Fixed Total Validity - PG Competition Scoring

Fixed Total Validity (FTV) is a scoring formula that allows dropping the odd bad day from the overall score, depending on the total number of days and validity of the task results (which depends on number of pilots in goal, distance and flying time). This makes the competition more interesting and encourages pilots to race and not hang back and follow others. Racing increases the chances of winning (more points) but also the risk of sinking out and not reaching goal (a lot less points). To alleviate this down-side the worst score(s) is/are dropped.

For a pilot with evenly good scores this means that more points are subtracted each day compared to a pilot who ‘bombed out’ on a task and received only a few points for it. So I was rather unhappy for a couple of days when I lost about 100 points each day shrinking the lead to the next pilot although I actually scored better on that particular day. But wait, on the last day I didn’t get far at all and suddenly this was the day that got scratched from my score and all my other points came back! And the third pilot didn't do so well either. Phew!

I still don’t feel it is entirely fair that someone with less total points (but one great day) can win over someone with constantly good performance. But hey, everybody is subjected to the rules… and they worked for me.