2nd FAI Women's European Hot Air Balloon Championship
Frankenthal 18-22 Sep 2012.
Event Director's page.
This page contains information directly related to the competition such as rules, task, maps etc.

Update: 9 September 2012.

FAQ

Please feel free to ask questions and we will try to answer them. If of general interest I will publish them here so that all of you benefit from them.
  • FAI_Logger_USB connector.jpg New Please, let me know, if is it allowed to use a competition logger intead of GPS modul during competition flights.?
    I understand your question to be; 'can and may I connect the FAI logger to my laptop?' The answer:YES!
     
    You can connect the logger to your equipment via a USB cable. You will need a USB Mini B plug to connect to the FAI logger (not a USB micro B!). The cable needed is NOT provided by the Organizer you will need to bring your own.
    The logger is providing GPS output according the NMEA 0183 protocol. This information can be handled by most navigation programs. The advantage is of course that you can fly to the same information source as you are scored to. Disadvantage: You must connect your logger to an upright pole and from there you will need a cable to your laptop, this may be hindering.

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  • How is the distance measured in the 3DT shape task?
    The distance is the horizontal distance (2D) between valid track points. This means going up and down to get a slant distance (3D) doesn't help. The shape may be divided in several parts (PIE task see TDSs from other competitions) the distance gained may have a bonus factor in these parts.
  • Is the distance measured in the 3DT shape task a straight line from entry point to exit point? NO! See above, in other words making a curved track in the shape will help you!

LOGGER

Failoggerkl.gif On the FAI/CIA Conference it was decided that we have to use the FAI logger.

I recommend that you use the tutorial to become familiar with this logger. Link to FAI logger training program

In the first flight we will only use the logger as 'logger'. Thereafter depending on the task we may gradually ask you to use the goal declaration and marker drop features.

Task Order.
The rule on 'Task order' highly depends on the type of logger. The rules allow for 'strict order' to 'anything goes' subject to the TDS instructions. Basically the following instructions are to be expected:

  • In order: meaning tasks and marker drops have to be in the order of the tasks as written on the TDS.
  • Any order: meaning tasks and marker drops may be flown in any order but not 'overlapping' in other words at any time only one task can be flown.
  • Any order or part order: meaning tasks and marker drops can be flown in any order and overlapping if desired. This means e.g. you may score in a 3DT task thereafter fly another tasks and at the same time try to improve your score in the 3DT task. Provided of course that you observe to task limitations like scoring period etc.

Competition area / Map / PZ list

CompAreaGE.jpg

Competition area

The competition area is bordered by two hill ranges and in the middle the Rhein is flowing from south to north. The river sediment formed a flat area between the hills with an average altitude in the competition area of around 100m.
In this area you find industrial centers along the Rhein, agriculture, vineyards and little cattle farming.
The competition area is bounded to the north by airspace restrictions of Frankfurt airport. There is US military base Coleman, Manheim airport and Worms.
The flying area is fine and generally good landing and take-off opportunities will be found.
The PZ1 and 2 constitute prohibited zones by air law. PZ3N, C and S constitute a large chemical complex and must be avoided. Coloman airbase is a Yellow PZ. Blue PZ5 (north of the line PZ5W-PZ5C-PZ5E)is the beginning of the Frankfurt airport restrictions and the maximum altitude is 4500ft MSL. South of that line is Blue PZ6, here we can fly up to 9000ft MSL.

Map

The competition map is ready and is being printed now. You will get two copies at check-in, further copies may be purchased.
The map is accurate however in my opinion the colours are a bit ‘hard’ but this cannot be changed.
The Rhein divides three ‘federal states’ in the West Rineland-Palatine, in the north-east Hesse and the south east Baden-Württemberg. In Rineland-Palatine the map is drawn in a quite different style e.g. build up areas are pink and in the east they are spotted black …
I have prepared an electronic copy which we will use for scoring. You may download that version here. The file is zipped and contains a copy of the map in TIF format, OziExplorer format both normal and ozf. There is also a PZlist in OziExplorer WPT and Google Earth kml format. Other formats need to be made by yourself.

Official PZ list Version 1 PZlist_V1.pdf (80kb)

The official PZlist Version 1, 04/09/2012 is ready. This version is subject to change as necessary. We are still negotiating the use of Worms airport. Coleman airport is a US military airbase and we hope that we will be able to take-off, set targets or even land there. But until further notice it is a yellow PZ. The motorway PZ is valid for the motorways shown in the image. Be advised there are a number of windmill clusters and isolated windmills in the competition area most of them shown on the map however there may be new windmills that are not shown! They are very high and dangerous especially in poor visibility. You are advised to study and mark them on your map.

RULES New

The rules are ready and needed to be adapted according the CIA decision to use the FAI logger.

The Rule book is printed in a handy DIN A5 format. You will get two copies during check-in.

Section III is a literal copy of the AXMER 2012. SI and SII are adapted for this Event. The PZ List (SII. 3 PZ LIST) is a separate document because of possible frequent changes but is an integral part of the rules!

The rules can be downloaded here: wec2012rules.pdf (560kb)

The interpretation about flying persons in the basket is:
  • All persons in flight must be female (except for Officials).
  • All persons must represent the same NAC except if the crew member has not competed in any previous national or international balloon competition (events).

TASKS

To get an idea what tasks you can expect, I recommend you to study the task data sheets of some competitions of last years. Especially the 3D tasks may be new to you and you may well expect a PD PIE. In this task you will have to declare a coordinate of your choice before the flight. This coordinate will be the center of a 'wedding cake' type shape. You will try to accumulate the greatest horizontal distance in each cylinder of the cake. The distance will be doubled in the second slice and tripled in the top slice.
 
Here are some task date sheets of past competitions:
Note: Some TDSs are from 4 years ago and tasks will probably set different today!