Definiton of a Sailplane - Assessment of Advanced Technologies

The recent World Gliding Championships 2024 in Uvalde saw the Nixus sailplane used by one competitor in the Open Class. The Nixus employs fly-by-wire that uses stored energy from batteries in order to influence the flow of air around the wing by automatically moving the flaps. This has raised questions.

• whether Nixus is a glider according to the rules of FAI,
• whether the FAI Sporting Code in its general or section-wise rules needs to be adapted in order to allow for fair gliding competitions, taking into account recently developed technologies and developments that are conceivable in the future.

The present document aims at providing technically sound answers to the different dimensions of the raised questions.