Enterprise Tasks and Scoring
One frequently asked question is about the types of tasks that are set in Competition Enterprise. Below is an extract from the "Enterprise Task Guidelines" PDF, which prospective competitors, interested parties and insomniacs, can download below. New for 2019 is the use of the automated OLC calculation to score the distance part of a flight. As well as rewarding all soaring flight in a consistent manner, OLC significantly reduces scoring workload for both the self-scoring pilot and the long-suffering scorers. We hope you find this summary and PDF useful!
Enterprise Task and Scoring Summary:
Tasks are set to make the most of the day’s (safe) flying potential, taking into account the variety of pilot ability and glider performance. This may involve the use of ridge and wave lift, as well as thermal soaring. Although there may be a launch grid, to aid ground and launch operations, there is no “held start” or last finish time (with the possible exception of the final day or where poor weather is a possibility). Scores for a given task are based on the distance flown and bonus points achieved during the flight. Pilots are required to ‘self-score’ at the end of their flight, estimating the distance flown and the bonus points they believe they have collected. For this reason and to avoid confusion, the daily rules for the task and the bonus points should be as simple and unambiguous as possible. Distance points (1 point per full Km) are usually calculated using the automated OLC distance calculation.
Pilot flexibility within the task comes from deciding on how to best use the day to accumulate the maximum distance points (handicapped) and bonus points (usually not handicapped). Bonus points might be awarded on a task-specific basis, for flying to named turn points, or for activities which are valid through the competition, such as visiting the coast, flying to another country, gain of height above a predefined level or landing back at base. Often, some bonus points are available relatively close to the home airfield (‘base’) to encourage lower ability pilots and gliders to fully participate, collecting distance and bonus points, whilst minimising out-landing risk. It is highly unlikely that a pilot will be able to accumulate all bonus points on offer! Example of tasks and their bonus point structures are given in the PDF. Typically, bonus points account for between one third and one half of all points earned during a day’s flying.
On days with a particularly positive weather forecast, consideration is often made for pilots who may with to fly a fixed FAI task, to achieve their Gold, Diamond or even 750km flights. This can often be achieved by the pilot preplanning and declaring a fixed task, within the daily CE task rules, for example declaring a 300km triangle using BGA gliding clubs as part of a ‘visit our friends’ task.
A pilot’s score is based on the total of distant points plus bonus points, achieved during the day’s flight. The pilot completes a self-scoring sheet (see PDF for more detail), indicating the unhandicapped distance they think they have flown and the bonus points they believe they have scored. This sheet is handed in, along with their IGC trace, immediately after landing. The scorer will use the IGC file to validate the self-score sheet and check for things like airspace infringement and undeclared engine use.
Distance flown is based on the “OLC plus” distance calculation. This can be done automatically both by the Scorer’s SeeYou program and by the pilot’s PDA software, such as SeeYou mobile, XCSoar, LK8000 and the LX9000 series of flight computers. The OLC distance is based on all non-powered flight, irrespective of any task rules, the calculated OLC task starts after a launch finishes and ends on a landing or engine use. This means that a pilot’s distance score will take into account both pre-start flying and all final-glide distance, even if a land-out or engine use is required. There are examples of OLC distance scoring in the PDF. OLC allows for a maximum difference between start and finish height of 1,000 metres. Distance points are awarded as 1 point per full kilometre of handicapped soaring flight, as scored via OLC. It is down to the pilot to fly a route that maximises both the OLC distance and the bonus points earned.
Enterprise Task and Scoring Summary:
Tasks are set to make the most of the day’s (safe) flying potential, taking into account the variety of pilot ability and glider performance. This may involve the use of ridge and wave lift, as well as thermal soaring. Although there may be a launch grid, to aid ground and launch operations, there is no “held start” or last finish time (with the possible exception of the final day or where poor weather is a possibility). Scores for a given task are based on the distance flown and bonus points achieved during the flight. Pilots are required to ‘self-score’ at the end of their flight, estimating the distance flown and the bonus points they believe they have collected. For this reason and to avoid confusion, the daily rules for the task and the bonus points should be as simple and unambiguous as possible. Distance points (1 point per full Km) are usually calculated using the automated OLC distance calculation.
Pilot flexibility within the task comes from deciding on how to best use the day to accumulate the maximum distance points (handicapped) and bonus points (usually not handicapped). Bonus points might be awarded on a task-specific basis, for flying to named turn points, or for activities which are valid through the competition, such as visiting the coast, flying to another country, gain of height above a predefined level or landing back at base. Often, some bonus points are available relatively close to the home airfield (‘base’) to encourage lower ability pilots and gliders to fully participate, collecting distance and bonus points, whilst minimising out-landing risk. It is highly unlikely that a pilot will be able to accumulate all bonus points on offer! Example of tasks and their bonus point structures are given in the PDF. Typically, bonus points account for between one third and one half of all points earned during a day’s flying.
On days with a particularly positive weather forecast, consideration is often made for pilots who may with to fly a fixed FAI task, to achieve their Gold, Diamond or even 750km flights. This can often be achieved by the pilot preplanning and declaring a fixed task, within the daily CE task rules, for example declaring a 300km triangle using BGA gliding clubs as part of a ‘visit our friends’ task.
A pilot’s score is based on the total of distant points plus bonus points, achieved during the day’s flight. The pilot completes a self-scoring sheet (see PDF for more detail), indicating the unhandicapped distance they think they have flown and the bonus points they believe they have scored. This sheet is handed in, along with their IGC trace, immediately after landing. The scorer will use the IGC file to validate the self-score sheet and check for things like airspace infringement and undeclared engine use.
Distance flown is based on the “OLC plus” distance calculation. This can be done automatically both by the Scorer’s SeeYou program and by the pilot’s PDA software, such as SeeYou mobile, XCSoar, LK8000 and the LX9000 series of flight computers. The OLC distance is based on all non-powered flight, irrespective of any task rules, the calculated OLC task starts after a launch finishes and ends on a landing or engine use. This means that a pilot’s distance score will take into account both pre-start flying and all final-glide distance, even if a land-out or engine use is required. There are examples of OLC distance scoring in the PDF. OLC allows for a maximum difference between start and finish height of 1,000 metres. Distance points are awarded as 1 point per full kilometre of handicapped soaring flight, as scored via OLC. It is down to the pilot to fly a route that maximises both the OLC distance and the bonus points earned.
| enterprise_task_guidelines_-_april_2019.pdf |