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Championship Queries and Protests

Raise a query about a championship result, follow the answer, and lodge a protest if you disagree.

Competitions

Championship Queries and Protests

If you think a task result in a championship is wrong, raise a query. The organisers answer it. If you disagree with the answer, you can lodge a protest while the protest time is open.

Only pilots and team leaders can raise queries. Organisers and scorers answer queries and do not raise them. A team leader can raise a query for the pilots of their team. A pilot with an entry can also raise a query about another pilot’s score.

Raise a query

  1. Open the championship standings. See Championship Standings and Results.
  2. Tap the task result you want to question. This opens the pilot or task sheet.
  3. Tap Raise a query.
  4. Choose the Task if it is not already set.
  5. If you lead a team, choose under Who is it about? a pilot of your team or Whole team. Other pilots skip this step, because the query is about their own pilot.
  6. Under What is it about?, choose the reason, for example Gate not credited, Timing error, No-fly zone or Something else.
  7. Optional: choose a Penalty (optional) or a Flight (optional). The Penalty field appears only when the pilot has a penalty on that task. The Flight field appears only when one pilot is chosen and has a scored flight for that task. The defaults are No particular penalty and No particular flight.
  8. Write in What is wrong? which part of the result you dispute.
  9. Optional: tap Add photo or file. You can add photos, video, PDFs, spreadsheets and track files (IGC, KML, GPX). The form shows the file limits.
  10. Tap Raise a query. Gaggle confirms with Query raised.

Raise one matter per query. Raise another query for anything else.

Only you and the organisers see your evidence. The question and the answer are listed on the results page, unless the event keeps them back.

Time to raise a query

You can raise a query while the task result is Provisional and before its deadline. The form shows Queries close in with the time left. After that the form says Queries are closed for this task, and gives the reason:

  • The time for queries ended.
  • The result is official, so the time for queries has ended.
  • No result is published for the task yet.
  • The task was cancelled.

If an equipment error kept you from raising a query in time, ask the organisers to record it for you.

Follow your queries

Your queries appear in Your queries on the task sheet. You can also open the Queries page, which lists them under Your queries. On a competition’s group page, tap the Queries button at the top right (on a phone it is under More actions), or tap the open queries chip on your pilot card. Pilots see only the queries they raised. If you raised none, the page says so.

Each card shows the type of query, the task, when you raised it and its status. A link icon copies a link to the query. The status is Open, Answered or Withdrawn. A query the organisers mark invalid shows an answer card titled Not considered, with the reason. An answered query shows the outcome: Upheld, Partly upheld or Not upheld, the answer, and what was done. If the organisers send a correction or an update, it appears on the card.

While a query is open you can:

  • Tap Add files to attach more evidence.
  • Tap Withdraw and confirm. The query stays on record as withdrawn. You can raise a new one while the time for queries is open.

Lodge a protest

If your query was Not upheld or Partly upheld, you can protest the answer.

  1. Open the query on the Queries page or the task sheet.
  2. Under the answer, check the time left. A protest can be lodged once the result is official, and until the protest deadline. Before that the card says A protest can be lodged once the result is official. After it the card says The time for protests on this task has ended.
  3. Tap Lodge a protest.
  4. Write the Grounds. Say why the answer is wrong and what you want changed.
  5. If the event charges a protest fee, the sheet shows it. The fee is refunded if the protest is upheld or withdrawn.
  6. Tap Lodge protest. Gaggle confirms with Protest lodged.

The protest card shows the fee status, the hearing time when one is set, and the decision, for example Protest upheld or Protest dismissed. You can add files to a protest or withdraw it while it is open. Final results stay blocked while a protest is open.

For organisers

Organisers and scorers answer queries and hear protests on the Queries page. Pilots raise their own queries. When a tracker or GPS device failed, an organiser can also record a late query for a pilot (see Record a late query below). Pilots see only their own queries there, as described above.

The Queries page

The page lists every query and protest of the championship. The header shows counts such as 3 open queries and 1 open protest. The list has four sections: Open queries, Open protests, Answered queries and Closed protests.

  • Use Search by pilot or number to find a pilot.
  • All tasks narrows the list to one task. It appears when queries cover more than one task.
  • All categories narrows it to one kind of query, such as Timing error. It appears when there is more than one kind.
  • Select a query to see its evidence and the answer box. On a wide screen they sit beside the list. On a phone, tap Details.

Answer a query

Open a query and use the Answer box.

  1. Under What needs to change?, choose Nothing, A penalty, The score, The flight used, The mark (DNS, DNF…) or Rescore the task. Each choice shows only its own tools, such as Waive penalty, Change penalty, Adjust score, Change official flight, Change mark or Rescore task. What you do is recorded with the answer under Taken:.
  2. Write Your answer. It can be up to 1,000 characters.
  3. Choose the Outcome: Upheld, Partly upheld or Not upheld.
  4. Tap Send answer. It needs both the text and an outcome.

A sent answer is locked. It is listed on the results page, unless the event keeps answers back. You can still add to it:

  • Send update sends a note to the pilot and keeps the query open. Use it to say you are looking into it.
  • Add a correction opens a Correction field. Write it, optionally pick an outcome, and tap Send correction. The correction appears under the answer.
  • The More menu has Mark invalid and Withdraw. Both close the query without an outcome. Mark invalid needs a written reason, which the pilot sees on a Not considered card. Withdraw asks Withdraw this query? first.

Choose the official flight

For a query about the wrong flight or a tracker gap, the evidence shows a Flights panel. It lists the pilot’s flights of that day, with the recordings behind each one, their length and quality, and which one is Official. Tap Make official on another recording to count it. Gaggle queues the scoring again and tells you how many scoring jobs it queued. You can open the same list from The flight used, then Change official flight.

Record a late query

When a pilot’s tracker or GPS device failed, the pilot may miss the time for queries. You can still record the query for them.

  1. On the Queries page, tap Record a late query.
  2. Search the Pilot by name or number and tap the pilot.
  3. Choose the Task.
  4. Choose what it is About. It starts on Tracker gap or GPS.
  5. Describe it under What is wrong?. You can add files.
  6. Tap Record query. Gaggle confirms with Late query recorded.

The query is filed as you and shows a Late tag.

Hear a protest

A protest appears in Open protests and under the answer it challenges. Its Protest panel has these controls:

  • Fee: the amount, or No fee. Switch Fee paid on when the pilot has paid. Switch Fee refunded on when you return it. Gaggle tells you when a refund is due, because the protest was upheld or withdrawn.
  • Hearing: tap Set the hearing, then pick a date and time in the event’s time zone.
  • Jury decision: choose Protest upheld or Protest dismissed, write the Decision text and tap Record decision. Both are needed.
  • Withdraw closes the protest without a decision.
  • Show the query jumps to the query the protest challenges.

Final results stay blocked while a protest is open.