Online Contest
Encyclopedia
Aerokurier
aerokurier is a monthly magazine founded in 1957 covering international civil aviation published in German. aerokurier is published by Motor Presse Stuttgart, a large European publishing company for special interest magazines...
Online Contest (OLC), a worldwide decentralized soaring
Lift (soaring)
Gliding flight is heavier-than-air flight without the use of thrust. It is employed by gliding animals and by aircraft such as gliders. The most common human application of gliding flight is in sport and recreation using aircraft designed for this purpose...
competition for glider
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Some gliders, known as motor gliders are used for gliding and soaring as well, but have engines which can, in some cases, be used for take-off or for extending a flight...
, hang glider, and paraglider pilots. The OLC is operated by Segelflugszene Gemeinnützige GmbH, a German not-for-profit founded in 2000. "Segelflugszene" translates as "gliding scene" in English.
Glider pilots upload secure log files from GNSS Flight Recorders to the OLC web site, and the server automatically scores their flight performance. Scores are adjusted by a handicap factor to allow for performance differences between different glider makes and models. The scores are summarized and displayed by airfield, club, region, country, and continent, along with the overall world standings. The handicap factor, and the scoring breakdowns, allow pilots to compete against one another on any level, from local to international.
The competition runs for a full year beginning and ending in early October. There is an annual OLC Symposium and award ceremony in late October each year in Gersfeld
Gersfeld
Gersfeld is a town in the district of Fulda, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the Fulda River, in the Rhön Mountains, southeast of Fulda.-References:...
Germany, near the Wasserkuppe
Wasserkuppe
The Wasserkuppe is a high plateau , the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains within the German state of Hessen. Between the first and second World Wars, during the era of the so-called Golden Age of Aviation, great advances in sailplane development were made there.Remark: The German wording takes its...
. Over 12000 pilots participated in the OLC worldwide in 2006.
IGC-OLC World League
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
(FAI) that runs in conjunction with the Aerokurier
Aerokurier
aerokurier is a monthly magazine founded in 1957 covering international civil aviation published in German. aerokurier is published by Motor Presse Stuttgart, a large European publishing company for special interest magazines...
Online-Contest for 19 consecutive weekends during the Northern Summer season. Club members flying from their Club's home airfield on the competition weekend days are scored on an optimized 2.5 hour sprint task, all in gliding flight, with the finish altitude no lower than the start. The longest cross-country distance flown in 2.5 hours is handicapped by the glider's performance index to generate a handicapped average speed. The top three club member's speeds are added to get the club's speed score for the weekend round. Each club is ranked by total speed in their home country, then the top 5 clubs from each country are entered in the international scoring for that round. Scoring is similar to Formula-One, with each higher finishing position worth one additional point for the round. Scoring is totaled at the end of the season to declare the overall winner.