This GFAC announcement has been prepared with the agreement of the IGC GNSS Committee and the IGC Bureau.

At the last IGC Plenary meeting earlier in 2003, a new approval level for GNSS flight recorders was agreed. This was for "all IGC badge and distance diploma flights" and was in addition to the existing levels for "all flights" and "badge flights up to and including Diamonds". The latter is used for types of recorder units that do not have their own GPS receiver but rely on a separate GPS unit connected to the recorder by cable.

There are currently 24 models of IGC-approved GNSS recorder, from 10 different manufacturers. GFAC has completed a review of legacy recorders, the IGC-approvals of which go back as far as 1996. The following principles have been agreed for the future:

For world record flight claims, it is not considered suitable to have recorders with one or more of the following characteristics:

1. No security microswitch or equivalent (this operates if the case is opened).

2. Without electronic security giving the strength of systems such as RSA (public/private key systems) as assessed by GFAC and its experts in electronic security.

3. No immediate manufacturer support (out of production and the original manufacturer either no longer exists or is no longer dealing with them).

Negotiations with appropriate manufacturers have been going on for some time, and revised IGC-approval documents have been circulated to them. Types of recorders affected will have IGC-approvals for the new "all IGC badge flights and distance diploma" level.

Types of recorders affected with the main reason:

Cambridge 10, 20 and 25 (not RSA or equivalent strength).
Filser LX20 first batch (not RSA or equivalent strength, no microswitch).
Peschges VP8 (no microswitch, original manufacturer understood to be no longer in the recorder business). Print Technik GR1000 (not RSA or equivalent strength, original manufacturer no longer in the recorder business). Zander GP940. This type of recorder is also under consideration but no decision has been made at this time, if it is to be added to the above list this will be announced as soon as it is made.

Timescale The above changes to the "all IGC badges and distance diploma" level will take effect on 1 April 2004.

The only pilots affected will be those planning to attempt world record flights from this date, for which other types of IGC-approved flight recorder must be used that are IGC-approved without flight limitations.

Ian Strachan
Chairman IGC GFA Committee

ian@ukiws.demon.co.uk

Amendment List 5 to the IGC Technical Specification for GNSS flight recorders, effective 30.5.02, has been published by GFAC and can be found at the IGC web site:

http://www.fai.org/gliding/gnss/tech_spec_gnss.asp

The new version of the revised document including AL5 will be available shortly.

The IGC Technical Specification for GNSS Flight Recorders has been amended (amendment list 4) by the FAI Gliding Commission. You can view or download the amendment list here. The full document including the amendments will be available shortly.

The latest version of the IGC Technical Specification for GNSS Flight Recorders (dated 20 October 2000, including amendment list AL3) has now been published on the FAI site. PDF and Word97 versions are available. They (and also AL3) can be accessed through this page.

As of 1 May 00, the US's GPS Selective Availability (SA) has been set to zero. That means that not only is the GPS Lat/Long more accurate, but that also the GPS altitude in all GPS units, including IGC-approved Flight Recorders, is much more accurate. This is all because the clock dithering which was what SA being on meant, is no longer taking place.

The GNSS Subcommittee of the FAI Gliding Commission (IGC) is in the process of evaluating the resulting GPS Flight Recorder accuracy now that SA is set to zero. They are asking for flight records from this year's competitions, in order to check the increased accuracy due to the switching off of the "selected availability".

Contact Ian Strachan for further details.

The International Gliding Commission of FAI (IGC) has announced its approved IGC Waypoint Format.

This initiative was started by the IGC Sub-Committee which handles the championships rules. Organizers of championships found that they had to handle a larger and larger number of waypoint formats in their analysis of flights. One common standard was seen as being an immense help to championship organizers, and pilots and Official Observers in the field.

For details see: http://www.fai.org/gliding/gnss/wpformat.asp

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