PGA WORLDS 2011

Kunčice pod Ondřejníkem, The Beskydy Mountains, The Czech Republic
22.7.2011 – 31.7.2011


ORGANISED BY  Student paragliding club
under auspices of Light aircraft association and Czech aeroclub (NAC)
on behalf of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

http://www.pga-worlds2011.cz

Correspondence address:    Studentský klub paraglidingu, Čeladná 264, 739 12 Čeladná, The Czech Republic

NAC address:    Aeroklub České republiky o.s., U Mlýna 3, 141 00 Praha 4, the Czech Republic

1.1.1    Purpose

The purpose of the championships is to provide a good and satisfying contest flying in order to determine the champion in each Class and to reinforce a friendship among pilots and nations. (Section 7C; 2.2)

1.1.2    Competition schedule

All times are in the UTC+2.

1.1.3    Key officials

Competition Director:    Lucie Lednik Timiopulu, CZE

Jury President:        Andy Cowley, GBR

Jury Member:        Violeta Masteikiene, LIT

Jury Member:        Ugljesa Jondzic, SER

Steward:        Riikka Vilkuna, SWE

Chief Judge:        Nikki Bodill, GBR

Event Judge:        Ivaylo Bogomilov, BGR

Launch Marshall:    Richard Bojda, CZE

Safety Director:     Jan Hájek, CZE

Meteorologist:         Petr Jančík, CZE

2.    ENTRY

2.1    Entry limitations

The Championships are open to all Member and Associated Member countries of FAI who may enter the team with the maximum 7 paraglider pilots not exceeding 5 of one sex.
The maximum number of pilots is 120.
All entries must be made on the official Entry Form, signed by NAC representative.

2.2    Entry fee

Application forms and fees not received by the entry deadline may be refused. The entry fee will be 250 € per male pilot and 125 € per female pilot, team leaders and other accompanying persons 125€. The entry fee deadline is 31.5.2011. Late entry fee payments will be increased by 10% surcharge.

2.3    Entry fee payment

The 3 highest ranked nations in the WPRS (Slovenia, Serbia and the Czech Republic) are to pay their entry fees, including those for any additional pilots, directly to the FAI account at:

Credit Suisse Private Banking
Rue du Lion d’Or 5 – 7
Case postale 2468
CH – 1002 Lausanne
Switzerland
Account name: Federation Aeronautique International
Account number: (Euro): 0425-457968-32
IBAN Code: IBAN Code: CH31 0483 5045 7968 3200 0
SWIFT/BIC Code: CRES CHZZ 10A

All other nations should pay entry fees directly to the organiser.

Organiser bank details:

Fio banka, a. s., pobočka zahranicnej banky
Kollarovo nam. 15
811 06 Bratislava
Slovakia

Account name: Studentsky klub paraglidingu
Account number: (Euro): 2300137542 / 8330
IBAN Code: SK42 8330 0000 0023 0013 7542
SWIFT/BIC Code: FIOZSKBAXXX

3.    GENERAL COMPETITION RULES

3.1    Registration

The Registration office will be open from 14.00 to 18.00 on 22 th July 2010. On arrival the team leader and members shall report to the Registration Office to have their documents checked and to receive supplementary regulations and information. Equipment checks will be made by the organisers during the official training round to ensure all pilots are conforming to the rules on safety equipment.

3.2    Pilot Registration

All pilots must present at the registration following documents:
•    Evidence of competitor's nationality
•    Pilot's valid FAI Sporting licence
•    Evidence of pilot qualification (NAC licence or IPPI card Para Pro 4 stage minimum)
•    Satisfactory evidence of glider airworthiness
•    Certificate of personal accident insurance (optional but recommended)
•    Certificate of third party liability insurance (the minimum insurance coverage is 4500 €)
•    Signed Release of Liability document


We will provide electronic pilots pre-registration at the competition website www.pga-worlds2011.cz to allow fill out the pilot registration form on-line including uploading copy of the documents described above prior the competition registration.

Original of the entry form signed by NAC responsible person and all pilot documents must be presented during the registration.

3.3    Number of rounds

There will be a maximum of 12 full rounds completed within the time available. A minimum of 3 rounds must be completed to validate the competition.

3.4    Launch order

All teams will be entered in a draw to determine launch order.  Each pilot in the team will be allocated a number from 1 to 7 from which the flying order will be established, such that all number 1s will fly in the drawn team order, followed by all number 2s etc.
When the final round of the competition is called, pilots should launch in reverse order of their current competition position.

3.5    Pilot and glider identification

The organisers shall provide numbers for each pilot which should be displayed prominently, on the lower leg, with number facing forward. This will be confirmed at registration. The organiser shall also provide a small sticker number for each paraglider’s front line.

4.    REST DAYS

The organiser will announce the policy on rest day during the competition after 8 rounds are completed.

5.    PILOT BRIEFINGS

There will be a daily briefing for team leaders each morning at 7:00, unless otherwise specified by prior announcement, and notified on the Competition notice board. The Chief and/or Event Judge, Safety Director, Jury representative and Steward should also attend.
Briefings  may be postponed or reconvened in the event of bad weather, and times will be announced and posted on the notice board.  All pilots, team leaders and other personnel should attend briefings promptly.
Team Leader briefings will be announced at the daily briefing and posted on the notice board.

6.    SITES

6.1    Ondřejník Skalka

6.2    Velký Javorník

7.    PILOT SKILLS

The take offs are small and surrounded by trees so the competitors must have perfect nil-wind as well as strong wind take-off skills including ground handling and fast take-off running.
Competitors must be also aware that the main landing place is in the middle of village and there are some obstacles (trees, school building) around.

8.    TAKE-OFF & LANDING

8.1    Safety

At the Launch Marshal’s or Competition Director’s discretion, a pilot may be temporarily stood down or permanently withdrawn from the competition if he/she appears unable to launch safely in wind and weather conditions that fall within operating limits.
A failed take-off attempt (maximum of 3) or safety problem arising immediately after take-off (and which is not a result of pilot’s poor pre-flight check) which results in a landing at take-off, or away from the target, will be eligible for a re-launch for that round.

8.2    Launch order

Competitors must fly in the published flying order, unless they have prior permission from the Launch Marshal.
Competitors not ready to fly in the established flying order when called forward to launch by the Launch Marshal, or who take off without the Launch Marshal’s permission, will be liable to a maximum score.
A pilot who is not present at launch will be marked ABS in the results of that round and a maximum score will be recorded.
A pilot who did not fly or 3 times failed to take-off will be indicated as DNF in the results for that round and a maximum score will be recorded.

8.3    Launch interval

The recommended launch interval should be 90 seconds, but may be adjusted by the Launch Marshal. A pilot can choose a 90 second interval.

8.4    Final approach

Competitors should be afforded a fair attempt at a target landing. They should have sufficient time during the flight to reach the target area directly from launch, to make a considered final approach to the target. The competitor is deemed to have started the final approach when, having turned to face the target, the Event Judge considers he/she has made a final commitment to making an approach to the target and is not expecting to have to make any significant changes of direction. Any further manoeuvres undertaken by the competitor from this position will not detract from the above factor.

8.5    Landing

Competitors will be scored according to the distance in centimetres between the first point of ground contact and the edge of the dead centre (3 cm) disc to a maximum score of 1000 cm.
The measuring field will have clearly marked circles set at 1 m, 2.5 m, 5 m and 10 m.

8.6    Maximum wind speed

The maximum permitted wind speed for the purposes of competition scoring will be set on safety briefing and it should be independent for each flying site.
Competition will use a wind recording and scoring system with visual and acoustic warning of exceeding limits.

8.7    Signals

Any person should on the command from Chief or Event Judge wave with a red flag within the measuring field if the conditions in the target are dangerous. If the red flag is not easy available the person can wave above the pad with arms or with the judging vest. It signals that the target is closed and the pilot has to land outside the target.

9.    PRE-FLIERS

The official Championship’s Pre-fliers will be notified to all pilots at the first competition briefing.  They will be experienced pilots familiar with the local sites, who understand the importance of their role in the Championships. They will not be competitors.
Pre-fliers will fly after significant periods of stand down of 1 hour or more. Feedback from pre-fliers will be communicated to all pilots at launch and target directly after all such flights.

10.    SCORING

10.1    Individual score

Individual scores shall be an aggregate of all scores achieved by that competitor.
When five or more valid rounds are completed, the worst score is dropped. The winner shall be the pilot gaining the lowest aggregate score across all the rounds flown in the Competition. Providing there are at least 8 women pilots from three countries competing, individual Gold, Silver & Bronze FAI medals will be awarded in the female class.

10.2    Team score

Each nation’s team score for each round will be calculated as the aggregate score of the best four scores of the team. There is no dropping of the worst score in team scoring.
If any nation has less than four competitors, then a maximum score will be awarded to the team for each round for each of the scores for which there is no competitor.

10.3    Result publishing

As soon as is practical at the end of the round, the recorder will post the scores on the main notice board.  These will be marked Provisional, with the posting time and date clearly visible.  Any complaint against the Provisional scores must be lodged within 2 hours of the scores being posted.

10.4    Penalties

Dangerous flying: First offence: strong warning. Second offence: maximum score for the round. Third offence: exclusion from the competition. The Chief Judge and Launch Marshall shall liaise with the Safety Director and the Competition Director to report incidences of dangerous flying. Other rule infringements: As for dangerous flying.

11.    JUDGING

11.1    Judging team

The competition will be judged by international judging team.

11.2    Video evidence

Organiser will provide video recording on the landing. In the case where amateur video evidence is available when an official complaint is made, the Competition Director and Chief Judge reserve the right to choose whether and when to view that video evidence. The decision will be made on a case to case basis. Further information on the policy on video evidence will be provided at the first pilot briefing.
The FAI appointed Jury may choose to accept video evidence as an aid to decision making.
Missing video evidence is not objective for the re-launch.

12.    SAFETY

12.1    Safety Committee

A Safety Director will be appointed and a Safety Committee formed. The Safety Director’s responsibility will be to monitor all aspects of safety. These include but are not limited to: addressing all pilots at a specific safety briefing, attending all pilot briefings, checking the meteorological conditions and especially the wind speed at launch and target, checking pilot separation, preventing pilots launching with unsafe equipment, collecting accident report, discussing any accidents with the Steward and presenting the conclusions at pilot briefings.
The Safety Director in conjunction with the Competition Director may stop the competition for reasons of safety. Any decision taken by him will be reported to the Steward.
He will have knowledge and experience of the site being flown and ideally he must have experience in appropriate competitions.
It is recommended the Safety Committee includes: Competition Director (or Technical Director), Launch Marshal (or Deputy,), senior member of Judging Team, minimum of two experienced pilots (one local, one visitor – they must be competitors)

12.2    Emergency procedures

One English speaking emergency doctor and an ambulance with appropriate equipment will be available during all operations at the landing.
The helicopter is located in Ostrava with response time less than 10min.

13.    OPERATIONAL REGULATIONS

Air space will be reserved for the competition without restrictions.

13.1    Radio transceivers

State the types of radio which can legally be used, the frequencies reserved for the organisers, emergency services etc. and the frequencies allocated to individual teams. Radios are allowed for communication between competitors and team leaders.  Radios are not to be used for the purpose of providing advantageous competitive information or for coaching.  Radios or other communication devices are not to be used during competition flights, other than for emergencies.  Only frequencies allocated by the organisers may be used. The official frequency during the competition and the safety frequency will be announced at the first Pilot briefing.

13.2    Reservation

The site Ondřejník Skalka is within natural reserve. We ask all participants to take care to the nature around and respect marked areas (prepare gliders, take off, ...)

14.    COMPLAINTS AND PROTESTS

Complaints and Protests will be dealt with according to the procedures in Section 7C and General Section. A complaint may be made to the Competition Director or his deputy, preferably by the team leader. It should be made with the minimum delay and it will be dealt with expeditiously.
If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome, the team leader may make a protest in writing to the Director or his deputy. The time limit for protests is 2 hours (1 hour after last round) after notification of the result of the complaint. The protest fee is € 30. It will be returned if the protest is upheld.
The protest forms and printed SC7c will be present at the Recorder table, Launch marshal and Chief Judge.

15.    FREE FLYERS

There will be no free-flying allowed from the Competition site in use, either during the competition or during a stand down, either by competition pilots or by free flyers, except when declared by the Launch Marshall/Competition Director.
Pilots during free flying have to land out from the target. Landing to the target can be penalised by Competition director.