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14th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships 2026
EDPA Aalen-Elchingen, Germany
August 2nd to 15th, 2026
First Bulletin published
Rev 1.2 February 2025 The first Bulletin for the 14th FAI Junior World Gliding Championships was just published. We would like to know if you plan the participation at the JWGC 2026 and in training activities in 2025 at our airfield. Furthermore we have some first...
Welcome
We are very pleased to invite you to participate in the 14th FAI Junior World GlidingChampionships for the Club and Standard classes in Aalen-Elchingen (EDPA), Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, during the summer of 2026. We are busy making all necessary arrangements for a...
Gliders and their various classes
Worldwide, there is a wide variety of glider types with different performance capabilities. This naturally makes it difficult to evaluate them fairly within a competitive setting. A sophisticated points and class system is intended to ensure this fairness.
At the Junior World Gliding Championships in Elchingen, competitions are held in two classes.
Club Class
In this class, many different types of aircraft fly. Especially for juniors, it is a very affordable way to get started in competitive gliding. The aircraft are mostly older designs that can no longer keep up with modern machines and are often no longer manufactured. However, such aircraft are not bad — quite the opposite. Many clubs worldwide own these models. This allows them to operate these aircraft without major financial expense and make them available to young people. Aircraft development has advanced so far that no wooden gliders compete in this class anymore, only fiberglass sailplanes. To a layperson, these aircraft are very difficult to distinguish from high-end models.
Club-class aircraft rarely have a glide ratio worse than 1:38, meaning: a loss of 1000 meters in altitude for 38 km of flight distance. Many different types compete in the club class. Therefore, to ensure fairness, all achieved performances within the class are adjusted using an index that reflects the particular qualities of the respective aircraft. In the club class, flying is done without water ballast.
Standard Class
The standard class is one of the FAI classes, meaning it is established worldwide. In it, new-generation aircraft with a wingspan of up to 15 meters and without flaps on the trailing edge of the wing, are flown. Retractable landing gear and integrated water tanks in the wings are permitted.