Join professional hang gliders, fans, and families for this Kitty Hawk Flight School tradition. The Hang Gliding Spectacular is the longest-running hang gliding competition in the world! We are excited to be celebrating the 50th consecutive year of this event and have many fun activities planned – a retro glider display, video and photo exhibit, and more!
Kitty Hawk Kites invites pilots from all over the country to come fly with us for this four-day event at Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, NC, and the Cotton Gin in Jarvisburg, NC (see full schedule below). We will have gliders from Wills Wing and Moyes and new Flytec equipment to demo. Planning to compete? Help us out and PRE-REGISTER
9:00 AM Registration (sponsored by CHUMS) and Setup
11:00 AM Pilots Meeting and start of Day 1 of the Dune Competition
FILM & PHOTO FESTIVAL
SWELLS’A BREWING – KILL DEVIL HILLS, NC
7:30 PM Hang Gliding Film and Photo Festival at Swells’a Brewing MAP (Kill Devil Hills)*
*Please submit all film festival entries to hangglide@kittyhawk.com. Photos and videos from early Spectaculars are particularly encouraged this year!
Saturday, May 21
DUNE COMPETITION – DAY 2
JOCKEY’S RIDGE STATE PARK – NAGS HEAD, NC
9:00 AM Setup begins for Day 2 of the Dune Competition
10:00 AM Pilots Meeting and start of Dune Competition
KHK INSTRUCTOR REUNION & WOODY JONES MEMORIAL STREET DANCE
KITTY HAWK KITES – NAGS HEAD, NC
6:30 PM Instructor Alumni Reunion at Kitty Hawk Kites in Nags Head – Ten-0-Six Food Truck on-site!
7:30 PM Woody Jones Memorial Street Dance with live music by The Simps (Kitty Hawk Kites in Nags Head)
Sunday, May 22
DUNE COMPETITION – DAY 3
JOCKEY’S RIDGE STATE PARK – NAGS HEAD, NC
10:00 AM Team Competition OR weather day for Dune Competition (pilots will know by the end of Saturday competition)
ROGALLO HALL OF FAME INDUCTION, AWARDS CEREMONY, ROGALLO DINNER
KITTY HAWK KITES – NAGS HEAD, NC
3:30 PM Rogallo Hall of Fame Induction
4:00 PM Awards Ceremony begins
4:30 PM Rogallo Dinner for pilots, courtesy of Mulligan’s Raw Bar and Grille
*Please Note: Schedule is subject to change. The complete schedule will be given out at Registration.
*Please do not attend the Hang Gliding Spectacular if you feel ill, have a fever, or have been exposed or potentially exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 14 days. Please note that all participants will be screened upon arrival.
If you have any questions about the Hang Gliding Spectacular and Air Games, contact the Hang Gliding School at (252)441.2426. Please submit all videos for the Film Festival to hangglide@kittyhawk.com.
We will be awarding the top 3 finishers in each of two divisions: Novice (H1/H2) and Advanced (H3+).
ORDER OF FLIGHT
Pilots will be randomly assigned to a “launch group” consisting of approximately 10 pilots. When the launch director announces your group, please promptly get your harness and helmet on, clip in to your glider, hang check, and approach the designated “off by” launch line and begin a launch queue. It does not matter which order you launch in within your group, just be ready to go. Efficiency is key to getting as many rounds as possible.
SCORING
The maximum score for a flight is 50, broken down as follows:
5 points for any safe, controlled landing in the LZ. On foot, without the nose or base tube touching the ground. Tips are okay.
5 points for being airborne by the “off by” line.
5 points for each cone the pilot passes around. The pilot’s body must pass around the cone, not just the wing. (4 cones/20 total points)
4th ring = 10 points total (5 points for the ring + 5 points for the safe landing)
3rd ring = 15 points total (10 points for the ring + 5 points for the safe landing)
2nd ring = 20 points total (15 points for the ring + 5 points for the safe landing)
Bullseye = 25 points total (20 points for the ring + 5 points for the safe landing)
The black “bowling pins” are used as a tie-breaker during final scoring in the event of a tie in first, second, and third place. Additionally, there will be a separate fun prize for the pilot who knocked over the most bowling pins throughout the competition (no matter their task score).
ADDITIONAL SCORING DETAILS
It is okay for a pilot to run out their landing and receive the 5 “safe landing” points if they are nowhere near the ring.
A pilot cannot run INTO the ring for more points, however. Similarly, a pilot cannot run from one ring into another for more points, nor can they land in the ring but run out and still receive the ring’s points.
The goal is a clean, no-step landing.
Our goal is 7 rounds of competition over the course of 3 days. If and only if we complete all 7 rounds, each pilot’s lowest score will be dropped from their total score. If fewer than 7 rounds are completed, the pilot’s final score is the combined score of the completed rounds.
This year’s Air Games at the KHK Aerotow Flight Park with be a spot landing event. If we are blessed with soarable conditions we will have an additional prize for those lucky pilots who manage to extend their flight time any noticeable amount (prizes to be announced).
Landing points will be awarded by USHPA pilot proficiency rating standards. To be awarded any landing points, the pilot must not risk damage to any part of the glider or him/herself. (if it is apparent to the landing judges that you were likely to have hurt yourself or the glider, but you “got away with it”, no points may be awarded).
Full Spot landing Points will be given if the pilot lands on his/her feet and nothing else touches the ground but the wing tips and/or keel. If anything but the pilots feet and/or allowed glider parts touches the ground, the pilot will be scored as if the landing had been one level lower that the spot of the botched landing. Special Bulls Eye rules will be in play.
Each level of the landing will be worth points based of you pilot rating:
Level one: Successful return to earth, unhurt 10 points
Level two: successful landing within the landing zone.
(Open field not being used as runway, crop, or drainage) 15 points
Level three: successful landing in the target ring commensurate with the pilot’s current pilot rating. 25 points
Hang 2 100’ circle
Hang 3 50’ circle
Hang 4 25’ circle
If one pilot lands with one foot on the “Bull’s Eye” without the glider touching the ground he or she will receive five bonus points to win the round.
If more than one pilot lands with one foot on the Bull’s Eye, the pilot with the lowest hang rating will receive five points more than the higher rated pilot(s) who will receive five bonus points.
If the pilots have the same rating, the winner will be judged on style and receive a runoff score to become the winner of the round.
Both Feet on the Bull’s Eye with style wins!
More than one pilot with both feet on the Bull’s Eye then the rules for one foot on the Bull’s Eye applies. (And the multiverse collapses)
Any pilot who is found to have “crashed” into the Bull’s Eye will lose two levels of points or more (at the meet director’s discretion) regardless of whether or not they and/or the glider are hurt.
