OITAF has been dominated by the academics and various public authorities from governmental ministries. Elected as first vice chairman was Jean-Charles Simiand, of the French National Association of Tramways Operators. Jim Fletcher (Jenlynn Int’l. ) was elected to the OITAF board of directors.
Following the Congress, a large contingent of Americans went on a trip that was nicknamed the “Switzerland Heavy Metal Tour,” featuring three mountain excursions and five manufacturing plants (Von Roll, CWA, Frey, Garaventa and Fatzer) in five days.
Aerial Engineering’s Jim Ellis reported as follows: “The meals were outstanding at various restaurants and chateaux where our various hosts entertained us, with one lasting more than three hours. The “heavy” in our heavy metal tour took on a new meaning. Sleep became the rarest commodity available, with all catching a little at every available moment.
“The five days of touring, eating and factory visiting demonstrated that human beings are just as susceptible to cumulative damage and fatigue as are critical metal components.”
