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New GPS Rules for 2022 Flying Season Effective 03/2022 - details and link
GPS-Triangle rule-changes and amendments for 2022:
Changes for Light-Class:
- The maximum starting speed will be 70kph
(Reason: with moderate tailwinds it occurred that it is too difficult to get valid starts without penalties for over-speeding. Very often this led into gaggles of restarting planes and unsafe situations due to an overcrowded start-line.)
- The maximum wind speed limit for contests will be lowered to 8m/s
(Reason: To cover ground with light loaded aircrafts seems only sensible up to this limit)
- The altitude will be measured with barometric sensors instead of GPS sensors
(Reason: The deviation in the altitude-measurement via GPS can reach up to 20m which is a not negligible factor in Light class. Barometric altitude-measurement is more precise but needs the necessary technical equipment. The common hardware from RC-Electronics is already equipped with the necessary hardware. A software update will be available prior to the start of the season.
Changes for Sport-Class:
- Max. Altitude for competition flights will be 750m above the Take-off-area.
(Reason: This ensures that all flight operations will stay within the uncontrolled airspace ECHO and not lead to any kind of controlled airspace violation.)
- No landing points will be given, when the pilot or his helper stops or touches the plane in the process of landing prior to the plane has come to a complete halt.
(Reason: safety)
Changes for Scale-Class (1:3):
- Max. Altitude for competition flights will be 750m above the Take-off-area.
(Reason: This ensures that all flight operations will stay within the uncontrolled airspace ECHO and not lead to any kind of controlled airspace violation.)
- No landing points will be given, when the pilot or his helper stops or touches the plane in the process of landing prior to the plane has come to a complete halt.
(Reason: safety)
- There will be no speedtask flown anymore in the 1:3 Scale Class
(Reason: Surveys among the competition pilots during the last 3 years showed that for most of the competitors, the speedtask is not an attractive task when flying scale models. The speedtask takes a lot of time for pilots, tow-pilots and organizers compared to the relatively short airtime for each competitor. It is vastly dependent on calm an equal weather conditions and often decided by luck (of having the right weather conditions).
- The starting order for each group to be towed will be set by random draw.
(Reason: This was tested and tried out over the last 2 seasons and clearly showed, that time for towing up the whole group of scale gliders is drastically minimized. There is no room for time consuming tactical maneuvering and less chance for gliders not being towed up in time.
The first three pilots to be towed up will get the right to tow up to an extra 50m of altitude.)
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