Gliders, what do you think?

[lwt1971 8,077]

Pretty fascinating to hear multiple reports about MSFS gliding being better than Condor Soaring... bodes really well for the future, and I can't wait to get back home next week to try all this out! (thinking Alps, Patagonia, Rio De Janeiro, Lima, etc would be good locations to try). MS/Asobo have clearly made an effort to implement their first iteration of the new kinds of flying (i.e. gliding, helis) with a major focus on physics and aerodynamics along with beefing up the atmosphere and airflow around them, which also benefits fixed wing aircraft.

I was worried given the set-in-stone release date of Nov 11 we'd be in for SU5/SU7-like debacles, but they've clearly learned from the past... Through SU8 to SU10 the addition of new core capabilities was light, but clearly they've been working on major features like these during that time, and ensuring to refine them for a good quality first release.
 

Edited November 12, 2022 by lwt1971

[jcomm 6,209]

10 hours ago, FBW737 said:

It is. It's on Version 2. My comparion is with Version 1. I've never tried version 2

In sme.aspects silent wings os even better, tow physics being a good example.

I also always found the arrival into a thermal with the associated sink more realistically portrayed in silent wings compared to condor v1 and v2.

[Cpt_Piett 5,108]

2 minutes ago, jcomm said:

I also always found the arrival into a thermal with the associated sink more realistically portrayed in silent wings compared to condor v1 and v2.

Have you had the chance to try gliders in SU11 yet? Interested to hear your impressions.

[jcomm 6,209]

1 minute ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Have you had the chance to try gliders in SU11 yet? Interested to hear your impressions.

Yes, in the first page on this thread 😁

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/626523-gliders-what-do-you-think/?do=findComment&comment=4874451

[Cpt_Piett 5,108]

6 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Yes, in the first page on this thread 😁

Oh dear 🫣 I missed it as I was taken to the last page after replying to the other post. My mistake!

[robert young 2,900]

Fairly experienced glider pilot here. Tried both the DG1001 and LS8. Both gliders are very nicely modelled visually, especially the cockpits and the air brake animations are excellent. However there is not enough adverse yaw. particularly in the DG. The very high aspect ratio, long, thin wings in a glider should be relatively sluggish in roll and quite sluggish in yaw control. In this regard the LS8 does a lot better. The DG is way too sensitive in roll. Both are not bad in pitch.

It's a very good visual effort. 5 stars for the interiors.

But there is a major, baffling and elementary flaw in both models, which makes me wonder whether the model designer has ever actually flown or been inside a glider! The yaw strings are most bizarre. They are miles too long and in both gliders they curl in the most weird way. Yaw strings should be more or less straight and when out of balance in an attempted rudderless turn, they should swing away from the direction of roll in a straight line, not in a curve, when adverse yaw kicks in. When adding/leading with rudder in the direction of roll they should centralise, or if too much rudder is applied they will swing too far into the direction of the turn. 

While they do roughly do this, I am completely baffled as to why there is such a huge curve in the strings. I have never ever seen this in a real glider. Not ever. 

Regarding response to airflow variations, even a tiny 2 knot wind provokes reactions that are way over the top. This is doubtless the much discussed baked in turbulence rather than the flight models themselves. If I select zero wind things look and feel more believable.

If Asobo could fix the ridiculous yaw strings and tone down the pitch, roll and yaw response, especially in the DG, these two gliders could be excellent.

[regis9 4,119]

I couldn’t get the rudder signal to the tow plane/winch to work so I took matters into my own hands and used the slew function to get up in the air at Banff airport (CYBA).  The tow plane will eventually disappear if you do this.

I haven’t really used gliders in the sim before but this was a fun first experience, riding the thermals on the sides of mountains etc and I managed to get back on the ground in one piece.

Certainly a very different type of simming, serene but at the same time requiring much planning to make it back to the airport!

[ryanbatc 13,233]

I'm a little lost as well.  Flicking the rudder doesn't work at all for me either for tow starts.  Wouldn't these winds indicate lift and a higher pitched vario?

I'm not really getting any lift here.

(It's hard to tell from the screenshot but the blue rising lines are definitely over this ridge)

GliderWinds by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

Edited November 12, 2022 by ryanbatc

[bvdboomen 279]

I did my first tow-training. I had 9.63 points. 🙂

Edited November 12, 2022 by bvdboomen

[FBW737 530]

25 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

I'm a little lost as well.  Flicking the rudder doesn't work at all for me either for tow starts.  Wouldn't these winds indicate lift and a higher pitched vario?

I'm not really getting any lift here.

(It's hard to tell from the screenshot but the blue rising lines are definitely over this ridge)

GliderWinds by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

You want about 15 to 20knt perpendicular to the ridge. if you are below the peak of the ridge get in good and tight. the higher up you get move out from the ridge. Don't get into the lee side of the ridge. That's asking for trouble.😁

Edited November 12, 2022 by FBW737

[FBW737 530]

54 minutes ago, bvdboomen said:

I did my first tow-training. I had 9.63 points. 🙂

Well if you are not adept at following a tow plan in the glider I guess that's pretty good. I am and I got 9634 too. I guess 10,000 is the max.

Edited November 12, 2022 by FBW737

[Tuskin38 7,233]

if there's no aircraft with istowplane = 1 in its config file, it will always use the cessna. if there's multiple, it randomly chooses one

I got the 747 to spawn as a towplane, but the sim crashed after take off lol

[orchestra_nl 990]

And there I was on LOIJ, trying my first winch launch.
I was looking for the winch but couldn't see it at the end of the runway in front of me.

I thought it probably wasn't modelled or too far away to be rendered so I wiggled my rudder......

OUCH!

Well, that was a heck of a ride, but everything seemed a little backwards, and I crashed into something. It all went a little fast though.
Luckilly, MSFS hapilly offered me to do it again so I couidn't resist. This time I went outside to take pictures beforehand though:
 

Does anyone notice the problem here?

And no, this is not photoshopped!

[FBW737 530]

 

[tweekz 2,165]

43 minutes ago, Tuskin38 said:

if there's no aircraft with istowplane = 1 in its config file, it will always use the cessna. if there's multiple, it randomly chooses one

I got the 747 to spawn as a towplane, but the sim crashed after take off lol

Ahh... here we go! 😄