Gliding in FSX

[Guest the_kid]

I bought FSX yesterday and it is my first time to ever play a flight sim at all and so far I have to say I love it! Was scared that it would be far too technical and involved for me to pick up but I am really impressed with how easy it is to get started (while at the same time I realise it can be as involved as you want it to be).After messing around on on some free flying for a while I then started the training missions and had no problems until I got to the Gliding one (No. 7 I think).I just cant get the hang of using the up lifting thermals. I hear the beeping and as it starts getting higher pitched I try to stay in the same line, or to bank left or right to stay in the thermal, but each time the up lift only lasts a few seconds before I hear the familiar constant tone and I start dropping again.Always ends in the same way of me trying to make it back to the airport or landing out in a field.Can anyone give me any pointers as to how I can keep the glider in the air and more importantly how to gain some height?Oh and please be gentle, as I said I am very new to this :)

[Guest N684]

If i remember that mission correctly you have to do circles in the thermal to keep getting lift. Worked for me

[slashed2 53]

Also, if you are having trouble staying in the thermal, go into settings, display and click on the weather tab I believe it is. Set the thermal display to schematic if you haven't already and that should display the thermals as green corkscrews in the sky.Ian.

[Guest ightenhill]

which three scenery cfg files need moving from where to where?

[slashed2 53]

Wrong thread :)Ian.

[ccaughie 0]

I flew real gliders many years ago so can probably give you some insight:The trick to flying a thermal is not to fly straight into the middle of it, because if you do the only way to go from there is right out again. The lift is strongest in the centre, but you can't stay in the centre for very long so the idea is to enter to the left or right of centre and then follow a circular path that keeps you roughly the same distance from the centre all the way around.The other thing to remember is that what goes up must come down; you usually find that the air just outside of a thermal is actually moving downwards, just like eddies in a river which move in the opposite direction to the current.In FSX the visualizations help to show you where the thermal is, in real life it's usually indicated by a puffy white cloud with a flat base. When flying into the thermal you'll usually notice one wing being forced upwards -- that's the wing that's closest to the centre. (I think this is modeled reasonably well in the simulator). Using the stick to counteract this banking effect, wait until the lift seems to peak and then start turning towards that wing.Keep your speed at minimum sink speed (80kts in the FSX DG-808S, I think) and bank fairly steeply to keep your turning circle small. If you fly too fast you'll find it hard to stay in the thermal.Once established, unless you've miraculously found a perfect circle around the centre, you have to constantly work on keeping yourself centred. You can do this by noting at what point in the circle the lift seems to be weakest, i.e. the point that is furthest from the centre of the thermal. After you pass the weakest point, keep turning for another 90 degrees, straighten out for a few seconds and then start turning again. Repeat as necessary.Final piece of advice for glider flying: turn the darn beeper off. The best thing about flying a glider is the peace and tranquility of it, and the audible vario completely ruins this!Colin

[soaring_penguin 428]

I am a hangie (hang glider pilot) and think I understand a little bit of thermal activity in the sky.First of all, most people know air currents only as wind. I learned this is wrong. You can better compare the atmosphere with a bowl of boiling water, with the raising air (thermals) as the bubbles.Second, you have two kinds of thermals (I know, this is a very rough picture of reality) : bubbles that don't live long, and columns of raising air, that are there for a longer time.It are the columns that are depicted in FSX.Those columns are "pushed" by the meteo wind : they are leaning like a tree with the wind, but because of their inertia (we are talking about tons and tons of air moving upwards) they are not lying as flat as what you would expect.Now, if you want to stay in the thermal, the most effective way is to fly in circles.But when to turn? If you enter the thermal, you observe the needle (in hang gliding, usually we say to count to two, then turn). First you start to climb faster and faster. When you start to climb slower again, you turn, hopefully in the correct direction. In real life, this is much easier because you are "flying with your pants", I mean you feel the thermal is pushing you away, and you turn into it.Now that you found the thermal and are in it, you want to optimize your climb. Also not so difficult : when you start to climb faster, you flatten your turn, when you start to climb slower, you turn steeper. It takes me, on a calm day, two turns to be centered correctly. Lastly, in a glider, gravity is your motor. To go further, you fly faster. You will loose height faster, but you will cover more ground, and arrive higher in the next thermal. Once in the thermal, you want to slow down to use the thermal at it's max (remember, when flying faster you are sinking faster).In short, a sailplane has three important speeds : - minimum sink speed : you stay up in the air longest (the speed you fly while thermaling)- best glide speed : with 0 wind, you get farthest- speed to fly : depends on the wind : 1. head wind : you need to fly faster, the more headwind, the faster you need to fly.2. back wind, you need to fly at minimum sink to get further.For more info about this "speed to fly" thing, search for MacReady's theory on the web.See those cumuli ? A perfect day for soaring ! Jan

[Guest the_kid]

lovely bit of info there, thank you very much.I had kind of guessesd that was the trick but it just wasnt working, then again it was 1:30am . Will have a another bash at it tonight and see where I get :)

[Guest the_kid]

Well managed to complete the glider lesson last night as flying around at about 16,000 feet for a long time cruising the waves.Thanks guys!