On Saturday, February 23, 2013 6:47:58 PM UTC-8, wrote:


I'll work on the table and post it to a webpage.



Sean



Dear Sean. This is an interesting project. Actually reading the IGC rules and explaining how the US would use them "without exception" might do us all some good.



I have been working on a similar project, and will have a comparison table to go with the fall poll, where pilots can voice their opinions.



You’re looking for “annex A” here



http://www.fai.org/igc-documents



Here are some particular issues you might answer for us. You propose to use the IGC rules "without exception," yet those rules make no mention of national or regional contests. For example,



How many pilots does it take to make a valid contest? (US: 8 finishers with score more than 40% of the winner)



IGC 1.3.2 If any one class does not have at least ten participants from at least five (four for Continental Championships) NACs on the first Championship day, the contest shall take place but no Champion will be declared.



What do you plan to do about that?



What kind of organization do you need (we have CD, rules committee etc)



1.4.2 Facilities The Organisers shall provide:

a. All facilities necessary for the satisfactory operation of the Championships.

b. The travel and living expenses for Stewards and Jury Members, other than the Chief Steward and Jury President.



2.2.1 Stewards The IGC-Bureau shall nominate a Chief Steward, at least one year prior to the event, plus at least one other Steward, of nationalities different to that of the Organisers,



2.2.2

International Jury

a. A nominated Jury shall consist of the President of the Jury plus two Members. The President shall be appointed by the IGC. Both Members shall normally be appointed by the IGC,



If you plan to use IGC rules "without exception" have fun getting all these people over to the US and paying for them.



Who gets to go to the contest? For US nationals, there is a ranking list, preferential entry procedure, etc. IGC rules:





3.1 SELECTION OF TEAMS Each NAC shall select its own Team Captain, competitors, and assistants.



3.2 QUALIFICATIONS A competitor must be a citizen or resident of the country of the entering NAC and satisfy the conditions of the FAI Sporting Code, General Section 3.7 on citizenship and representation, and must;

a. Hold a gold badge, or, hold a silver badge and have competed in at least two National Championships;

b. Have flown at least 250 hours as a pilot in command, of which at least 100 hours must be in sailplanes;

c. Hold a currently valid FAI Sporting Licence.....



Those are the rules. Can't go unless you've been to two nationals!



3.4.3

Pilots

a. Each NAC may enter the number of pilots approved by the IGC and specified in the Local Procedures, but not more than two pilots (two crews in the 20 metre Multi-seat Class) in any class, or 3 pilots in any class at Junior and Women Championships....



For Continental Championships with a limited number of nations participating the IGC Bureau may approve a higher number of pilots per class.





That sounds like fun. No more seeding list, the NAC says who gets to go..



What about equipment, inspections etc?



4.1.2 Each competing sailplane …

b. Shall be made available to the Organisers at least 72 hours before the briefing on the first championship day for an acceptance check in the configuration in which it will be flown.



Well, here's another big change. No showing up at 9 am on the first contest day. We need scrutineering, 72 hours before the contest starts. Why? Well, Sean wants to play by IGC rules without exception. Oh, yes, we need a scrutineer too.



Oh, and another subject dear to your heart, artificial horizons.



… No instruments permitting pilots to fly without visual reference to the ground may be used during the contest. If carried on board they must be reported to the Organisers during the acceptance check and preferably be made inoperative. The Organisers may specify instruments and procedures covered by this rule in their Local Procedures.



Flight logs and flight recorders?



All remarks made during the inspection must be complied with not later than 20:00 on the day before the first scheduled competition day. By that time Flight Logs (see 5.4) from all FRs in use must also have been delivered to Competition Office. Noncompliance will result in denied competition launches



5.4 CONTROL PROCEDURES Flights shall be controlled by GNSS Flight Recorders (FR).

a. All FRs approved by the IGC up to two months prior to the Opening Day shall be accepted. A valid calibration certificate must be provided for each FR.

The FAI SC Section 3 requires that Flight Recorders have been calibrated within the previous 24 months.



Aah, that's interesting. No more of this loosey-goosey US rules letting Ilec SN10s or other non-certified flight recorders play. You WILL have an IGC certified recorder WITH calibration trace or else. I'm sure that will be popular with your club class.



We could go on. This is all nuts of course. These rules are simply not written to handle a national championships.



OK, enough.



What all countries who "use IGC rules" do, in fact, is to merge some aspects of IGC rules -- scoring formulas, in particular -- with a bunch of national rules. NOBODY uses IGC rules by themselves, because, as reading the rules makes clear, it simply is completely unworkable. EVERY country has their own modifications, in particular to the list of the club class pilots.



I hope you read the rules and produce the table. Then it will be clear what you are really advocating is that somebody write a whole new rule book somehow combining the two.



Now that sounds like a fun project



John Cochrane

John, you tout "without exception" several times. Nowhere in the petition text body does it state "without exception". Before the petition was made public I reviewed, edited and changed the text state "The purpose of this petition is to demonstrate the number of US pilots who want formation of the new US Club Class to adopt FAI (IGC) rules, handicaps and tasking philosophy". You are right in that EXACT adoption in nationals with IGC Stewards, Jury and so on is not relevant or practical. The "without exception" you keep bringing up again and again IS in the URL which was not editable before making public.


So this brings up a question. Have you actually read the petition or just the URL?

Your comments are noted and I welcome your help in creating a US Club Class based on IGC rules format.

Sean Franke, HA