Why did I score that?
Contest scores arrive as a number on a results sheet, and the formula behind them is buried in a rulebook almost nobody opens. Put a day in below and watch every parameter fall out — and switch systems to see the same flying scored four different ways, because that is genuinely what happens.
Which rules?
N counts everyone who took a competition launch, not just the ones you typed. Currently .
These are scored by different formulas — not a variation of one.
Handicaps below are on the IGC scale (higher number = better glider) and are converted for you. The SSA scale is the reciprocal — lower number = better glider, and the formula multiplies instead of dividing. Both sit near 1.0, so mixing them up does not look wrong; it just reorders the results.
The day
| Pilot | Handicap | Time (h) | Finished | Airfield | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time only applies to finishers — a landout has no marking time and no marking speed. The airfield column is a US-only 25-point bonus.
The day, before anybody is scored
Do — best handicapped distance
Vo — best handicapped speed
To — winner's time
N — launched
n1 — reached Dm
n2 — fast finishers
n3 — all finishers
Pm — max available
F — day factor
FCR — completion ratio
Pvm — speed points available
Pdm — distance points available
Compression
Contestants
Finishers
SCR — completion ratio
STF — short task factor
CF — contestant factor
MAXSP — max speed points
MAXDP — max distance points
Finisher floor
Not a valid contest day. Every score is zero.
Scores
| # | Pilot | Dh | Vh | Speed pts | Distance pts | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| landed out |
What the numbers are doing
What this assumes, and what it can't know
This computes a day, not a championship. Penalties, airspace infringements, disqualifications, start and finish height deductions and the tie-break rules are all real parts of the outcome and none of them are here. A disqualified pilot scores zero but still counts in N, which changes everyone else's score — that alone means a real result sheet can differ from this.
The formulas are transcribed from the current primary documents — FAI Sporting Code Section 3 Annex A 2025a §8.4, the IGC Alternative Scoring document of 7 February 2022, and the 2026 SSA Official Competition Rules §§11.3 and 11.4. The Annex A scoring formulas are unchanged across the 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2025a editions. They are not the same as the 2014 edition, which is the version that surfaces first in a search and which normalised handicapped distance to the lowest handicap in the field. That term no longer exists.
Real scorers may disagree with this, and one reason is documented. Under IGC Alternative Scoring the compression step uses the median provisional score — the rule says so in bold. The widely used open-source reference script computes the mean instead and admits it in a code comment. We follow the rule. Where a published result differs from this page, that difference is worth understanding rather than assuming either side is simply wrong.
Distance measurement is where implementations genuinely diverge, and it is out of scope here. This page takes your marking distance as given. Deriving it from a flight trace — particularly the assigned-area case, where the rules say only that the scorer picks the fixes giving maximum distance and specify no algorithm — is the hard part, and the current Annex A does not even name an Earth model any more. The IGC's own software committee reported in 2011 that programs blend spherical and ellipsoidal models and that IGC does not know whether they do it the same way. That has not been resolved.
Not yet checked by anyone but me. If you instruct, or one of these assumptions is wrong, I would genuinely rather hear it than not — tell me and I will credit you here. This is ground school, not a flight computer, and not an authority on your aircraft. Fly the numbers in your own flight manual and the instruments in front of you.
Where the handicaps come from
The IGC Club Class list, the reference masses it is built on, and the mass and winglet adjustments that modify it — with the reason the two mass rules round in opposite directions.
See the handicap list and calculator →Common questions
Where are the official gliding contest scoring formulas published?
In FAI Sporting Code Section 3 Annex A, whose current 2025a edition gives the IGC Classic formula in §8.4, and in the IGC Alternative Scoring document of 7 February 2022. In the US, the 2026 SSA Official Competition Rules set out two SSA systems in §§11.3 and 11.4. The same day's flying can be scored four different ways under them, so a result under one rulebook need not agree with another.
Is the 2014 IGC Annex A scoring formula still current?
No: the current Annex A scoring formulas are not the same as the 2014 edition, which is the version that surfaces first in a search. The 2014 edition normalised handicapped distance to the lowest handicap in the field, and that term no longer exists, so a formula that still contains it is not the current one. The scoring formulas are unchanged across the 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2025a editions.
Does a disqualified pilot change other pilots' scores in a gliding contest?
Yes: a disqualified pilot scores zero but still counts in N, the number of pilots launched, and that changes everyone else's score. N counts everyone who took a competition launch, so a calculation that leaves out a disqualified pilot can differ from the real results sheet for that reason alone.
What are Do, Vo and To in gliding contest scoring?
Do is the day's best handicapped distance, Vo the best handicapped speed and To the winner's time. Each class also has D1, its distance for 1000 points, and Dm, the distance that validates the day. The other day parameters, worked out before anybody is scored, include N, the number launched; n1, those who reached Dm; n2, fast finishers; n3, all finishers; Pm, the maximum points available; F, the day factor; and FCR, the completion ratio.
Does IGC Alternative Scoring use the median or the mean provisional score?
The median: under IGC Alternative Scoring the compression step uses the median provisional score, and the rule says so in bold. The widely used open-source reference script computes the mean instead and admits it in a code comment, so a real scorer's result may differ from one calculated to the rule. Where a published result differs, the difference is worth understanding rather than assuming either side is simply wrong.