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aerokurier Online Contest (OLC) |
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aerokurier Online Contest 2003:
Making things more simple The OLC 2003 is to use a simple, clear, easy-to-understand scoring system of one point per kilometer flown for long-distance flights. 
The aerokurier Online Contest (OLC) has undergone continuous change over its short, successful history since 1998. At the beginning the rules used for scoring were quite simple. The pilot was awarded one point per kilometer flown. Since then they have evolved into something far more complex due to differences in the scoring of different flight geometries. In an "FAI triangle", every kilometer of the route is awarded two points, whereas in a triangle that does not satisfy this standard the same distance merits only 1.75 points. And in a polygonal flight one km is worth only 1.5 points. These rules have been the target of a lot of criticism. And rightly so: why should an FAI triangle be worth more than one which only narrowly fails the percentage rules?
Why ever, one might ask, should preference be given to a triangular course? And finally, flights today are documented with GPS. In the early days of closed competitive flights ground observers were still necessary and in those circumstances triangular flights were definitely preferable because they required fewer official observers. But with today's technology, this method of scoring flights is outdated.
These issues were considered at a workshop on cross-country gliding entitled "New forms of distance flying and their scoring" held at the beginning of March in Hersbruck, Germany. The workshop was attended by ambitious leading OLC pilots, among them Hans-Werner Grosse, Markus Scherdel and Kai Lindenberg, plus, from the other end of the spectrum, occasional distance pilots who derive just as much pleasure from taking part in the Online Contest. In other words, the full spectrum of participating pilots in the OLC were represented in the workshop.
Their efforts were rewarded: at the end of the day the rules had been compressed into a few brief sentences which express the goal of the OLC: "The promotion of free long-distance gliding." 
However, the search for a new scoring system was by no means easy due to all the requirements it is meant to fulfill. In particular, the system had to take due account of the airspace situation, which is becoming ever more complex and makes classical triangular flights virtually impossible from a lot of starting points. Pilots based in such airfields must not be disadvantaged by the rules. As many different flight variants as possible should be allowed, and a scoring system was to be created that would be as fair as possible fair to all these variants. It was desirable to create a homogenous scoring system without steps in scoring performance. And at the same time the rules needed to be as flexible as possible in regard of number of allowed waypoints per flight.
In addition, an extension to a flight, for example after flying a triangle should also score points. The scenario, not actually that unusual, where a pilot lands earlier than intended, even though weather conditions are still favorable, needed to be considered. Why should he give away the rest of the day without scoring any points?
Above all, it was desirable that the rules should be pursuable easily during the flight. This in turn ruled out steps in scoring like the ones created by the current rules when you go from polygon to triangle and from triangle to FAI triangle in a free flight (without a pre-declared task). In those flights which attempt to check out the limits of the weather, percentage rules (as currently required in triangular flights) can only be satisfied with a high degree of mathematical preparation. Today's available technology with a GPS unit allows any set of co-ordinates to serve as a turn point. Rather than just precisely defined geographical features like in the past. It therefore would become very difficult during the flight to determine the alignment of route sections (legs) and angles.
Rather than resulting in an extensive "catalogue of tasks" for the different flight variants, these requirements have now been condensed into a short, succinct set of rules. The basic idea is that every kilometer flown earns one point, as long as the flight really is long-distance.
The essentials of the new scoring formula are as follows: "Distance flights of up to six legs will be accepted for the Online Contest. "Legs 1 to 4 are to be scored at one basic point per kilometer. "Leg 5 will be scored 0.8 basic points per kilometer, and leg 6 with 0.6 basic points per kilometer." In the single-class system of the Online Contest, index scoring will have the effect of either reducing or increasing the basic points score according to the airplane performance (index). 
It will be noted from the significantly lower scores granted on legs 5 and 6 that in the OLC a basic flight variant should consist of four legs. This means that it is not necessary to fly a triangular course with the starting point on the leg, with every kilometer in the leg counting. And much more complex flight patterns with four turning points can also be flown(see the attached sketches of possible flights). This will make new flight geometries which take into account severely limiting airspace or geographic limitations as valuable as triangular courses. Extra legs are basically only necessary where a good day has been estimated far too pessimistically or where the day has turned out a lot better than predicted.
Under the new rules, it will of course no longer be essential to follow a closed course in order to earn one basic point per kilometer flown. Under this system, Gerd Spiegelberg's flight from Neu-Anspach in the Taunus to Serres in the French Maritime Alps (see aerokurier March/April 2002), which amounted to over 700km, would now be scored in a way that reflects the considerable achievement which it actually was. The rectilinear flight that wends its way through quite different weather zones will likewise be awarded one point per kilometer (as for a triangle) - in keeping with the aim of the Online Contest, which is to promote long-distance flying. Out and return flights are also no longer scored less than triangles under the new system. 
For many people it may seem strange that rectilinear flights and closed tasks are to be evaluated in identical fashion. 1000km are thus worth exactly the same number of points, whether flown in a triangle or in rectilinear flight. The workgroup agreed that sufficient performance differentiation would be possible with the new rules.
Another advantage of the new rules is that they open up the possibility of breaking out of the existing somewhat monotonous tasking regime based around triangles and realizing quite new flight geometries. New regions can be included which may previously never have been flown in for airspace or geographical reasons. 
Awarding open and close flight variants the same points eliminates another contentious issue in the present OLC rules, the 80% rule which was the subject of many controversial discussions.
However, one problem the new rules cannot resolve: it leaves one dependent on evaluation software. It is planned to perform the optimization calculation on the OLC internet server for participants who do not have such evaluation software. The idea here is that flights which have not been optimized by evaluation software will be included in the daily ranking with a provisional score. Final scoring will then occur when the server has had time to perform the optimization in a quieter period. In any case, the new rules make flying a lot simpler and more straightforward. The catchphrase is simple: the more kilometers flown, the more points! Gerhard Marzinzik (aerokurier) |
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