FAI Sporting Code Section 3 – Gliding
This document is valid from 1 October 2007
The FAI Sporting Code for gliders (SC3) sets out the rules and procedures to be used FEDERATION AERONAUTIQUE INTERNATIONALE Avenue Mon-Repos 24 – CH-1005 Lausanne - Switzerland
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The document may be used for information only and may not be exploited for commercial purposes. Any copy of this document or portion thereof must include this copyright notice.
Note that any product, process or technology described in the document may be the subject of other Intellectual Property rights reserved by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale or other entities and is not licensed hereunder. Rights to FAI international sporting events
All international sporting events organised wholly or partly under the rules of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Sporting Code1 are termed FAI International Sporting Events2. Under the FAI Statutes3, FAI owns and controls all rights relating to FAI International Sporting Events. FAI Members4 shall, within their national territories5, enforce FAI ownership of FAI International Sporting Events and require them to be registered in the FAI Sporting Calendar.
Permission and authority to exploit any rights to any commercial activity at such events, including but not limited to advertising at or for such events, use of the event name or logo for merchandising purposes and use of any sound and/or image, whether recorded electronically or otherwise or transmitted in real time, must be sought by way of prior agreement with FAI. This includes specifically all rights to the use of any material, electronic or other, that form part of any method or system for judging, scoring, performance evaluation or information utilised in any FAI International Sporting Event.
Each FAI Air Sport Commission8 is authorised to negotiate prior agreements on behalf of FAI with FAI Members or other entities as appropriate, of the transfer of all or parts of the rights to any FAI International Sporting Event (except World Air Games events9) which is organised wholly or partly under the Sporting Code section10 for which that Commission is responsible11. Any such transfer of rights shall be by “Organiser Agreement”12 as specified in the current FAI Bylaws Chapter 1, para 1.2 Rules for Transfer of Rights to FAI International Sporting Events.
Any person or legal entity which accepts the responsibility for organising an FAI Sporting Event, whether or not by written agreement, in doing so also accepts the proprietary rights of FAI as stated above. Where no formal transfer of rights has been established, FAI retains all rights to the event. Regardless of any agreement or transfer of rights, FAI shall have, free of charge for its own archival and/or promotional use, full access to any sound and/or visual images of any FAI Sporting Event, and always reserves itself the right to have any and all parts of any event recorded, filmed and/or photographed for such use, without charge.
2 FAI Sporting Code, General Section, Chapter 3, para 3.1.3
4 FAI Statutes, Chapter 5, paras 5.1.1.2, 5.5, 5.6, and 5.6.1.6
6 FAI Statutes, Chapter 2, para 2.3.2.2.5
8 FAI Statutes, Chapter 5, paras 5.1.1.2, 5.5, 5.6, and 5.6.1.6
9 FAI Sporting Code, General Section, Chapter 3, para 3.1.7
10 FAI Sporting Code, General Section, Chapter 1, paras 1.2 and 1.4
Amendment list (AL) record
Amendments are published by the FAI Secretariat, acting for the International Gliding Commission (IGC). Within nations, the organisation responsible for National Airsport Control (NAC) for gliding is then responsible for distributing amendments to all holders of this annex to Section 3 of the Sporting Code (SC3).
Amendments should be proposed to the IGC specialist dealing with this document either directly or through the FAI Secretariat in Lausanne (address below), preferably in the format used in the text of this annex.
When individual amendments have been made to the text of this Annex, a copy of the amendment list instructions should be inserted before this page so that, at a later date, the subjects of the amendment may be easily identified. Alternatively, users may download the amended Annex from the document page of the FAI web site. Amendments to the text will be indicated by a vertical line to the right of any paragraph that has been changed. AL# Action Amended by Name Date date of AL (Signature) Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
Tel: +41 21 345 1070 - Fax: +41 21 345 1077
1 General 1.1 Purpose of Annex
This Annex is published to provide rules and procedures for the Official IGC Ranking List (hereafter called the “Ranking List”). The Ranking list shall provide a ranking of Individual pilots as well as countries. Published at http://www.fai.org/gliding/rankings/ "
1.2 Background
The Ranking list was established in 2001 and became active from January 2003. At the FAI International Gliding Commission (IGC) Plenum meeting held in Lausanne in March 2006, it was decided that, considering the maturity of the Ranking List and rule set driving the Ranking List, it was reasonable to review the existing rule set, and convert them into an Annex to the FAI Sporting Code Section 3, Gliding.
The establishment of a Ranking List for countries was likewise adopted at the meeting in Lausanne in 2006, and has been included in this Annex.
1.3 Structure of the Annex
The Annex is composed of the following Main Sections:
Section 4: Ranking List Management and Administration
Section 5: Computation of Competition Ranking and Pilot Rating
2 Objectives
The objectives of the IGC Official Ranking System are
• to represent as accurately as possible the relative performance of competition pilots from
their results in national and international soaring competitions
• to promote soaring competition • to create a focus for promotion of competitive soaring • to promote the development of a high quality international competition structure • to create resources within the IGC to enable them to raise the standard of IGC category
1 soaring competitions and improve contact between the media and Soaring.
The IGC ranking system provides an official seeding list of competition glider pilots participating in International contests and contests sanctioned for inclusion.
The Ranking List is updated after each competition.
The Ranking List has three main components: Competition Rating, Pilot Scores and Country Scores.
• The Competition Rating depends on the type of competition, the quality of the pilots
competing and the number of competition days.
• The Pilots score is the result of their performance in IGC sanctioned competitions. It is
calculated using their personal score relative to that of the winner’s and the Competition Rating.
• A Country’s Score is based on the average of the 5 highest ranked pilots of that country.
3 Sanctioned Competitions 3.1 Category 1 events
All IGC category 1 events i.e. World and Continental championships are automatically included in the Ranking List as category 1 events.
3.2 Category 2 events
The results of other international competitions or national championships may also be included in the Ranking list under the following conditions.
They must be organised with the authorization of the relevant National Aero Club (NAC).
They must be approved by the IGC and pay the appropriate sanction fee.
In Nationals Championships, only the results of pilots holding a valid FAI Sporting Licence can be taken into account.
3.3 Competition Sanction Fee
The competition sanction fees will be paid according to the conditions referred to on the Ranking List web page “Enter Competition”
The levels of Sanction fees are determined by the IGC bureau.
4 Ranking List Management and Administration 4.1 Management
The Ranking List is managed and administrated by an IGC Ranking List Manager and an IGC Ranking List Administrator.
The IGC Ranking List Manager is responsible to the IGC for the satisfactory operation of the Ranking List. Comments, complaints or queries about any of the items below shall be directed to the IGC Ranking List Manager:
• Queries regarding the rules, or how the system works; • Queries relating to your position in the Ranking list; • Registration of a competition for inclusion in the Ranking List.
Amendment of pilot or competition details shall be directed to the IGC Ranking List Administrator.
Contact details can be found at the FAI/IGC web site
4.2 Inclusion of Competition Results 4.2.1 Submission of results
The Competition Organizer is responsible for the provision of the final results from the competition.
Results should be submitted within 15 days of the completion of the competition.
The officially accepted entry list and results shall be submitted to the IGC Ranking System Administrator on the spreadsheet available for download on the FAI/IGC web site,
Results shall include every competitor's Ranking List Identifier.
If a pilot is not previously registered in the Ranking List, his Ranking list identifier should be obtained from the Ranking List Administrator according to the instructions on the RL web site.
The Ranking List will normally be updated not later than 48 hours after the reception of the results.
4.2.2 Correction of errors
Upon inclusion of the contests results the competition organiser and the competing pilots who have submitted a valid E Mail address will receive a notification by E Mail.
If there are any errors or omissions the organiser or competing pilot should contact the RL Administrator with the relevant details within 30 days of the contests inclusion in the RL.
The contest results will become final 30 days after the results are first included or after any correction made to them within the permitted time limit
Basic pilot details such as name and nationality will be taken from the material provided by the Competition Organizer. (The pilots Nationality should be given as the country in which his sporting licence is issued).
The pilot can provide additional information directly via the web interface or by contacting the IGC Ranking System Administrator.
4.2.3 Procedure for correction of Errors
All requests for correction to pilot or competition details should be made on line via the Ranking List web site using the form “Correction of details and results”
In the event of any dispute regarding the entry of a Competition’s results or a pilot’s details, the organiser or pilot may make a direct appeal to the IGC Bureau who will decide the matter with finality. Any appeal should be made via the IGC secretary.
5 Computation of Competition Rating and Pilot Scores 5.1 Overview
Both Competition Rating and Pilot Scores are expressed as a number from 0 to 1000. Furthermore, a Quality Factor is defined for each Competition, as a number between 0 and 100%.
• The Competition Rating depends on the type of competition and on the quality of the
• The Pilot Scores is the result of his/her performance in IGC sanctioned competitions. • The Quality Factor depends on the number of competing pilots and the number of
competition days. The Quality Factor will reduce with the age of a contest.
5.2 Competition Rating
Each contest can have several qualifying competitions, one for each separately scored class in the contest.
For ranking purposes, competitions are divided into the following categories:
• Cat 1+: First Category FAI Competitions such as World Championships in each of the
• Cat 1 standard: First Category FAI events with restricted entry and continental
championships, or any other international event approved by IGC as First Category.
• Cat 2: Any other International Competitions or National Championships sanctioned by
the IGC for ranking list inclusion. For advice on competition approval see about Sanctioned competitions.
5.3 Active Competition Period 5.3.1 Active Competition Period of Category 1 events
For Category 1 events a maximum of two events in a sequence is scored. The active Competition Period is limited by a maximum of 5 years.
5.3.2 Active Competition Period of Category 2 events
For Category 2 events the active Competition Period is limited by a maximum of 4 years.
5.4 Competition Rating Calculation
Competition ratings are calculated using the Pilot Scores of the 5 highest ranked pilots finishing in the top half of a contest by position, or scoring more than 85% of the winners score.
Competition_Rating = 0.1 x (5 x Maximum_Rating +PS1+PS2+PS3+PS4+PS5 + (with PS = Pilots_Score)
The competition rating is limited within the range appropriate to the Competition category outlined below. A minimum Pilot Score is also outlined below and will be used in the event that a greater Pilot Score cannot be achieved by the five highest ranked pilots.
Competition category 5.5 Competition Quality Factor
The maximum Rating a pilot can achieve from a given competition is limited by the quality factor. The Base quality factor reduces with the age of a contest.
Quality_Factor = Base_quality_factor x Entry_factor x Day_factor Entry_factor = number of pilots with score > 0 / 15 (limited to 1) Day_factor = number of valid tasks / 4 (limited to 1) 5.5.1 Base Quality Factor of Category 1 events Base_quality_factor All Cat1 events 5.5.2 Base Quality Factor of Category 2 events Base_quality_factor
Reduction per year, 1 year after the end of the
event or by entering the next in sequence
5.6 Pilot's Rating Score
All competing pilots in a sanctioned Competition will receive a Rating Score from that competition.
The Pilot Rating Score for two seater entries and entries shared by more than one pilot will be awarded to the pilot with the highest Ranking at the start of the competition. If neither pilot has a current Ranking it is the pilot nominated as first pilot or P1.
The competition winner’s Rating Score is equal to the Competition’s Rating. All the other competing pilots receive a Rating Score proportional to their final scores.
Rating_score = Competition_Rating x Pilot’s score / Winner’s score 5.7 Pilot’s Score calculation
The Pilot Score is calculated from the best Rating Scores achieved, taking into account the Competitions Quality FactorsKeep the best two Cat 1 competitions (those which yield pilot the best Rating Score). Discard all others based on Cat 1 competitions. Keep all Cat 2 Competitions without any number limitation.
Add a “virtual competition” whose Rating Score is pilot’s best Rating Score minus 200, with a Quality Factor of 100%.
Sort all pilot’s Rating Scores by decreasing order.
Add the pilot’s Rating Scores multiplied by their Quality Factor together, until the sum of the Quality Factors is at or above 100%.
If the sum of Quality Factors is greater than 100%, then reduce the last Quality Factor so that the sum of Quality Factors be equal to 100%
If the Virtual Competition was used in this sum, further reduce the last Quality Factor so that the sum of Quality Factors be equal to 99%, and complete to 100% using the pilots next Rating Score instead of Virtual Competition.
5.8 Pilot Ranking
Pilots are ranked upon decreasing Pilot Scores. Ties are broken by the highest single pilot rating score.
6 Rules for Country Scores
The Ranking List web site will include a Ranking by country.
A Country’s rating is defined as the average score of the 5 highest ranked pilots of that country.
The Country Scores are updated after each contest is included in Ranking List.
7 Rules for inclusion of competitions using the Sailplane Grand Prix rules 7.1 Rating of Sailplane Grand Prix
Sailplane Grand Prix World Finals will be rated as Category 1+. Qualifying SGPs will be rated as Category 2
All Grand Prix competitions will be subject to the application of Ranking List calculations as defined in section 5 of these rules to determine their Rating and Quality factor.
7.2 Pilots Rating score.
Only the top ten Pilots receive a Pilot Rating Score.
Pilots Rating Score = 400 x (point score / max point score) + 600
1 If the Ranking List Pilot Scores are to be used as a filter for entry into a competition, it is necessary to define a specific date on which the List will
2 If the Ranking List Country Scores are to be used as a filter for entry into a competition, it is necessary to define a specific date on which the List
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