Thermals and Ridge Lift with ASA

[Jaggyroad Films 4]

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

[JSkorna 137]

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,

[Jaggyroad Films 4]

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

[JSkorna 137]

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

[Jaggyroad Films 4]

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

[Guest Werd]

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

[Jaggyroad Films 4]

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?

[JSkorna 137]

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,

[Jaggyroad Films 4]

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.

[EagleSkinner 36]

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...

[Jaggyroad Films 4]

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.