What is GPS Triangle?
GPS Triangle competitions build the bridge between model soaring and full size soaring sport. It contains all exciting facetts of Cross country soaring while standing on an airfield. The task is to fly around a virtual triangle as many times as possible while within a given time only using the power of thermal activity to maximize the covered distance.
This is all possible by using a small, but high-performance GPS-navigation system, which projects the flightpath of the models onto a ground based screen.
Meanwhile there are three classes flown in GPS-Triangle Competitions.
– Lightclass: lightweight models up to 4m span and 30gr/sqdm surface-loading.
– Sportclass: Large non-scale gliders with a maximum of 5m span and 75gr/sqdm wing loading (max. 7kg)
– Scaleclass: Scale gliders of mainly 1:3 scale with a maximum of 115gr/sqdm wing loading.
The tasks for each class differ as to adopt the tasks to the performance envelope of the aircraft.
Therefore the triangle-sizes as well as the maximum entry altitude and -speed is depending on the competition class.
You can find detailed information about specific rules and all necessary gadgets under following link:
Important links:
- https://www.rc-electronics.eu/
- https://www.rcmodelspot.com/
- contest-eurotour.com/category-gps with some results
- GPS Equipment
- GPS systems
Youtube Videos
Launch of a GPS-Triangle Sportsclass aircraft (Photo credit: Andreas Mayer)