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
here
and click
"Fill out a membership application online."
Yearly membership is $39 for US citizens and $59 for foreign pilots. Click
here.
To receive an FAI Sporting License, you can click
here.
The Sporting License
here is free with your NAA membership. Your FAI Sporting License number is H+your USHPA number.
You need to be a USHPA 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
here. I haven't got a web
address for applying for 3-month membership. Foreign pilots will apply for
records through their NAC, not through the US NAA.
All qualified pilots who attend the WRE will be required to act as official observers for their fellow pilots. Full USHPA members who are familiar with the FAI Sporting Code are qualified as official observers.
You will need to be familiar with the pertinent sections of it in order to set
world records. You can find it
here.
Before you fly, you declare your World Record attempt
in your GPS.
You do not need to declare your flight in advance if you are going for open
distance. If you have an IGC-certified datalogger or a GPS you can declare your flight in
the datalogger or GPS.
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.).
The forms that you need to fill out for your documentation are found
here.
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
(multiple times).
You will need the trike or tug pilot to sign this form affirming the release point location, height, and time.
Remember who towed you. This is very important.
You need a 3D GPS trace of your flight.
After you land on an open distance flight you don't need to have two witnesses sign the form that they saw you at the landing area (they don't need to see you land).
But it is nice to have even if you have a datalogger or GPS.
Official Observers may only certify an event at which they were present, except that they may certify an out landing if they arrive soon afterwards and there is no doubt about the position of the landing.
Independent Witnesses may certify 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.
The last three paragraphs really are not needed as your GPS does the
certification.
You can have many official observers.
Later you will need take your short description of the flight, your GPS track
log, your completed forms, etc. and send them into the NAA within 30 days.
Notify the NAA and FAI of your record with 72 hours of its completion.
Everyone at the WRE can act as official observers. Just get them to observe you at a point that you need to be observed, and then get their signature later.
If you want 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 GPS 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.
Davis Straub
davis@davisstraub.com
http://ozreport.com