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Powered Paraglider Competition

Second Competition of 2010

May 12, 2010  This was a bitter pill to swallow--the Beach Blast Competition was cancelled by the City Police. Certainly a lesson was learned that the city officials must know full well what's happening, sign off on it, and then allow it to proceed as planned. An enormous amount of work was put to waste in one fell swoop by this action and many competitors sorely disappointed. The competition, being run by Eric Dufour, was well into its first run when officers came by and put the kibosh on things. This caught the event organizer and competition organizers completely off guard.

We will refund money to those registered pilots who ask for it and apologize to all competitors. Much of the money was already spent on the competition (flags and awards) but a refund is just the right thing to do in this case. If you are willing to help absorb the organizers cost, that will be appreciated but not necessary. Thanks to those who registered early enough that we had scoresheets and software prepared largely in advance.

Refund

To get your refund, simply send an email to theUSPPA@gmail.org and let us know how you would like it, either Paypal or check, before May 30. After May 30 any money leftover will be used to pay for the wing flags (by Paratour) and awards (by John Black). Again, sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your support. We will work harder in the future to insure that a site cannot be so easily removed.

May 05, 2010  George Hawkins has completed the Scoring Software that will be used for the 2010 USPPA Beach Blast Competition. Although the workings of this spreadsheet may be improved, the scoring logic has been set and won't change for this event. That is so pilots can look at it and "game" how best to achieve the maximum score.

Every attempt has been made to allow skill be the primary way to get maximum points. European scoring is different in that it awards the winner of a task like this way more than the next closest competitor. For example, in FAI scoring, a pilot who flew a perfect run but was slower by only one second, would get HALF of the winners score. That doesn't reflect what happened so we changed it to be proportional: a pilot who wins by a little will have a little higher score.

Here is the USPPA Scoring Spreadsheet.

May 01, 2010  It's official--Beach Blast will host the largest U.S. competition ever held. Pre-registered comp pilots have now met the requirement for full points to be awarded which means that, whoever wins here, will stand a good chance of becoming the 2010 U.S. champion. That has not happened since the Parastars competition several years back.

Eric Dufour, the competition director, along with Elisabeth Guerin and C.C. Moisant will be insuring that it is fair and run as best it can be. The organizer has set a limit of 25 competitors and there are a few slots left. A practice run followed by the run actual run of the tasks is slated for Thursday at 11AM.

Here are the current rules.

Here are the 2010 Beach Blast Judges Scoresheets

The Schedule is subject to change and the meeting place will be on the field. See the registration booth for details. All pilots must be registered, verified and have their pilot number before attending the briefing. You will get a sheet with your pilot number, a course diagram, basic description after registration is complete.

Footflyer.com has a description of the tasks here.

Thursday, May 6

1100am briefing and check of pilot registration. This is intended to be educational, too. We will describe the courses along with basic strategies and going for points can add risk.

1145 practice run of full competition complete with scoring. This is not mandatory but is highly recommended. The raw scores will be made available to the pilots immediately afterwards for purpose of understanding how it works.

1230 judges brief and go over what transpired. There are always questions. We have an extremely experienced crew of lead judges but still there are questions. Remember the current rules are how the tasks will be judged so it would be good to look over them.

1300 (or after the briefing is complete) Competition 1st Run. This counts. Good luck!

1400 (or after the competition is complete) Debriefing.

Friday, May 7

1100am Briefing including questions, answers, etc.

1145 Competition 2nd Run. This counts.

Sat, May 8

2000 (8pm) Awards will be given at the banquet

Mar 29, 2010 We had success at Paratoys and it looks like even more pilots will be competing at John Black's Beach Blast 2010. If you have 50 flights and are at a PPG2 or higher level, you should join us!

This will be another fast-format competition, run in mid-day since on-shore flow makes the air flyable all day. Pilots must be signed up to compete prior before 11:00AM on Thursday and ready to launch by the scheduled time. Check back here for finalized schedule. There'll be another run on Saturday in case of bad weather or the desire to fly on both days. If flying is done on both days then the pilot's best score will be taken.

There may be one or two runs of the tasks and, if two runs are flown, the best whole-day score is used. It may start as early as Thursday.

Pilots must be USPPA members before the competition starts (but not to pre-register) and must have at least 50 flights and be at a PPG2 level. The organizer and competition director have the final say but, if even without a rating, if you have the minimum number of flights and appropriate skills, you will be allowed to compete. Indeed, you will be encouraged to complete!

Please register using the link below. All income will go towards prize money and plaques for the top 3 winning pilots in a 50/30/20% to positions 1, 2, & 3. A minimum of 20 competitors is required. The money will be refunded in the event not enough competitors register or if the competition is unable to run due to weather. There is no other refund available. Thanks and good luck!

Tasks and rules will be posted here when they are completed. They are launch, slow/fast, Japanese Slalom and Spot Landing.

So come on out and try your stuff! Even if you've never competed, here is a great opportunity.

First Competition of 2010

Jan 10, 2010 There was no competition in 2009 but will be at least one in 2010. It's happening at the Paratoys Salton Sea event and will be an abbreviated event with one primary run at only three tasks. They'll be the most discriminating tasks, however, starting with launch, flying the cloverleaf then doing a spot landing.

This will be an extremely quick competition, run in mid-day since on-shore flow makes the air flyable all day. Pilots must be signed up to compete prior to noon on Friday and ready to launch by 2pm on Friday. There'll be another run on Saturday in case of bad weather or the desire to fly on both days. If flying is done on both days then the pilot's best score will be taken.

All pilots must be ready to launch by the start time (penalties will apply if not ready). We will start by launching the first three pilots one right after the other. Pilot 1 goes into the cloverleaf then climbs up his spot landing. Once he gets to altitude (minimum of about 300 feet) and sees the landing marker, he shuts off the motor to do a spot landing.

The spot landing goal is to land on the spot and stop. Most points will be awarded based on getting near the target but some points will also be awarded for stopping quickly (having minimum energy on touchdown.)

Eric Dufour, possibly Jeff Goin and a few others will will do a demo just before the competition starts but will not be scored. This is for U.S. Citizens or residents and will count towards your national ranking. If there is no other competition in 2010, it will establish your ranking for the year.

You can register by paying using the link below. The $20 will be used for prize money to be given to the top 3 winning pilots in a 50/30/20% to positions 1, 2, & 3. A minimum of 5 competitors is required. The money will be refunded in the event not enough competitors register or if the competition is unable to run due to weather. There is no other refund available. Thanks and good luck!

Here is a rough idea of the layout which will inevitably change due to wind and terrain conditions at the time. But it does give a good idea just how big the course is relative to the field. Many pilots will go out a long ways away from the sticks which is why this course takes so much room and must be as far as possible from people, cars and gear.

U.S. Team Invited to the 2009 World Air Games

Jan 17, 2009 For the first time ever, we are sending a U.S. Team to compete internationally, in the World Air Games. Five U.S. pilots qualified among a field the world's top entries will be representing the U.S. in this international event June 6 through 13, 2009 in Turin, Italy.

Pilots are: Chad Bastian, Jeff Goin, Stan Kasica, Dave Fore and Greg Hagg.

Many thanks go to Roy Beisswinger who was the driving force behind insuring that we had a go at flying on a level playing field, so to speak, in 2008. It was the Greenville qualifier that gave U.S. pilots a chance to compete.

Traveling and shipping are expensive and the USPPA is hoping to help out with expenses. If you would be willing to help, donations would be greatly appreciated. One pilot will not be using any of the donated funds since his employment allows inexpensive travel but the others must buy very expensive tickets. Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you are able and willing, your tax-deductible donations can be sent to:

USPPA
Team Competition Fund
931 West 75th Street
Suite 137-150, Naperville, IL 60565

Or you can donate through Paypal below. Use quantity to indicate how many $10 increments and thank you!

Scoring Overall

Pilots fly at events and score points. At each event, the winner gets 1000 points and others get a percentage of 1000 based on how they did relative to the winner. Events that have at least 15 pilots count for maximum points while those having fewer pilots count less. The pilots national standing is determined from the sum of his highest two event scores for the calendar year.

Pilots must be members of USPPA or USUA at the time of their competition to be tracked in the national standings.

Why Compete?

Primarily this is a way to add another layer of enjoyment for those who aspire to such things. Many enjoy improving their skills and then comparing their efforts with fellow pilots all over the country. Secondly, it makes for a more enjoyable spectator activity as pilots stretch themselves and do precision tasks that sometimes surprise the un-initiated (and the initiated as well).