Contest Routes & Turnpoints

RADIOS

You need to have your radio gear in good condition, with a properly tuned antenna (both yours and your driver’s). Your radio is your primary/only link to your driver. There will be times, especially on Route 2, when you’re up to 80 miles away from your driver, with mountains in between [so no radio contact!] If you think that you may be landing, be sure to radio your chase crew and let them know your intentions while you are still in the air.  At least contact someone still in the air if you can so they can pass on the information. Once you land, the mountainous terrain can make radio contact difficult.

What GPS Unit to Buy?

The GPS market is changing and getting better every year! There are numerous products available that combine multiple flying instruments and GPS into one unit and make flying a course or contest easier than ever. I should say, once you learn how to use it and upload software and turnpoints.
Rather than try and list all the products in a section that will be outdated faster than I can type it, I suggest that you use the internet and your pilot friends for information on what they like to use.
Me, I use the Naviter OUDIE, and have for the past 3 years. I love the Naviter Software, both the See You Mobile and See You Desktop for flight planning and review, but everyone has their own favorite.
Some units are easier to view with the sun shining on the screen, others are impossible to view while wearing polarized sun glasses.
Do your own research on each product before you buy. I haven’t found the perfect product yet, of course, my budget does restrict my choices.

Important Weather Information

John Kangas, the volunteer weather guru for the King Mountain Hang Gliding Championships, has created a very important and informative page about the local weather on his website. This is important reading, and should be reviewed prior to flying at King Mountain. Flown here before? You should still review the weather information to remind you about how dynamic the local weather can be. Link to: King Mountain Glider Park – Weather

MAPS – Yes, You Still Need Them!

With cheap GPS units available everywhere, you may think that you can do away with paper maps.  WRONG!  Sit around the campfire at any event and you can hear the stories of where the GPS tried to take you, or the ones where the gate was locked, the bridge was out, or worse. If you expect your phone or tablet GPS to work – it probably won’t.  Most of them depend on phone wireless or internet to download maps as you use them.  This is back-country and the map that works is the one you have downloaded or in paper form. All the Contest GPS Coordinates are listed here for you to read, you can print this page, however, you can download all 3 lists, as well as the Contest Rules by visiting the page link below.  Download and print 2 copies. One for you, one for the driver.

What Maps Should I Get?

You should make sure that your driver’s vehicle has a set of Delorme’s Atlas & Gazetteers for Idaho and Montana. Delorme also makes a very good highway map that we recommend.

Spend some time with high-lighters and colored pens to add notes and other info to the maps that will help your driver. You may want to copy some of the pages so that you can carry them with you. Once on the ground, they will be helpful when talking to your chase on the radio.

It’s much easier to communicate when you’re both looking at the same map. Some folks buy a second gazetteer and cut out pages to carry while flying.  Be sure to have a GPS unit in the chase vehicle.  Mobile GPS units are not perfect, so the best plan is to have BOTH, a GPS unit and Delorme Maps, so that the driver can find you and not get lost.  The one thing a GPS is good for is giving you your current location.

If you do use a laptop or tablet, be sure that the Mapping Software does not require the internet or wireless signal.  The Idaho and Montana area that you will be driving and flying in is far from the modern wireless / wired world.