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WORLD XCONTEST – Global Contest Rules 2009 - only in ENGLISH VERSION

02 - 10 - 2008 UPDATE

!! ATTENTATION - CURRENT VERSION OF WORLD XCONTEST RULES 2009 IS NOT FIXED YET AS POSSIBLE CHANGES ARE DISCUSSED WITH NATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS !!!

1. General informations

1.1. Summary

The World XContest is an international cross-country flying competition running in given time period. For valuation are taken flights based on defined records documented by flight recorders. Flight documentation must be uploaded to the XContest server for valuation.

1.2. Organizer

Organizer is server XContest.org with the help of participating national associations.

1.3. Competitors

Pilot wishing to compete in the World XContest must hold current pilots license and all necessary insurance documentation (incl. third party liabilites) to satisfy the legal requirements for cross country flying.

1.4. Condititons of participation

1.4.1. Competitors who have satisfied the entry requirements for the national contests running under XContest server will be automatic ally entered in the World XContest.

1.4.2. Any competitors from any nation (without national contests under XContest) can register and claim flights to the World XContest too.

1.5. Entry fee

No entry fee is required.

2. General regulations and rules

2.1. Flying rules

Flights must be conducted in accordance with all applicable national and/or international laws. The pilot is solely responsible for ensuring this compliance. Should a pilot be warned or penalised by air traffic control, the organiser or national administrators reserve the right to cancel and remove such flights from the scoring. It´s on pilot´s responsibility to fly outside of restricted airspaces without appropriate permission.

2.2. Competition duration

Competition begin

yearly on 1.10.

Competition end

yearly on 30. 9.

2.3. Flight area

Worldwide

2.4. Launch methods

Foot-launch, winch-launch, and ultralight-towing (hanggliders only; max. release altitude 3.280 ft (1 km) AGL) are permitted.

2.5. Classification

Recognized distance rounded to 0,01km will be scored by coefficient of relevant discipline.

3. Documenting flights

The XContest allows pilots to fly cross country without having to declare a task before take off. Documenting a flight may only be done through the use of an appropriate instrument:

Standalone GPS
GPS with variometer and barograph
GPS integrated flying instruments
Logger

For flights exceeding a nominal distance of 75km, an altitude record (either GPS or barometric) must be supplied.

Further information on compulsory features necessary for instruments and software are to be found in the section “8. Technical details” of these Rules.

3.1. Deadline for flight claiming

The deadline for uploading a flight is 14 days after day of the flight. Flights which are claimed after the deadline will be rejected.

3.2. IGC tracklog files

Every pilot must keep a personal backup of all his / her tracklog files uploaded to the XContest server until 1 calendar month after the flight. Once a pilot has uploaded an IGC tracklog file to the XContest server it becomes the public property.

4. Clasification

4.1. Evaluation of tracks

After landing, the recorded tracklog should be examined to determine the scoring distance flown. Here the start point, up to 3 turn points and the finish point are to be positioned on the tracklog to provide the greatest possible distance. A flight may be scored as a triangle, when the distance between start point and finish point is less than 20% o f the entire distance as given by the 3 turn points. The scoring distance will then be given by the turn point distance, minus the gap (finish to start) distance.

4.2. Tracks value

Free flight

Free distance which not conform the triangle track specification. 1 km = 1,00 p

Flat triangle

Triangle which not conform FAI triangle specification. 1 km = 1,20 p

FAI triangle

Triangle conform to the FAI definition (the shortest leg of the triangle must be at least 28% of the total triangle). 1 km = 1,40 p

The scoring rule which gives the most points will always be used. All scoring results will be rounded to 2 decimal places. For valuation of each flight will be chosen from a such tracks, whose distance exceed the minimum distance.

4.3. Evaluating the flight tracklog

After landing, the recorded tracklog should be transferred to a computer to the valid IGC file format.

Once this has occurred, the IGC file should be uploaded to the XContest server to be entered in the scoring.

5. Championship clasess, provisional and final results

5.1. Number of flights which count for the final score

A pilot may register as many flights as he or she may wish; 6 of best flights will be taken for the final score.

5.2. Classes

Scoring:

PG open score – best 6 flights of pilot on any paraglider (FAI-3)
PG standard score – best 6 flights of pilot on paraglider max. DHV 1-2, CEN B, AFNOR Standard
PG sport score - best 6 flights of pilot on paraglider max. DHV 2-3, CEN D, AFNOR Performance
PG tandem score - best 6 flights of pilot on biplace paraglider
PG national score – best 5 PG open scores of pilots from each country
FAI-1 score - best 6 flights of pilot on hangglider (FAI-1)
FAI-2 score - best 6 flights of pilot on ridig-wing (FAI-2)
FAI-5 score - best 6 flights of pilot on ridig-wing (FAI-5)
HG score – best 6 flights of pilot on hangglider (FAI-1) or rigid-wing (FAI-5), rigid-wings with handicap 0.85)
HG national score – best 5 HG scores of pilots from each country

From the overall scoring will be published following scoring classes:

PG Open
PG Standard
PG Sport
PG Women - PG open score women only
PG Tandem
PG National teams
HG (FAI-1) Open
RW (FAI-2) Open
RW (FAI-5) Open
HG (FAI-1 and FAI-5) National teams (FAI-5 will be multiplied by a handicap factor of 0.85)

The pilot with the most points in each scoring class, is the “World XContest Champion” for this class.

5.3. National teams

The 5 best pilots of a nation per open class will be entered together as the N ational team.

5.4. Provisional results

Provisional results will be constantly updated and may be viewed on https://www.xcontest.org

5.5. Final results

Final results are valid once the protest deadline has been reached. Final results may also be viewed under https://www.xcontest.org

6. Liability and disqualification

6.1. Liability

The organisers accept no liability for damages to competitors or third parties.

6.2. Disqualification

Competitors who wilfully make false flight claims or fail to comply with these regulations in order to benefit themselves in the scoring, o r who give good cause for belief that this is so, can be disqualified from the competition.

7. Protests

7.1. Protests against other competitors

Should a organisational committee not accept a complaint regarding flight scoring or the scoring advantage of another competitor, the pilot in question may protest this decision.

The protest must be sent to the organizer and must arrive no later than one month after the flight took place, or one week after the end of season. The organizer should then decide if the protest is valid. The final decision on the protest may be taken by a protest jury (see below).

Protests due to infringement of controlled airspace will not be handled by the organisers. National air traffic control authorities are solely responsible for airspace observation and enforcement.

7.2. Protests due to non-acceptance of a flight

Should a flight not be accepted by the organizer, then every pilot has the right to firstly register a complaint, and thereafter to enter a written protest against the decision.

A protest must arrive no later than one week after the end of season. The jury is responsible for deciding if a protest is valid or not.

7.3. Jury

The jury is formed from organizer and touched national administr ators and makes the final decisions with regard to protests. No further appeals or legal actions are permitted.

8. Technical specifications

Every pilot is responsible for choosing his or her own recording instrument, logger or GPS. The pilot is responsible for recording a continual tracklog, correct transferral, evaluation uploading as an IGC File. Recorded tracklogs may only originate from a single instrument; tracks compiled from recordings from more than one instrument will not be accepted.

Should a logger split a continual flight into more than one tracklog, then the pilot should contact the manufacturer to rectify this problem. Manufacturers which certify their instruments as GNSS approved loggers (FR, flight recorder) comply with the FAI regulations.

8.1. GPS hardware recommendations

The organizer makes no special recommendations regarding GPS hardware. Flight documentation performed via GPS is fully equivalent to that performed with a GNSS-logger. The compatibility of a particular piece of GPS hardware is largely dependant on the supporting s oftware available for it.

8.2. Recording interval

A continuously recorded tracklog must have at least one position recording per minute – i.e. the maximum recording inter v al is 60 seconds. It is recommended that the tracklog recording interval be set between 5 and 15 seconds to reduce the chance of a 60 second interval with no position recordings occurring. Should a pilot intentionally switch off the GPS during a flight, this invalidates the tracklog.

8.3. GPS failure

GPS failures may result in one or more breaks in the tracklog longer than 60 seconds. One or two seperate GPS failures less than 15 minutes lon g within a tracklog will be accepted.

Flights with GPS failures of longer than 15 minutes or more then two separate GPS failures will not be allowed for the registering and scoring.

8.4. Altitude record