Circuit Flights are flights where you fly a course taking in one or more waypoints, then return to your original start point. You can then use flight optimization software to compute the best distance and choose your flight type from either an Out and Return, a Flat Triangle or an FAI Triangle.
Your start and finish points can be different to your takeoff and landing and are defined by a standard 400m radius cylinder. This means that your tracklog does not have to form a complete circuit but must come within 800m.
The distance between your start and finish points is called the circuit gap and it represents how close you are to completing the circuit. This value is deducted from the distance around the turnpoints to give your scoring distance. Multipliers are awarded for Circuit Flights.
Note that minimum distance applies to your scoring distance, that is after the deduction of the circuit gap.
Out and Return flights commence at a start point, go to a single turnpoint then return to the original start point.
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| UK Records | |
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| Male: | 52.5km (Chris Canata 2006) |
| Female: | 30.3km (Abigail Barr 2005) |
| Tandem: | None |
A Flat Triangle is a triangular flight that does not conform to the 28% leg rule, but satisfies the 20% height rule. This rule states that the height of the triangle must be at least 20% of the longest leg and its purpose is to filter out shallow triangles. The XC League software will automatically rescore your flight to an Out and Return if the above condition is not met. To fly a triangle you must fly to three turnpoints and return to the original start point.
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| UK Records | |
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| Not an official UK record category. |
An FAI Triangle is one which satisfies the 28% leg rule, which states that the shortest leg must not be less than 28% of the total leg distance. To fly a triangle you must fly to three turnpoints and return to the original start point.
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| UK Records | |
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| Male: | 68.3km (Steve Senior 1999) |
| Female: | 19.9km (Abigail Barr 2005) |
| Tandem: | 27.5km (Tim Guildford & Louise Maurice 2005) |
| For UK records your Start/Finish cylinder cannot be along a leg and must be at one of the turnpoints, which means Start and TP1 are the same point. | |
