I reported the other day on the CIVL Plenary Agenda and the issue
with instruments at the Brazilian pre-Worlds. I was very aware of the problems
that were worked on there with one Digifly instrument. There may be other
different instruments that pilots were using that CIVL is also concerned about.

Donato Robortella at Digifly Europe <<info>>
writes:

It seems that there is a lack of clear information that is
creating an unnecessary confusion around the revision of the "CIVL Cat. 1
Approved Instruments List", which concerns only the FAI Category 1 Events such
as World and Continental Championships, and we would like to help with some
information, regarding the Digifly instruments, to clarify:

- Digifly is among the accepted instruments and it complies with the current
CIVL regulations that state that QNH is the type of recorded altitude required
for flight verification and it should record both the barometric and GPS
altitude in its tracks. This is exactly what the Digifly does, there is no doubt
about that; therefore our instruments comply with the rules.

- Moreover, Digifly is prepared to make any necessary changes or amendments in
case CIVL decides to change any of their current regulations in the future, to
CONTINUE complying with their rules.

- The CIVL has not mentioned which instruments are being revised, but since the
Digifly is in compliance with their current rules, it is not the Digifly they
are talking about.

They may be revising the current rules and looking into changing the contents of
those rules during the next Plenary; we have been told that they will notify us
in order to be able to adapt to any new/different rules.

We really hope that this information will help stop the confusing and
unnecessary "alarms" out there because, for sure, the Digifly instruments are
currently accepted and will continue to be accepted by the CIVL for all FAI
events since we comply with current requirements and are happily willing to
continue to do so in order to be able to maintain our status of "CIVL Cat. 1
Accepted Instruments" (which, by the way, has nothing to do with regular "Open"
or Cat. 2 events, where these specific rules are not mandatory).

Digifly has been around for more than 25 years and one of our aims has always
been and continues to be: complying with CIVL regulations.

In case anyone would like to read about the rules that concern the tracklog
recording details, the references below will be useful:

a) Paragraph 15.1.1 (pg. 59) of the Section 7 "Rules for GPS Flight Verification
- 1st Category Events": From 1st January 2015, see also the new rules on
distance and altitude measurement included in CIVL GAP - Centralized
Cross-Country Competition Scoring System for Hang-Gliding and Paragliding. Link
- http://www.fai.org/downloads/civl/SC_7A_2015

b) CIVL-GAP Centralized document, Editorial page (pg.2):

- Use QNH for altitude measurement

Under "History", last paragraph of section 2.1 (pg.7): QNH is now used as the
primary altitude measurement. Link -
http://www.fai.org/component/phocadownload/category/?download=9812:2015-civl-gap-v10

c) Minutes for the 2015 Plenary, Chapter 16 "Proposals of the HG Committee"
(pg.7) : Altitude measurement Proposal to primarily use QNH for altitude
evaluation including airspace violation. Immediate implementation (will apply in
the coming Hang Gliding Mexico World Championship)." Link -
http://www.fai.org/downloads/civl/CIVL_2015_Plenary_Minutes