Howdy, Cody from Jaggyroad Films. Purchases ASA last night and was testing her out until I took to bed. I primarily purchased ASA in order to use some of the very well designed, but severely unused gliders in my FSX install.First of all, I noticed when I set thermals to schematic, in almost all circumstances they appeared rather far apart. I didn't try any dusk/dawn settings, but would these conditions create more thermals? Can I get a bit of advice on when is a good day for thermals?Now, for the big problem I am having. Ridge lift for me appears nearly non-existant. With winds coming off my right wing at 15 knots, and a nice sharp ridge off my left wing, I notice no discernable lift produced by the terrain. I played around with this for two hours, and didn't see any lift from any angle, wind direction, hill shape, etc. I played around with a lot of the options to no avail. What conditions have to be met? Am I really doing something wrong?Thanks for your time,-Cody

Hi,Those are the worst times, especially dawn. You want warmer air like mid afternoon/early evening!Ridge lift is mainly set by the ground topography.Thanks,

Ok, I understand the thermals a bit better now.As for ridge lift, any ideas why I wasn't seeing any discernible difference?

Hi,No, no idea. Might want to turn on Thermal Visualizations in FSX for awhile.Thanks,

... why would turning on thermal visualization show ridge lift..?

I was trying to get ridge lift with no succes in both FS9 and FSX.Just download CumulusX and Simprobe if you use FSX...

If I am not the only person having problems, perhaps there is a bug? This is an advertised feature, and the main reason I purchased the software. Please confirm?

Hi All,The weather conditions and physical conditions need to be right. I know it has been tested and known to work. I was thinking that the visualizations in FSX would show this.Thanks,

Ok, fair enough. Can I get some hint as to what the meteorological conditions for creating ridge lift are however? I'm sorry if I am being a pain, but I have scoured the forum, manuals and numerous real world posts about ridge lift and have been unable to find anything that relates to this. The thermals work fine however.

Ok, fair enough. Can I get some hint as to what the meteorological conditions for creating ridge lift are however? I'm sorry if I am being a pain, but I have scoured the forum, manuals and numerous real world posts about ridge lift and have been unable to find anything that relates to this. The thermals work fine however.

As a glider pilot, I will have a go here...1. Rising ground such as cliffs or a line of hills2. A good stiff breeze blowing at the slopeI did set up some wind conditions for this during the review and as I did encounter lift, I did not comment negatively here. BUT I have not made that many ridge lift attempts.This link might help understand ridge lift a bit more. Note particularly:

Ridge lift rarely allows pilots to climb much higher than about 600 m (2,000 ft) above the terrain;

So you have to consider where on the ridge you are too.Don't forget - always turn away from the terrain as you soar along a ridge, and turn as flat as possible. There are some good ridges just north of SanFran that should take a good 12 to 20 knot sea breeze and lift you comfortably. I'll go check...

I'm looking forward to your results. I REALLY would like to get some experience in this regard, but thus far have failed at all my attempts.