First of all, I am what you might call a novice glider pilot, with no RL and not much sim experience either. However, I have really enjoyed having gliders in the sim and would like to fly them more.
What I have noticed, is that some locations have far more thermals and are therefore easier for a novice like me to stay aloft.
I thought it might be good to hear, where other glider pilots had tried, that might be worthy of note.
To kick off, I liked taking off from Courcheval, as that was loaded with thermals and awesome scenery. The point at which runway 04 drops off, at the start of the tow, was a little challenging, but i did still manage to get off the ground. It might be that IRL, Courcheval is not good for gliders, particularly landing.
Still waiting for the Isle of Man LOD to be fixed but when it is what a great place to fly especially for challenges that depend very much on wind direction. 100 mies of coast and biggish but gentle enough rolling hills that won’t have you reaching for the sick bag. With FES England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all reachable but plan it well as the slightest headwind can really scupper your chances. The island is also very PC performance friendly.
Some good mountain wave flying over the Rockies. Usually some good thermals just west in the Seven Hills area. There are also often good thermals over the fields and flatlands eastward. Sometimes in the winter you can catch a really sweet mountain wave.
PADL Dillingham Airfield, Oahu HI
More mountain waves. This tends to be where I bump into other sailplane pilots.
Gibraltar stunning place for Soaring no matter weather there is mostly
Thermal lift above the City on sunny days if there is wind there is always
severe lift over the Mounten last time i flew there i released the tow at
1800 feet 30 min later i reached 12000 feet best place for soaring
i have experienced
Thank you for the recommendation! “ATMOS-SFEER” looks like a beautiful gliding movie, and Aosta would indeed be a great place to start. The mountainous region of Aosta Valley in Italy offers stunning scenery and challenging conditions for gliding. Have you had the chance to glide in Aosta yourself?
Not yet… but with a bit of planning, I think it could be a checked box on my bucketlist this year. One way or another i defenitly will explore the alps from the air this year.
Worcester Gliding Airport near Cape Town is great. Worcester is on a plain between two ranges of mountains, giving a range of options regardless of which direction the wind is in. I always fly live weather so have to make the best of whatever is happening on the day. Sometimes soaring just isn’t possible so you find another site in another part of the world.
Nephi, Utah is a good spot to try to emulate some of Bruno Vassel’s real life Rocky Mountain flights - see his Youtube channel. My favourite flight is from Nephi to Mt Timpanogos, which looks down on Salt Lake City.
Sedona, in Arizona, can be fun and has dramatic desert scenery. On a good day I can make the Grand Canyon from here, flying via Humphrey’s Peak near Flagstaff.
