Gliding competitions

Some of the pilots in the sport of gliding take part in gliding competitions. These are usually racing competitions, but there are also aerobatic contests and on-line league tables.

In the early days, the main goal was to stay airborne for as long as possible. However, flights could last for days and some pilots killed themselves by falling asleep. This type of duration contest was abandoned by 1939.

From the earliest days of gliding there was also 'free distance' flying. Pilots launched themselves from a hill top, attempting to glide as far as possible. Once pilots learned to exploit ridge lift and thermals, flights could be extended further. Eventually they mastered flying from thermal to thermal, resulting in ever longer retrieves. As the pilots and gliders became better, the winner of a competition day might fly so far that he could not get back to the competition site for the next day. Turn-points were therefore used. Those pilots who managed to fly all the way to the turn-point and back would score the same distance as for free distance flights. When pilots and gliders became even better, most of the pilots would complete the task. Points were then awarded for speed.

Initially, observers would be stationed at the turn-points to verify that the pilots rounded them. Large easily seen contest numbers (sometimes in addition to the glider's registration) were, and still are, located on the bottom of one wing, and each side of the fin, to ease identification. As the years progressed, pilots used (film) cameras to photograph each turnpoint from the air to prove that they had rounded each one and a barograph to prove that they had not landed en route. Today, all tracking methods have been totally replaced with GPS-based FAI approved flight recorders to (securely) log their positions and flight so that they can prove that the task was correctly completed.

Modern gliding competitions now comprise closed tasks where everyone races on an aerial route around specified turn-points, plus start and finish points, that brings everybody back to base. The weather forecast and the performance of the gliders, as well as the experience level of the pilots, dictate the length of the task. Today, most of the points are speed points. The general rule is to set the task so that all pilots have a fair chance of completing it, with the fastest pilot gaining the most points for that day.

With the advent of GPS, new types of tasks were introduced such as speed or distance tasks within assigned areas, and speed or distance tasks with pilot-selected turn-points (during flight based on perceived advantages). Despite the use of pilot-selected turn-points made possible by GPS, tasks over a fixed course are still used frequently. In the European Gliding Championships in 2005, a task of 1,011 km was set in the open class; the longest task in an international competition.

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Wikipedia