Flight Challenge Series

The AHGPC Flight Challenge Series is a set of flying tasks, ranging in difficulty from easy to advanced and including both coastal soaring and XC tasks, that utilise a range of sites within the Auckland region. These tasks are hosted permanently on HighCloud (xc.highcloud.net), so can be completed at any time and with no restriction on the number of attempts.

The Flight Challenge Series is:

• Open to both HG & PG pilots (although some sites used for certain tasks may not be suitable as HG launches);

• Open to all  NZHGPA members, as well as foreign pilots who are flying in NZ under a valid visitor licence.

The Flight Challenge Series is not:

• A competition. There are no prizes/awards for the pilot who is the first to complete one or all of the tasks. Instead, the aim is for pilots to progress at their own pace and to only attempt tasks that are appropriate to their current level of flying skill and ability.

• A race. No times will be officially recorded for any task. The intention is simply for pilots to achieve a set task, with the time taken to do so being irrelevant. All tasks are achievable on an EN A wing, so there’s no advantage in flying a ‘hotter’ wing solely for this purpose. Likewise, cooperation in completing these tasks is actively encouraged. Flying is more fun when you’re with friends, and working together to fly a task increases the chances of success for everyone. 

The purpose of the Flight Challenge Series is to:

• Provide a progression pathway for pilots to improve their flying skills at their own pace;

• Encourage pilots to have a goal in mind when flying for fun;

• Provide an impetus for newer pilots to become familiar with programming their flight instruments/apps in order to fly a specific task. This will be especially useful for those who may wish to progress into competition flying;

• Encourage a sense of camaraderie within the Club, where pilots support each other to accomplish their goals and receive recognition for their achievements.

The rules of the Flight Challenge Series have been kept as simple as possible:

• Pilots must be current NZHGPA members, or have a valid visiting pilot membership.

• Only one task can be claimed per tracklog. During a single flight a pilot may have completed more than one task (e.g. Warkworth Wanderer and Matakana Mission) but only one of these tasks can be claimed using that tracklog. 

• Flights must adhere to all relevant aviation regulations, particularly with regard to airspace. Tracklogs found to have violated airspace will be invalid for the purpose of claiming a task.

• Only flights undertaken after 1 December 2020 will be eligible to claim tasks (no scouring your old tracklogs for those that would qualify for a task!)

• Only tracklogs submitted by the pilot who undertook the flight will be eligible to claim tasks.

A total of 13 set tasks have been created, which include both coastal soaring and XC routes. These have been selected to accommodate a variety of pilot skill levels, from easy through to advanced.

The list of tasks is below:

Coastal soaring tasks

1. Awhitu Adventurer (PG) 

2. Awhitu Adventurer (HG) 

3. Gannet Glide 

4. Maori Bay Magic 

5. East Coast Explorer 

6. Northern Navigator 

Cross-country tasks

7. Warkworth Wanderer 

8. Matakana Mission

9. Over the Dome

10. Spectacular Spectacle 

11. Head Trip

12. Slaying the Dragon

13. Chicken Run     

Here's the Honours Board of pilots who completed the tasks:
Honours Board

If you have not previously used Highcloud:

Email info@cloudbase.org.nz with the subject line 'Highcloud account setup' and the following details in the body of the email:

• First name

• Last name

• Gender

• NZHGPA PIN #

• CIVL ID # (only if you have one)

An admin will then create a pilot profile for you, which will allow you to upload tracklogs for any competitions that are hosted on the Highcloud platform. Once you have had your profile created continue with the steps below.

If you already have a Highcloud profile:

1. Go to xc.highcloud.net and click the ‘Submit’ button on the top menu bar

2. Select ‘AHGPC Flight Challenge Series’ from the drop-down list of the various competitions. 

3. Select the task that you wish to claim from the smaller drop-down list that appears

4. Click the ‘Browse’ button to select the .igc file that contains your tracklog

5. Enter your NZHGPA PIN number in the ‘HGFA number’ dialog box.

6. Enter the rest of the required details, including your surname and glider type, before hitting the ‘Send Tracklog’ button at the bottom of the page.

7. Email info@cloudbase.org.nz to notify the admin that you have claimed an FCS task.

NOTE: 

• Please take care to ensure that you select the correct competition (Step 2 above), otherwise you will be unable to reupload your tracklog until an admin is able to log in and manually fix the error.

• If you encounter a 'Track upload failed' error message then it's possible that you have not entered the details for a valid Highcloud pilot profile. Check that all details are correct or email the admin at info@cloudbase.org.nz if you need a profile created (see above). 

The Flight Challenge Series administrator will periodically check all of the tracklogs that have been submitted and will inform you when you have successfully completed a task (or let you know if there are any issues that have made your claim invalid, such as airspace breaches).

All pilots who have successfully claimed a task will have their names added to the Honours Board.