1. General Information
1.1. Summary
The United States XContest is a cross-country flying competition running in the given time period. Scoring of flights is based on tracklogs produced by flight recorders. Flight documentation must be uploaded to the XContest server for validation and scoring.
1.2. Organizer
The organizer is the United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, Inc. in partnership with XContest.org
1.3. Competitors
Pilots wishing to compete in the United States XContest must be current USHPA, Inc. members and hold a current USHPA, Inc. rating and all necessary documentation 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 this national contest running under XContest server will be automatically entered in the World XContest.
1.4.2. At least one flight must be submitted in order to be included in the final results at the end of the season.
1.5. Entry fee
Each pilot will be required to pay a $5 fee to cover the costs of scoring the contest. No entry fee is required starting with the 2025 season.
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 or if a tracklog appears to violate airspace rules, the organiser or national administrators reserve the right to cancel and remove such flights from the scoring. It is the pilot's responsibility to fly outside of restricted airspaces without appropriate permission.
2.2. Competition duration
Competition begins
Yearly on October 1.
Competition ends
Yearly on September 30
2.3. Flight area
Within the United States of America
2.4. Launch methods
Foot-launch, winch-launch, and ultralight-towing (hanggliders only; max. release altitude 3280 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:
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 or adding it to the United States XContest 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 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% of 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 distance which does not conform the triangle track specification. 1 km = 1 point
Triangle which does not conform to the FAI triangle specification. 1 km = 1.2 points if closed within 20% of the total distance, 1km = 1.4 points if closed within 5% of the total distance
Triangle which conforms to the FAI definition (the shortest leg of the triangle must be at least 28% of the total triangle). 1 km = 1.4 points if closed within 20% of the total distance, 1km = 1.6 points if closed within 5% of the total distance
The scoring rule which gives the most points will always be used. All scoring results will be rounded to 2 decimal places.
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 wishes. The 6 best flights will be taken for the final score.
5.2. Classes
Scoring:
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PG Competition score – best 6 flights of pilot on any paraglider (FAI-3)
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PG C Class score - best 6 flights of pilot on paraglider max. EN C
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PG B Class score - best 6 flights of pilot on paraglider max. EN B
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HG Open score – best 6 flights of pilot on hang glider (FAI-1)
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HG Sport score - best 6 flights of pilot on kingposted hang glider
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HG Single Surface score – best 6 flights of pilot on single surface hang glider
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RW (FAI-5) Open score - best 6 flights of pilot on rigid wing (FAI-5)
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RW (FAI-2) Open score - best 6 flights of pilot on rigid wing (FAI-2)
From the overall scoring will be published following scoring classes:
The pilot with the most points in each scoring class, is the "US League XContest Champion" for this class.
5.3. Provisional results
Provisional results will be constantly updated and may be viewed on http://www.xcontest.org
5.4. Final results
Final results are valid once the protest deadline has been reached. Final results may also be viewed under http://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, or 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 national administrators 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 software 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 interval 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 long 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
For flights exceeding a nominal distance of 75km, an altitude record (either GPS or barometric) must be supplied.
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