This year we want to encourage pilots to get out and improve their XC skills by having a little friendly competition, with a healthy side of mentoring thrown in. Pilots will have the opportunity to compete against their peers this season for the illustrious and highly coveted title of AZ Cross Country Champ.
 

Recognizing that there are varying skill levels in the community, we've developed a “handicapping” system to help out newer pilots who are flying the appropriate class of wing for their skill level. More on that below.
 

The basic scheme is as follows: Pilots are encouraged to fly as many cross country flights as they can. At the end of the season, October 31, 2026 the combined scores of each pilot's top five flights will be ranked. Awards will be given for the top three spots overall. Scoring for submitted flights will be based on XContest worldwide contest scoring parameters. In a nutshell, flights are scored depending on difficulty. Turn point, flat triangle and FAI triangles each get increasingly higher points for the same distance. Additionally, for triangles, scores will be higher depending on how well they are closed (closer to origin).
 

“But I’m brand new, and not likely to put down a bunch of really big flights” you say? That’s ok because we’ve developed a system whereby lower class wings will receive higher scores for the same distance. EN-A and B wings are Standard category. EN-C wings are Sport category and EN-D wings are Performance category. For Hang Gliders, all king post gliders are considered Sport. Topless gliders will be included in the Performance category.
 

 

Multipliers for each category are as follows: (this might change depending on what XContest says).

 

Standard: 1.3

Sport: 1.15

Performance 1.0

 

So the formula to determine the score for any particular flight will be:

 

(Score as determined by XContest) X (Category Multiplier) = AZ XC Score

 

Beyond the cumulative score for the season, there will be a handful of weekend events aimed at mentoring and flying tasks together. These events will have their own unique scoring. Sites and dates will be announced later.