LOCAL REGULATIONS

2014 Polish and Lithuanian Paragliding Open Championship

8th – 14th June 2014, Gabrje, Slovenia

1. Introduction

1.1. Polish and Lithuanian Paragliding Open Championship competition is run according to the FAI Sporting Code. It is a pilot’s responsibility to be aware of the rules in General Section and Section 7B (S7B) of the FAI Sporting Code and abide them. References to Section 7B refer to the edition dated 1stMay 2013.These additions supersede Section 7B.

1.2. The purpose of the competition is to provide good and satisfying contest flying in order to determine the winners in each class and to reinforce friendship amongst pilots and nations.The event is for pilots interested in competing and improving their skills at paragliding.

1.3. The competition is open to all pilots with a valid FAI licence.

1.4. All pilots flyunder their own responsibility. It is each pilot’s responsibility to take all necessary actions to maintain their own safety during the competitions and to ensure that they do not act in any way that might endanger any other pilots during the competition. It is a condition of entry to the Polish Paragliding competitions for all pilots to accept without restriction to hold the Organisers, Aeroclub of Italy and Aero Club of Poland blameless and waive all claims to compensation.

1.5. All pilots must be aware of the Local Regulations and abide them.

1.6. The organizer shall provide a safe and fair contest.

2. Entry requirements

2.1. Every pilot who wants to take part in the competition must complete the online entry form and pay the entry fee. Only after entry fee payment registration process is complete.

2.2. Every pilot must register personally at the headquarters at announced registration period and present the following documents:

a. valid FAI sporting licence,
b. IPPI card at level 5,
c. proof of third party insurance – in English,
d. proof of medical insurance (covering hospital expenses, rescue and repatriation) – in English. Without these documents the pilot will not be permitted to compete.

2.3. At registration in the Headquarters a pilot must sign a Release of Liability Waiver.

2.4. A competing pilot must be equipped with a fully operational paraglider, harness with back protection, helmet, reserve parachute and radio. All of the above mentioned equipment is provided by the pilots themselves.

2.5. Open class gliders, without any certification, are not permitted.

2.6. The organizers reserve the right to refuse entry to any pilot.

2.7. The maximum number of pilots participating in the competition is set at the Meet Director’s discretion and announced on the competition website.The MD may admit more competitors than it was firstannounced (but not exceeding the 150 pilot limit).

2.8. Pilots who arrive late for registration should contact the organisation to ensure that their place remains available. Pilots who fail to advise of late arrival and fail to register before the start of the competition can be replaced by late entry pilots meeting the participant requirements.

2.9. Cancellation of a registration.

Any pilot who cancels their registration will be given refunds as follows:

a. Cancellation date not later than 09.05.2014 – full refund less the bank costs.
b. Cancellation from 10.05.2014 on – the pilot will receive a refund (less any bank costs) only in case the competition is fully subscribed and the pilot, who cancels has their place filled by another pilot.
c. If the competition is cancelled, the entry fee will be refunded in full, less any banking costs.

3. Paraglider classes and classification

3.1. Pilots will be classified in the following classes:

• Serial Class – is for all certified gliders;
• Sports Class – is for any glider up to LTF (DHV) 2, Afnor Standard or CEN C;
• Female Class;
• Team Class.

3.2. Teams are made up of up to 5 pilots. The best 3 pilots from each team score for each task.

3.3. Changes to gliders

3.3.1. Gliders must be flown in their certified configuration and cannot be changed in any way. A glider that has been changed in its configuration even slightly in comparison with the tested model or a glider that has not been tested will not be allowed in the competition.

3.3.2. Any pilot who replaces the glider during the competition without asking the Meet Director for permission will be disqualified from the event.

3.3.3. Any major damage to a glider shall be reported to the Meet Director without delay and the glider may then be repaired. Any replacement parts must conform exactly to the original specifications.

3.3.4. A glider may be checked at any time throughout the competition. After protest or incident gliders will be inspected. It is always the pilot’s responsibility to prove that the wing conforms to certification requirements, and that the pilot is flying within the certified weight range.The pilot must provide manufacturers diagrams and certificates if required to do so. Failure to meet certificationrequirements will result in disqualificationof the pilot from the competition.

4. Competition officials

4.1. Meet Director:

the Meet Director is responsible for the successful management of the event, assisted by other officials.

4.2. Deputy Meet Director:

assists the Meet Director in all their duties.

4.3. Safety Director:

the Safety Director is responsible for a safe run of the competition.

5. Committees

5.1. Before the firsttask the following committees will be elected:

5.1.1. Task Committee, consisting of:

• one person nominated by the Meet Director;
• 2 competitors elected by all participants from a list of candidates proposed by the Meet Director. TheTask Committee is an advisory body for the Meet Director.

5.1.2. Safety Committee, consisting of 3 pilots nominated by the Meet Director.

5.1.3. Protest Committee, consisting of 3 pilots of different nationality, elected by all participants from the pilot list. If one of the members of the committee is involved in a protest, they must be substituted at the discretion of the Meet Director. Committee’s decisions are final.

6. Flying and safety regulations

6.1. All pilots must read and abide safety rules as in Section 7B of the FAI Sporting Code, particularly in Chapter 16.

6.2. Each pilot is required to conform to the aviation law and rules of the country in which the competition takes place.

6.3. Each day the Meet Director will confirm the turning direction within a given area and/or time.

6.4. A pilot witnessing any situation which might influence the safety of the competition must try to inform the organizer and the competing pilots.

6.5. All manoeuvres which might endanger the safety of others are strictly forbidden. Aerobatics, dangerous flyingconduct, infringement of rules and unsporting behaviour will be penalised and may cause disqualification.

6.6. A pilot may not flyunless he/she is fit.Any injury, drugs or medication taken which might affect the competitor’s performance in the air, must be reported to the Meet Director before flying.

6.7. It is strictly forbidden to fly under influence of alcohol or other drugs. A pilot must undergo an anti-doping control at a request of the Meet Director.

6.8. At any time the organizer can stop a task in case of hazardous conditions.

6.9. The Meet Director has the right to ban all flying on a day when the task was cancelled.

6.10. If any pilot fails to report within the report deadline time, the organizer will start a rescue action.

6.11. In case a pilot fails to inform the organizer about a safe landing, he/she will have to cover the costs of the rescue action.

6.12. All pilots must pack their gliders immediately after landing: a glider lying open on the ground means“I need help!”

6.13. Rescue action and medical costs will be covered by the pilot and their insurance.

7. Briefings

7.1. All information concerning the competition and tasks will be announced at briefings and/or displayed on the official information board.

7.2. Types of briefing

7.2.1. General briefing– takes place before the firsttask. It covers general organisational and safety issues. All competitors must be present personally at the general briefing.

7.2.2. Information briefing– held at the headquarter or other appointed place. Pilots should be either present personally or get informed through their team leader.

7.2.3. Task briefing– held at the take-off in the presence of all pilots, presents the details of the task, weather information and general organisational matters.

7.3. It’s the pilots responsibility to remain informed through the briefing or by consulting the official task board.

7.4. All technical data specified during the task briefing will be put on the task board.The window can be open a minimum of 15 minutes after the end of the task briefing.

7.5. All briefings will be conducted first in English, then in Polish and Lithuanian languages.

7.6. After the end of a task briefing,all pilots who wish to fly on that day must sign the Sign-to-Fly list, confirming that they were present at the briefing and understood it.Apilot who doesn’t sign the list cannot flythe task.

7.7. In case Livetracking is used and all competitors receive a tracker, there will be no Sign-to-Fly list but all pilots must collect their tracker before the flight.If they don’t do that, they cannot flythe task.

8. Start of a task

8.1. Launching is allowed only during the window open period.

8.2. The take-off areas will be defined by the Launch Marshall at the task briefing.

8.3. At sites not large enough for all the competitors an ordered launch method may be used.The top 10 pilots of overall Open event ranking, the top 5 women and the top 5 pilots of overall Polish ranking have the right to take precedence over other pilots in the take-off area whenever they choose, before doing so they must ask for permission the Launch Marshall.

8.4. The Meet Director or the Launch Marshall may temporarily close the window if conditions become dangerous.The window will be extended by the time the take-offwas closed, without, however, exceeding the deadline for window extension.

8.5. Each individual pilot is responsible for their own decision to take off.

8.6. In the case of a major problem forcing re-landing immediately after launching, a pilot may take off again after gaining permission from the Launch Marshall.The pilot’s take-offtime remains, in any case, the one of the earliest start.

9. Communication and external aid

9.1. All pilots should be equipped with a 2 m radio and a mobile phone.

9.2. All other equipment that might increase pilot’s safety is also recommended.

9.3. The organizer will announce an official safety frequency, which all pilots must listen to throughout the task. On this frequency communication is only allowed if concerning safety issues.

9.4. The organizer will also announce a retrieval frequency.

9.5. All pilots must inform the organizer via their means of communication about any issue concerning safety, including consequences of landing away from the designated goal of other pilots.

9.6. Tasks should be played among individual pilots, without any external aid.

9.7. Any help in navigation or thermal location by any non-competing aircraft, including competing gliders not in the act of carrying out the task is prohibited.

10. Landing

10.1. The latest time for landing at goal will be announced at the task briefing. Pilots who land in goal after the deadline will not score time points.

10.2. At the task briefingthe Meet Director may also announce a landing deadline when all pilots must have landed. If a safe landing area cannot be reached at that time the pilot is allowed to land as soon as possible.

10.3. A pilot must report back as soon as possible after landing.The procedure for this will be announced at the safety briefing.The latest time for report back will be announced at the task briefing.

10.4. Checking-in is mandatory for all pilots who signed to start the task. Each pilot must give in their GPS.

11. Assistance to a pilot in danger

11.1. A pilot witnessing any kind of accident or receiving a help call must try to inform the organizer or other people as soon as possible, giving the nature and location of the accident and description of the pilot/ glider in trouble.

11.2. During the rescue action all pilots shall remain only the necessary communication on the radio.

11.3. A pilot who lands or limits his flight to assist another pilot in distress will be compensated task points.The compensation will be decided on by the Meet Director.

12. Validation of a task and the competition

12.1. A task is valid only if at least 20% of competing pilots flybeyond the minimum distance.

12.2. The launch window must be open for the minimum time giving every pilot at least 30 seconds to take off.

12.3. Stopping of a task

The Meet Director can stop a task in case of hazardous weather or other conditions which could endanger the safety of pilots. Stopping of a task is announced on the safety frequency. After a task is stopped, all pilots should head for a safe landing. If the task is a Race to Goal and one or more pilots have reached goal or one or more pilots flewthe nominal distance at the time the task was stopped, the task is scored. If not the task is cancelled with no score.

12.4. Cancellation of a task

After the last landing time a task can only be cancelled by a safety committee decision.

12.5. The competition is valid if there is at least one valid task.

13. Penalties

13.1. For infringements of or non-compliance with the Local Regulations or the FAI Sporting Code a pilot may be penalised. Each time the penalty is imposed by the Meet Director, except the penalties stated in S7B 5.7.3, which will be applied accordingly.

13.2. If a task is cancelled, the penalty will be decided by the Meet Director.

13.3. If for any reason a pilot’s score, including penalties, is negative, the score for the task will be zero.

14. Complaints and protests

14.1. Complaints and protest must be made in writing and delivered to the competition HQ. They shall refer to specific rules in the Local Regulations and/or FAI Sporting Code.

14.2. The time limit of a complaint is 1 hour 30 minutes after the publication of the provisional task results, except after the last task, in which case the time limit is 30 minutes.

14.3. If the pilot is not satisfiedwith the outcome, he/she may make a protest.The time limit of a complaint is 2 hours after announcement of the decision regarding the complaint, except after the last task, in which case the time limit is 30 minutes.

14.4. The protest fee is 20 Euro, which will be refunded if the protest is upheld.

14.5. Complaints are dealt with by the Meet Director and protest are dealt with by the Protest Committee.

15. Scoring and results

15.1. Flight verification rules are set down in S7B chapter 14.

15.2. Tasks will be scored using the GAP 2013 formula. All GAP parameters will be announced before the first task and will remained unchanged until the end of the competition.

15.3. The results will be displayed on the information board as soon as possible after downloading all track-logs.

15.4. After the end of the competition the results will be sent to CIVL for inclusion in the WPRS.

16. Prizes

Prizes and/or trophies will be awarded in the following categories:

• 1st,2nd and 3rd place in Open class
• 1st,2nd and 3rd place in Serial class
• 1st,2nd and 3rd place in Female Open class
• 1st,2nd and 3rd place inTeam class