Wingsuit Acro Rules Proposal

All fifteen current sequences (A–O) are sequential: Performer A moves, then Performer B mirrors it. Nothing in the pool asks both performers to move at the same time, and nothing transitions over a partner while staying inverted. That is where modern acro flying has gone, so the compulsories should test it.

Below are three proposed sequences, P to R, flown in 3D. The default camera is the videographer's position behind and slightly above the pair; switch to side-on to see over/under clearance, or head-on to see orientation. Flyers bank into every sideways slide, as they would in the air.

A tiered draw keeps rounds fair

Today one round can draw A, C and F while another draws N, O and L. Same points available, very different difficulty. The proposal sorts all 18 sequences into three tiers and draws one from each tier for every compulsory round (order within the round still drawn). With four compulsory rounds, each tier needs at least four sequences; all three have more.

Today style and grips each carry 150 of the 300 compulsory points, each weighted against the best team in the round (7.2.9.3). Grips are counted; style is a feel score. The chart shows one full compulsory round, all nine teams, under today's published scoring and two alternatives.

What still protects quality

• Only clearly presented grips count.
• Omissions and infringements stay as today (7.2.7.4 to 7.2.7.8).

This proposal answers two groups. Judges find compulsory rounds slow to judge: each jump runs 90–150 seconds and may be viewed three times (7.2.4.3). Drop zones want a standard exit altitude: acro currently allows 12,000–12,500 ft (6.3.1), Performance exits at 10,500–11,000 ft (5.4.5–5.4.6), and Artistic Events use a fixed 13,000 ft.

Judging time today and with a 5,000 ft compulsory window

*12 teams × 4 compulsory rounds × 3 viewings, viewing time only. With three compulsory rounds (Proposal 05) the 5,000 ft figure falls to about 2.3 hours. For comparison, Artistic Events working time is 43–45 seconds.

The options

End altitudes are approximate, from exit minus the window, with a little height lost before the 10 m/s start point.

Today a free round is three separate judgement scores: style, dive plan and camera, each out of 10, all decided in the moment. None of it tells a team what to fly next time to score better.

The Artistic Events have already solved much of this. Freestyle and Freefly teams submit their free routine on video at least 48 hours before the competition (Artistic Events 5.2.2.1). Judges set an Initial Technical score from that video before the event and publish it. During the competition they deduct for execution and score presentation and camera separately (6.2–6.4). Acro can move closer to that model in one of two ways.

Recommended: Option A, submitted the Artistic Events way. Teams submit a dive plan sheet and video 48 hours before the competition; the plan cannot change; every team's Declared Difficulty is published before round 1.

Key Moves: KM1 to KM5

A Key Move is one of the five moves a team declares on its dive plan sheet. They are numbered in the order they will be flown: KM1 is the first Key Move, KM5 the last. One of the five must be a camera move. Teams can fly anything they like between Key Moves; only the five are scored for difficulty.

An example dive plan sheet. Values are placeholders until the competitor rating below.

How a free round is scored

Difficulty is what the team planned. Execution is how much of it they actually delivered, and how cleanly. Execution has two parts: did each Key Move get completed, and what faults were flown.

This gives teams one simple rule: fly the hardest routine you can fly clean. A hard routine flown badly does not beat an easier one flown well. Credited Difficulty 16.0 at Execution 7.0 is worth 11.2, while 12.0 at 9.5 is worth 11.4.

Execution faults

Judges record fault codes as they watch. The software subtracts a fixed value for each one. The judge's job becomes spotting faults, which non-flyers can be trained to do reliably, instead of weighing them. Distances are in wingsuit spans (WS, about 2 m).

• Once per performer per manoeuvre. A fault that lasts the whole manoeuvre is still one deduction. Both performers count separately. Camera faults count once per manoeuvre.
• Highest level only. Within one code family, take the worst level reached (a gap that opens to 2.5 WS is P2, not P1 + P2).
• Heading is measured between the performers. The pair may change direction together at any time without penalty.
• Grip faults only apply if the routine includes grips. Most free routines will not.
• Floor of 0.0. Execution = 10.0 − total deductions, never below zero.

Where the 1.1 in the example came from

Try it: build a dive plan

How the Move Index is built

1. The committee compiles every known move with a written description and a reference video clip.
2. The list goes to all registered competitors, who each rate every move's difficulty on a 0.5 to 4.0 scale, anonymously.
3. Each move's value is the average rating, with the top and bottom 10% dropped so no team can push its own signature moves up or a rival's down.
4. The full list, with descriptions and values, is published before the season. New moves are rated after their first completion and score their normal value from then on, with no originality bonus. The whole list is re-rated each rules cycle.

Move Index (proposed Addendum E)

Values below are placeholders to show the structure. Real values come from the competitor rating.

Today an acro competition is seven rounds: four compulsory and three free, flown F-C-C-F-C-C-F (6.2). The proposal keeps seven rounds but swaps the balance: three compulsory, four free, alternating F-C-F-C-F-C-F.

Performance already allows a national team alternate (8.4.3). Acro has nothing: one twisted ankle on landing ends a three-person team's championship, and 6.4.5.2 stops anyone else stepping in. The proposal follows the performance model, adapted for a team where every member has a role in the air.

The rule in plain terms

• Each acro team may register one alternate at registration. The alternate must be from the same NAC and may not be a member of another team.
• The alternate attends briefings, passes equipment inspection with the team, and may make the official training jumps (7.3.1).
• A substitution is allowed between rounds only, for a medical reason confirmed by the event medical officer, or another exceptional reason approved by the Chief Judge.
• One substitution per team per event. It is permanent: the replaced member does not return. This matches 8.4.3 and keeps it simple to administer.
• All scores already earned stay with the team. The alternate may take any role (Performer A, Performer B or Videographer), and 6.4.2 role changes still apply.
• An alternate who jumps in at least one completed round receives medals if the team places. Unlike 8.4.3, they earned them in the air.

What it looks like on the day

1. After round 3, Performer B lands awkwardly and the event medic confirms they cannot jump.
2. The Team Manager tells the Meet Director and Chief Judge, in writing, before the team's next manifest call.
3. The Chief Judge approves. The alternate's suit is already inspected and marked from day one.
4. The team jumps round 4 with the alternate. The scoreboard shows “(Alt from R4)” next to the team name.

Nothing in the 2026 rules mentions props. 6.7.1 says the free routine is “chosen entirely by the Team”, so flags, streamers, smoke and costume pieces are currently legal. Free rounds have started to reward theatre over flying, and judges with no flying background are the most likely to be swayed by it.

Teams are currently judged in roughly the order they land. The first team of the round is scored before the panel has anything to compare it with. Research in other judged sports, including figure skating and gymnastics, consistently finds that the position in which a performance is judged shifts its score. Studies often find later performances scoring higher, while competitors here report the reverse. The direction varies, but the effect is real, and it repeats in the same direction for the same exit position every round.

Proposal

• Drawn judging order. For each round, the Technical Scoring Director draws a random judging order, independent of the exit order, witnessed by the FAI Controller.
• Judge in batches. Judging of a round starts when all videos are in. Where the schedule needs it, the Chief Judge may judge in batches of at least four teams, each batch in drawn order.
• Anchor clips. Before each round, the panel watches two reference jumps from previous events, with agreed reference scores. Every team is then compared with the same fixed standard, not with whichever team happened to go first.
• Publishing. Grip counts can be published as each jump is judged. Style and free-round scores are published when the whole round is judged.

The fault catalogue in Proposal 04 does most of the work here. Fixed deductions are much less sensitive to order than a “feel” score out of ten. Randomisation removes what is left.

Compulsory, Free and Overall champions

Performance already splits one event into Time, Distance and Speed champions plus Overall (8.5.1). Acro can do the same with the two halves it already flies:

• Why: it rewards teams who specialise, gives more teams a realistic podium, and makes a clearer story for media and spectators. A team that flies the best free routines in the world deserves to be told so, even if their compulsories are average.
• Against: more medals means each medal counts for less, and the ceremony gets longer. A minimum number of teams per classification, as 5.1.2 sets for Performance, keeps it credible.

Nothing in the acro rules today says what happens if a team member lands outside the landing area. Planning the exit, the flight pattern and the deployment so all three team members get back is part of the challenge, the same airmanship every wingsuit pilot needs. An off-landing also delays the event while the team is recovered.

Proposal

• Landing area. The Meet Director defines the landing area at the pre-event briefing, on the same aerial photograph used for ground reference points, and publishes it in Bulletin 2.
• Penalty. Each team member who lands outside the landing area costs the team 10% of that round's score. It is applied to the round, so it counts in the Compulsory or Free classification and in the Overall.
• One allowance per team. Each team's first off-landing of the event carries no penalty. Weather shifts and long spots happen; one mistake should not decide a championship.
• Safety exemptions. No penalty, and the allowance is not used, when the off-landing follows a cutaway or reserve ride, a malfunction, an instruction from the Meet Director or pilot, or a decision to avoid a hazard such as another canopy or a sudden wind change. The Meet Director decides.
• Evidence. The landing observer the Meet Director already provides (7.4.2) records off-landings. Video and the PLD track settle any dispute.

Worked example

1. Review by competitors and judges. This paper is shared with registered acro competitors and judges for review. Feedback is gathered at an online competitors' meeting, where the group discusses and agrees which proposals to bring forward to the ISC Wingsuit Committee.
2. ISC Wingsuit Committee. The committee discusses the agreed proposals, reaches agreement and drafts the rule changes, with a view to presenting them at the ISC Plenary for acceptance.
3. First use. If accepted at the Plenary, the new rules apply from the next FAI World Cup.

Decisions to agree

1. Adopt sequences P–R and the tiered draw, subject to test-flying (Proposal 01).
2. Remove style from compulsory rounds, with ties broken by the most grips in a single round (Proposal 02).
3. Reduce the compulsory window to 5,000 ft (free rounds stay at 7,500 ft) and set one fixed exit altitude: 13,000 ft or 12,000 ft (Proposal 03).
4. Score free rounds as Difficulty, reduced for Key Moves not completed, multiplied by Execution, from a dive plan sheet and video submitted 48 hours before the competition (Proposal 04).
5. Build the Move Index from competitor difficulty ratings, with an originality bonus for new moves (Proposal 04).
6. Fly three compulsory rounds and four free, alternating F-C-F-C-F-C-F (Proposal 05).
7. Adopt one alternate per team, and decide whether to allow a delegation alternate (Proposal 06).
8. Choose a props option (Proposal 07).
9. Adopt randomised judging order with anchor clips (Proposal 08).
10. Award Compulsory, Free and Overall medals (Proposal 09).
11. Penalise off-landings at 10% of the round per team member, with one allowance per team and safety exemptions (Proposal 10).

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This paper came out of that community. The ideas in it were tested in conversations with competitors, judges and organisers, and the best way to shape what happens next is to be part of it.

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