GPS Altitude in warm weather

The CIVL decided to use the barometric altitude
now for judgement of airspace violations.
See http://www.chabre2009.com-> Local Regs/Docs -> Altitude addendum

On the other hand the PWCA decided, that for the next event in Buzet, Croatia there will be altitude restrictions
defined by the GPS altitude. Flytec offers special competition firmware versions for the 5000 series with a new
userfield "Alt GPS". The userfield is not available in Flychart and we don't change the manual for that.
Link to the firmware
As a help to estimate the margin needed you will find interestening info in this document:
Altitude error estimation (PDF-File 34 kB)

please take a look at the pdf documents
GPS Altitude and barometric Alti (17kb)
Höhenkorrektur bei Höhenmessern (PDF-File -3.2MB)
Height adjustment of altimeters (PDF-File - 1.4MB)
Data problem around midnight UTC (PDF-File 18kB)

For Competition Pilots and Scorekeepers

Turnpoint Discrepancies in Competition Scoring

The various scoring programs used in hang gliding/paragliding competition calculate distances between two points on the Earth’s surface using two different earth models: the FAI sphere or the WGS84 ellipsoid. Flytec instruments calculate distances using the FAI sphere, whereas some scoring programs like Compe GPS Competition use the WGS84 ellipsoid. Distances calculated between two points can disagree between these two models.  Consequently, scoring programs that do not use the FAI sphere model may not exactly agree with the flight recorded by the instrument. This is of particular importance when determining if a pilot has crossed a start or turnpoint cylinder.  For this reason the PWC recommends a tolerance of 0.5% on distance measurements to allow for the different earth models and calculation and rounding error.

Recommendation
If this situation arises in a competition, where the pilot is certain that he had heard the “turnpoint reached” alert as he crossed the cylinder, and the scorekeeper does not grant this waypoint because the scoring program shows the pilot short of the cylinder by only a few meters, we recommend the pilot file a protest and that the distance is recalculated with this calculator http://williams.best.vwh.net/gccalc.htm.

PDF-Document for download (417kb)

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For Scorekeepers

This website contains special information for scorekeepers and competition organizer

Important Information to the 6030 / Bräuniger Compeo+
The new Flytec 6030 / Bräuniger Compeo+ is not a true USB device. It simply has a USB to serial converter built directly into the instrument. From a software point of view it is still a serial device with the same protocol as the 5030 and therefore almost every flight analysis program can handle the Flytec 6030 / Bräuniger Compeo+. All you need to do is to install the converters's driver on your computer. Drivers for your operating system (Windows, Mac or Linux) can be downloaded from here: USB-Driver

Flytec 3D GNSS suited for competitions:

	Flytec 5030 Bräuniger Compeo	Flytec 5020 Bräuniger Competino	Flytec 6030 Bräuniger Compeo+	New Flytec 6020 Bräuniger Competino+
Physical Interface	10 pin special connector	5 pin special round connector	USB mini B	USB mini B
Logical Interface	COM X	COM X	COM X	COM X
Driver necessary	No	No	Yes, Prolific USB Driver	Yes, Prolific USB Driver
Flight download tested with	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump
Waypoint, Routes upload tested with	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump	Flychart CompeGPS SeeYou MaxPunkte Trackview GPSVar GPSDump
Parameter setting	Only Flychart	Only Flychart	Only Flychart	Only Flychart

 

Competitions