The Latest from the IGC

Fred Hermanspann

The latest decisions by the IGC (International Gliding Commission) will have major effects on the competition scene and for badge flying.  Pending the official announcement, some of the changes will be:

GNSS (i. e. GPS) altitude from approved loggers is now accepted for badge flights up to the Diamond level.  For altitude records above 50,000 ft it is now required (this is for Einar Enevoldsen).

The World Class is discontinued; it is effectively replaced by a 13.5 m class that will have separate world championships.  Disposable ballast is allowed.

A 20m two-seater class is now added for world championships – no restriction of flaps; the first championships will be in 2015 (59 years after the last championships for two-seaters; the Arcus has a nice head start as all the other existing 20m two-seaters have no flaps).

Let’s see, how the SSA will introduce these changes to the contest and record scene.