Get ready to fly

01 Bring these

You register in person at headquarters, and registration is checked against the documents you carry. Miss one and you do not fly. Bring the originals.

Present at registration

• Valid FAI Sporting Licence
• IPPI card, level 4 or above
• Proof of third-party liability insurance, in English
• Proof of medical and travel insurance covering hospital, rescue and repatriation, in English

Fly with

• A certified glider (CCC, EN or LTF)
• Harness with certified back protection
• Helmet certified for paragliding
• Reserve parachute, recently repacked
• VHF radio, set up as below
• Mobile phone, plus a power bank of at least 10,000 mAh

02 Set up your radio

The safety frequency is shared by everyone in the air. One stuck transmit button, or one beeping vario keying an open mic, and nobody can call a safety message. Five minutes of setup at home keeps the frequency clear for the whole field, you included. A radio check runs at take-off before every task, and a radio that is not working or not reachable means you sit out that task.

Time-Out Timer (TOT)

Set your Time-Out Timer to 30 seconds maximum. 15 is better. The timer cuts your transmission if the button is held down or pressed by accident, so a jammed PTT can no longer hold the frequency open. We check the setting at registration.

External PTT: switch the internal button off

Plugging an external or headset PTT into your radio does not switch the radio's own button off. Both stay live. A radio's own PTT pressed against your body, or trapped in a pocket, is the classic cause of a blocked frequency. When you fly with a headset or external PTT, disable the radio's internal PTT so only your external button transmits.

Turn off the roger beep and squelch tail

The roger beep and the squelch-tail tone send a short tone over the air every time you finish a transmission. Across a full field they clutter the frequency for no reason. Turn them off so your transmissions end clean.

No VOX

Voice-activated transmit is forbidden on every frequency. A beeping vario or cockpit audio will key a VOX mic and hold the frequency open, including the safety frequency. Turn VOX off. Press to talk, always.

Where the radio goes

Carry your radio on the shoulder strap or on the cockpit, with the PTT facing away from your body. Not on the waist strap, not in a harness side pocket, not in a jacket pocket. A dedicated harness radio pocket, for example the Advance Impress 4, counts as approved.

On the air

Monitor the safety frequency the whole task and be ready to transmit on it. Keep chat off it: it is for safety only. The words Cancelled and Stopped belong to the Safety Director and Meet Director alone. If you want to know whether a task is still running, ask for Task status. You may run a legal team frequency as well, but only on dual watch or a second radio, so the safety frequency is never left unmonitored.

Your family and friends can listen to the Safety frequency while tasks are running: the Black Box, built by Flying Karlis Events, relays it live to the public Chabre Club - LIVE Telegram channel.

03 Live tracking

Two trackers, both mandatory, and it is your job to keep them running.

Our tracker: Flymaster LIVE ONE

We hand you a Flymaster LIVE ONE with FLARM at take-off before every task. Collect it, switch it on, and mount it on your shoulder strap or cockpit with the safety line clipped to your harness. On the cockpit keep it to the side, away from other electronics, and never sandwiched between another tracker and your phone. Return it to headquarters as soon as you land, before anything else. You are responsible for it, up to 300 euro, until it is back in our hands. No tracker collected means no task flown. The same tracker is also how you tell us you are safe when your phone cannot, so read reporting in before you fly.

Your backup: PureTrack

Backup tracking through PureTrack is mandatory under FFVL rules, on top of our tracker. Before the first task:

1. Create a PureTrack account in your full name, first name and surname.
2. Add your tracking device or app.
3. Join the event group, named for your event, for example "Flymaster XC Challenge 2026".

No other tracking device? Install Sports Track Live (free) and add it to PureTrack. Keep the backup live and running for the whole of every task.

04 Your phone, and reporting in

Your phone is part of your safety kit. On, out of airplane mode, GPS on, charged, for the whole flight, and reachable the moment you land. Carry a power bank of at least 10,000 mAh.

Report in within 5 minutes of landing, every task. You do that through FlymasterRetrieve, and you need to register on it before you travel.

Five minutes is not a paperwork deadline. It is the point at which we start looking for you: a tracker that has been still for five minutes triggers a search procedure, and if that fails we pre-alert the rescue services.

What FlymasterRetrieve is

It is the system we run the retrieve on. Every pilot sits on one map at headquarters with a status next to their competition number: flying, landed, needs a retrieve, picked up. Our staff work that map all day, and it is where your landing report arrives.

You reach it in one of two ways, and they do exactly the same thing: a Telegram bot, or the Flymaster Link app on its Retrieve tab. Both work, on Android and on iPhone, and both give you the same options once you land. Pick the one you prefer. You do not need both.

It is not a third tracker. Your position comes from the LIVE ONE we hand you, and your backup comes from PureTrack. FlymasterRetrieve is how you and the organisation talk to each other once you are on the ground.

Register before you travel

Once per event, about two minutes. You need two numbers. Your event group ID is 7748 for the Flymaster XC Challenge and 7749 for the Belgian B Paragliding Open. Your competition number is also your pilot number and your tracker number, and it is on your registration confirmation. Type it exactly: a wrong digit registers you as somebody else.

Then take either route below. Your choice, and neither is better.

The commands

In the Link app the same actions appear as buttons, so you press instead of typing. If the system detects your landing by itself, it messages you first and offers the buttons in one tap.

If your phone is dead or has no signal

Your Flymaster LIVE ONE can send both messages on its own, with no phone and no signal at all. To report a safe landing, go through the tracker's menu, choose the safe landing report, and press enter. The screen shows sending, then sent. For an emergency, hold the red button for 5 seconds and it sends an SOS with your last known position.

If none of that is available, get to a road and reach us any way you can: a borrowed phone, the safety frequency if you are still in range, or somebody driving past. Thirty minutes of silence starts a rescue action.

Your group and channel links are emailed to you when you register, and they live in your CIVL wallet. Open the communication page for your event:

05 Airspace

Airspace is monitored for your entire flight, launch to landing, every task, whether or not a task is running. Getting your instrument set up right is the difference between an early warning and a zero for the day.

1. Load the current Chabre Club airspace file into your instrument before every task. Get it from our airspace page.
2. Set your instrument to GPS (GNSS) altitude, in metres. Every limit in the file is defined that way.
3. Turn the airspace alarms on and confirm they are active.

Every airspace carries a protective buffer, 400 metres where the geometry allows. The buffer is an early warning and a safety margin, not usable airspace. Stop climbing and turn away before you reach it. Enter it and the penalty is simple: 1 metre in costs 1 percent of the day, so 100 metres in is a zero. Fly the course line, thermal, or work the air while inside it and you are disqualified.

06 On the hill

A few rules that keep the day safe for everyone:

• A task is not flown in winds above 30 km/h at take-off. The Meet Director may set a lower limit at briefing.
• Launching is only during the open window. The decision to take off is yours, and yours alone.
• Fly your own task, without outside help. Maneuvers that endanger others are forbidden.
• See an accident or hear a help call? Tell the organisation and the other pilots straight away, with the nature and location. A pilot who lands or shortens a flight to help someone in distress is compensated in points.

07 Common questions

What do I need to bring to a Chabre Club competition?

Your originals for registration: a valid FAI Sporting Licence, an IPPI 4 (or higher) card, and proof of third-party liability and medical or travel insurance in English. You fly with a certified glider (CCC, EN or LTF), a harness with certified back protection, a helmet, a recently repacked reserve, a VHF radio and a phone. Bring a power bank of at least 10,000 mAh.

What radio setup does a Chabre Club competition require?

A VHF radio that can hold the safety frequency, with its Time-Out Timer set to 30 seconds or less (15 is better). If you use a headset or external PTT, disable the radio's own PTT so only the external button transmits. Turn off the roger beep and VOX, and carry the radio on your shoulder strap or cockpit with the PTT facing away from your body.

What live tracking do I need?

Two trackers, both mandatory. The club hands you a Flymaster LIVE ONE at take-off before every task, which you return to headquarters after you land. On top of that you run your own PureTrack backup: create an account in your full name, add your device or app, and join the event group before the first task.

What altitude reference do I set for the competition airspace?

GPS (GNSS) altitude in metres. Every limit in the airspace file is defined that way, and compliance is judged on GPS altitude alone. An instrument set to barometric altitude or to feet is not a defence against a penalty. Load the current airspace file and turn its alarms on before every task.

How soon must I report after landing?

Within five minutes. Send SAFE in the FlymasterRetrieve Telegram bot or the Flymaster Link app, or press it from your tracker's own menu. Silence on the ground triggers a rescue, and no contact for 30 minutes can mean disqualification and the cost of a call-out you did not need.

How do I register on FlymasterRetrieve?

Once per event, before you travel, and you choose how. In Telegram, open the FlymasterRetrieve bot (@RetrieveBot), press Start, and send REG: followed by your event group ID and your competition number. In the Flymaster Link app, open the Retrieve tab, enter the same group ID, set Role to Pilot, enter your competition number, and press Register. Both work on Android and iPhone. Send WHOAMI afterwards to confirm you are on the list.