British Paragliding Cup 2011
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| The rules for the British Paragliding Cup are laid out below. It is the responsibility of every pilot to read and understand these rules. If you have any queries please contact the BPCup organisers. |
| 1. Retroactive Rules. |
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There are no retroactive rules.
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| 2. Responsibility. |
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A pilot accepts sole responsibility for his or her decision to fly any tasks, and is deemed responsible for their legal requirements with respect to flying cross country (see 9 below).
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| 3. Fitness to fly. |
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Every pilot must have a sound muscular skeletal system. A pilot will be responsible for producing a doctor's certificate attesting his or her fitness to fly, if in the opinion of the Competition panel there is any reason to query their fitness.
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| 4. Paragliders. |
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Any AFNOR, LTF/DHV, SHV or EN certified paraglider with either a maximum rating LTF 2/3, AFNOR Performance or EN D are allowed to compete in the overall BPCup.
Open Class or 'Competition' rated gliders are not permitted.
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| 5. Changing glider |
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Once a pilot scores in any event they must fly the same glider throughout that event. In exceptional circumstances,
a glider may be changed at the discretion of the Meet Director for an identical rated wing. No pilot may share a glider.
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| 6. Dual flying |
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Dual flying is not permitted and neither are PPG's. Dual Paragliders may be allowed at the
discretion of the meet director and BPC panel, but will not score in the competition.
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| 7. Launch Order |
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Pilots must fly in the correct take off order (if any) to score. They must also comply
with site rules and any time limits or take off rules set by the Meet Director, and
respect any requests from launch marshalls with regards to launch procedures.
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| 8. Task details. |
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Details and scoring of each task will be displayed on a board on take off and it is the
pilots responsibility to ensure that he/she has checked the task board before take off for any last minute alterations.
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| 9. Airspace |
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Task setting will avoid flying through restricted areas. Pilots must be fully conversant
with air law and must be in possession of up to date 1:500000 aeronautical charts. A suitable
altimeter must be carried on all tasks. No fly areas, e.g sensitive farms, gliding clubs etc,
may have one or more GPS cylinders declared. A GPS tracklog that penetrates the cylinder(s)
will not score beyond the entry point and may incur additional penalties as specified
at the task briefing.
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| 10. Ballast |
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Ballast which is capable of being jettisoned must be of dry loose sand or water. A
competitor must avoid dropping ballast at any time likely to affect other competitors. All
Competitors must ensure that any ballast is secure at all times. Dry loose sand is defined
as having a fine consistency with granules of not greater than 2mm diameter. The total
ballast including all flight equipment and the glider, should not exceed 30 kg in
addition to the pilots weight. The pilot's weight is defined as body weight when
dressed in jeans, shirt and underwear. Any pilot exceeding the 30kg limit will be
penalised 500 points per infringement.
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| 11. Sporting spirit |
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All pilots are expected to conform to the spirit of the competition. Any pilot caught cheating faces expulsion from the BPC.
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| 12. Disagreement |
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Pilots will not approach marshals on duty over a disagreement about scoring. If a pilot
disagrees with a score or decision they may state his complaint to the meet director. If the pilot is still unhappy they
may lodge a written protest in English within 2 hours of the posting of results (1 hour after the final task of the leg) with
a 10 GBP deposit. The organiser will then elect an Appeal Committee of 3 people to take a decision on the issue. The
Appeal Committee also decides whether the appeal fee should be refunded and pilots notified of the decision.
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| 13. Reporting to base |
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Text messaging will be the preferred method or reporting to base.Pilots are required to report to or telephone the competition base by a set time after the task to ensure all pilots are accounted for. In addition all competitors must report their exact landing positions in person at the competition base as soon as practical after flying a cross-country task. Failure to do so will delay the scoring for all competitors and will result in disqualification in that task for the pilot concerned.
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| 14. Radio frequencies |
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Transmission on amateur radio frequencies from the air is illegal and may be illegal from the ground without a licence. Pilots are requested to respect the law
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| 15. BHPA Membership |
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Pilots must be current members of the BHPA or, in the case of visiting foreign pilots, be members of their FAI recognised equivalent national body. See 24 below.
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| 16. Ground signals |
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Ground signals may be displayed in the launch or landing areas. They are normally made out of fluorescent orange cloth, but may be white. DAYGLO X = Task is cancelled or suspended. DAYGLO T = Pilots in the a are required to land as soon as possible.
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| 17. FAl section 7 |
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When the present rules do not cover a particular situation or aspect, section 7 of the FAl
Class of "Hang gliders" regulations will be used. Failing this the Meet Director will be the arbiter.
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| 18. Parachute |
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A recognised emergency parachute must be worn during ALL tasks.
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| 19. Helmet |
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A suitable helmet, with recognised safety accreditation, must be worn in flight at all times, in and outside tasks.
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| 20. Canopy gathering |
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A canopy should be gathered together before take off or after landing to avoid the possibility of
confusion with the distress signal agreed with the mountain rescue services
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| 21. Pilot rating |
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Competitors are required to hold a BHPA Pilot (Hill Launched) rating. Any visiting foreign
pilot must have a recognised equivalent qualification and provide proof of valid 3rd Party Insurance (2,000,000 cover). Current BHPA membership cards ( IPPI cards for visiting foreign pilots), FAI sporting licences and insurance documents (where applicable) must be shown at registration.
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| 22. Flight Verification |
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Competitors must verify their flights by means of GPS. This must be
an approved GPS capable of record in 3D format (i.e. include GPS and/or pressure altitude in downloaded tracks),
and be clearly marked with the pilot number. The GPS must be cleared of all waypoints and track
logs prior to registration for each event. After the first task any track log must
not be cleared until next task briefing. Full instructions will be given at each
briefing.
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| Penalties |
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The following percentages will be deducted from the pilots score for the task in question for failure to provide or comply with each of the following :
Failure to provide a GPS trace 100%
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| Scoring System. |
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Penalties are at the discretion of the organisers of the Event.
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| 23. Back up Verification. |
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GPS will be used for flight validation. Each pilot must be equipped with at least
one GPS with the ability to record a non-amendable 3d track log (Pocket PC's with GPS software or Phones with GPS built in are unlikely to meet this requirement).
If the primary GPS fails a second GPS with a 2D tracklog may be acceptable to validate a competitors flight
if there is no dispute over the flight, airspace or cloud flying.
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| 24. Thermalling Turns |
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Within a radius agreed on the day by the meet director, the direction of all 360 degree
turns over launch must be made according to a rule set at each days briefing until at
least 1000ft ATO. Failure to comply with this rule may incur a penalty.
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| 25. Cloud Flying |
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Cloud flying is not permitted and may lead to disqualification. Every pilot is
expected to take appropriate action to prevent the entering of cloud. If a
pilot does enter cloud they may not exit with an advantage, but must be
seen to retrace their track to the point they entered before continuing the flight.
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| 26. Sign To Fly |
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When a task is set and announced, all pilots must 'sign to fly' if they wish to score. It is the pilot's responsibility to make sure they do sign.
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| 27. Task Validation |
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In the event of the window being closed early, the task will be validated if all pilots have launched or if the window has been open for at least as
long as determined by the following formula:
Number of competitors (who have signed to fly) multiplied by 5 minutes, divided by the number of declared launch positions. The Meet Director will determine the number of launch positions on a site/task basis.
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| 28. Stopped Task |
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The Meet Director may cancel a task in the event of hazardous weather or other conditions which, in their view, could
endanger the safety of pilots before the landing deadline expires. Cancellation is announced on
the safety frequency and by other means stated at the briefing. Pilots on course
should acknowledge a cancelled task by flying in 'big ears' if safe to do so. If one or more pilots have flown further than 75% of the nominal distance at the time the task was stopped, the task is scored.
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| 29. Closed Take-off Window |
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The take off window may be closed and all further launches cancelled due to conditions on
take off. If sufficient ‘window open’ time has elapsed, as set out in 27 above, then those on course
will score a distance as recorded by their GPS at the time the window was closed.
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| 30. Safety on Task |
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Pilots on a task who consider conditions have become unsafe must advise the Meet Director via the safety channel.
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| 31. Incident Reporting |
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Pilots involved in any incident that may have put him/herself or any third party in danger must make account to the Meet Director as soon as is practical. Submission of an Incident Form to the BHPA may be required. If the incident occurs in the vicinity of take-off and safe top landing is possible then the pilot should land immediately.
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| 32. Airmanship and Attitude |
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Pilots are expected to show good airmanship and attitude consistent with the FAI Sporting Code. Failure to do so may result in penalties.
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| 33. Previous Winners & British Championship Winners |
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The restriction preventing previous winners or top 10 National pilots from entering the Cup has been removed for 2011
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| 34. Compensation to an Assisting Pilot |
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A pilot assisting an injured or downed pilot will be compensated task points by receiving points for the task equal to their average score for all the other tasks in the competition round, subject to there being more than 1 task. If there is only 1 task the meet director may award a bonus.
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| 35. Handicap System for 2011 |
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Following the July 2011 FAI recommendation for Cat 2 organisers to consider their position, we are removing the 'Open' element with immediate effect. Each
event will now only be scored once.
The proposed handicap system has been withdrawn.
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| 36. New Rules |
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New rules may be brought out prior to the initial briefing. It is the responsibility of pilots to update their copies of the rules.
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| Scoring |
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The official posting time of the of the scoring is usually prior to the morning task
briefing, however provisional results are normally posted the night before. Overall results will be determined as follows:
If 10 or more tasks are achieved then the best 8 score. The GAP Methodology for scoring will be used at all meets, and the scoring system will be the CIVL RACE approved system
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