When I noticed that FTV (Fixed Total Validity) was being used to
score the 2011 PWC Superfinal in Valle de Bravo, I was intrigued. Was this the
same FTV that had been rejected by the pilots in the major Australian hang
gliding competitions a few years back? Was this Tim Cumming's invention for hang
gliding competitions? So I wrote to Tim and asked him about it. He wasn't aware
that his invention had gone so far. He (D. Tim Cummings <<tim>>)
wrote:

I originated the concept of FTV. And first used it for hang
gliding competitions. Our club had a Sunday series competition in which we
needed to give all pilots a fair chance even if they couldn't turn up every
week. An early explanation I published on the web 26th March 2001 is:

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/gap/ftv.html

The first competition in which we implemented a form of FTV was the Canungra
Sunday Summer Series in 2000:

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/csss2000/index.html

However, the first competition to use FTV in its final form was the Canungra
Sunday Winter Series 2002:

http://www.triptera.com.au/canungra/csws2002/index.html

Great to see it finally being used in an international competition.

FTV appeared in hang gliding competitions before it appeared in paragliding
competitions. The Canungra Classic 2005 was the first major hang gliding
competition to use it.

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/results/2005/results.htm

I was on the HGFA Competitions Committee at the time, so I was making decisions
on paragliding and hang gliding scoring. The Australian paragliding ranking is
round-based rather than competition-based. We were discussing using FTV for the
ranking, but I can't remember if was actually implemented.

FTV was definitely not used at the paragliding worlds in Manilla.

Geoff Wong (http://highcloud.net/geoff)
and I were on the HGFA Competitions Committee together and discussed
implementing it for paragliding competitions.

http://highcloud.net/geoff/xc/ftv.php?comPk=7

FTV appears to have been first tested at the PWC in 2010

http://www.paraglidingworldcup.org/node/353

(During the season, the FTV discard scoring system will be tested).

What is the FTV:

After three tasks, there will be one discard.  After six « 1000
pts » tasks, there will be six discards.  After task three, « non 1000 pts »
tasks are equivalent to discards.  There is no additional discard on the two
last scheduled days of the Superfinal.

There is quite a bit more to the FTV formulas then this short
summary, but essentially FTV discounts (sort of throws out) your bad days,
making it so if you have a bad day it doesn't hurt you nearly as much as if all
your flights counted (were summed up). This is supposed to allow you to take a
more aggressive stance in the competition, taking a few extra risks for a better
reward, without having to be so cautious everyday to protect yourself.

Why would FTV appeal to paraglider pilots more than hang glider pilots? Well,
there is this little issue that throwing a reserve is just part of the
paragliding competition package and no big deal, as we have been told repeatedly
by paraglider pilots. But it is a big deal if you have to throw your reserve and
get penalized by the scoring system for doing so. So FTV pulls out most of that
penalty.

And what does that do for you? It makes it so if you are a hot shot competition
paraglider pilot who might be reluctant to throw that reserve, you'll be just a
little less reluctant to do so if FTV scoring is being used. In other words, it
is a safety measure, and undoubtedly a very useful one.

Maybe FTV explains this:

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=44790&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=143

Already there have been more reserve rides in this event than in
all the previous superfinals. Is Valle really that rough? It seems unlikely
given conditions in Turkey and even Italy (Norma anyone?).

FTV discussion
here. Making it easier to throw your reserve
here.