In order to qualify for a world record you must be a
member of the US NAA and have an FAI Sporting License. You can apply on line for
membership and the license.
To apply for the NAA membership go to http://www.naa-usa.org/website/html/membershipset.html
and click Individual
Membership (http://www.naa-usa.org/website/html/membershiptypes/indvidual.htm).
Yearly membership is $34 for US citizens and $49 for foreign pilots. Click Click
here to Join Now!
(http://www.naa-usa.org/website/html/membershiptypes/membershipapplication.htm)
to join the NAA.
To receive an FAI Sporting License, you can click on the membership page - NAA/FAI
Sporting License
(http://www.naa-usa.org/website/html/membershiptypes/sportinglicenceapp.htm).
The Sporting License is $25, if you are an NAA member (and you just signed up
for that). Your NAA number is H+your USHGA number.
You need to be a USHGA member for liability (waiver) and official observer purposes. If you are a US citizen or living in the US, you need to be a full member with at least a one-year membership. Foreign pilots will need a 3-month membership at least. If you are not a member you can apply at:
http://www.ushga.org/membership.asp. I haven't got a web address for applying for 3-month membership. If you can't do it on-line we'll have membership applications in Zapata.
All qualified pilots who attend the WRE will be required to act as official observers for their fellow pilots. Full USHGA members who are familiar with the FAI Sporting Code are qualified as official observers. I will be sending out more information about the Sporting Code soon. You will need to be familiar with the pertinent sections of it in order to set world records. You can find it at:
http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/documents/sc7.asp.
Before you fly, you declare your World Record attempt and document that declaration (fill out the Task Declaration Form and get a photograph of it with your head in the picture).
You do not need to declare your flight in advance if you are going for open
distance. If you have an IGC-certified datalogger you can declare your flight in
the datalogger.
After you fly you document your flight and get all the signatures of the official observers of your launch, release and flight (maybe landing). You get witness signatures of your landing if an official observer isn't there where you landed. An official observer can't be related (as in family) to you.
Not true if you have an IGC-certifed datalogger.
Official Observers may not act as such for any flight in which they are pilot or passenger or have a personal, financial or business interest. (Owning or part owning the hang glider is not of itself considered financial interest.).
You photograph your declaration before you fly and you photograph your landing area and any goal that you may have declared (FAI photo sector). You must get your film developed without cutting the negative. The film store in town knows about this issue and will keep the negative uncut for you. An official observer watches you take the film out of the camera and watches you give it to the camera shop clerk. They sign the negative when it is returned.
The forms that you need to fill out for your declaration and documentation are found at:
http://www.fai.org/hang_gliding/documents/sc7.asp.
We will have these forms on site so you don't need to print them out.
You need to download this document, open it up and print out the task declaration form and the application documentation forms. The declaration form needs to be copied at 11x17 (go to your nearby Kinkos).
But, again we will have these for you.
You'll find the Task Declaration Form on page 41. This is the form that needs to be enlarged and copied.
You can bring 10 or 14 of these (one for each day). You need an official observer to sign this form before you are photographed holding it in front of you with your face showing above it.
You will fill out the application form for a record only after you have completed a record flight. You will need an official observer to sign this form.
You will need the trike or tug pilot to sign this form affirming the release point location, height, and time. When you release from the tug, enter a Mark/Enter on your GPS to mark your release point. Radio to your driver your height. Remember who towed you.
This is very important. True with out without a datalogger.
You need a barograph trace of your flight. The high end varios include certified barographs. Your barograph needs to be calibrated with in the last year, or you can have it recalibrated soon after you set a record (you need to send in a copy of the calibration certificate when you send in your documentation to the SSA). You need to have an official observer examine your barograph before your fly. You need to have an official observer examine the barograph after flight to make sure that it wasn't tampered with. They need to sign the applications forms to that effect.
Calibration may only be required for height claims,
but it is unclear from the CIVL/FAI documentation.
You need to have an official observer watch you print out the barograph trace and sign the form that he/she did so. You'll need to bring the cables with you that connect your barograph to a parallel port printer.
After you land you need to have two witnesses sign the form that they saw you at the landing area (they don't need to see you land).
Nice to have even if you have a datalogger.
Official Observers may only certificate an event at which they were present, except that they may certificate an out landing if they arrive soon afterwards and there is no doubt about the position of the landing.
Independent Witnesses may certificate an outlanding in the absence of an Official Observer. They must give their names, addresses, telephone numbers (if any) and state precisely the place and time of landing.
All certificates by people other than registered Official Observers must be countersigned as correct by the Official Observers controlling the flight. If an Official Observer considers he may not be entirely free of interest in the claim he must obtain the countersignature of an independent Official Observer.
You can have many official observers (in fact, you will).
Later you will need to write a complete description of the flight, include all photographs, barograph trace and calibration certificate, completed forms, etc. and send them into the SSA with 30 days. We will show you how to notify the USHGA, SSA, NAA, and FAI of your record with 24 hours of its completion.
If you have a IGC certified data logger, you do not need to take photographs. You can also declare the task in the data logger.
This may seem like a lot of work, and it is, but one step at a time and you'll get it done.
Everyone at the WRE will act as official observers. Just get them to observer you at a point that you need to be observed, and then get their signature later.
Take the second page of the application form with you when you fly so that you can get the signatures of landing witnesses and their names, addresses, and telephone numbers.
Check your vario/barograph and be sure that you have set the date and time (CDST) correctly. You will have to erase all record of previous flights to do this.
Remember you will have to send in a calibration certificate for your barograph or data logger. You can get one now or send in your barograph after the flight to get a new one.
You will need a camera to record your flight declaration, any goals that you fly over, and your landing if you don't have an IGC-certified flight data logger.
Davis Straub
davis@davisstraub.com
www.davisstraub.com/OZ