[Low Level Flying at the Beach | Gliding New Zealand Style]
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Yes, certainly an experience. I loved gliding in FSX when it first came out, especially that mission which I completed several times, but FSX never gave me credit for finishing.
It’s not just the gliders they need to implement, of course, but also the different launch system, and some way of indicating where the useful updraughts are (as they did in FSX).
Presumably it’s on their (very long) to-do list.
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gliders and some towaircraft and winch would be nice​:ok_hand:
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Would gliders support with the current state of weather and modeled lift? Just curious if you could ride thermals and such. Seems gliders would be pointless until they get that dialed in…
You can ride thermals, mountain top updrafts, etc. I’ll try to find it, but someone posted a lovely video of them gliding in the DA40 in-game.
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Exactly. With some of the light aircraft you can do it now, but it’s not as interesting as a real glider with no engine (also due to mass distribution).
Cheers
aerosoft made some with engine for fsx/p3d, so may be that’s will for msfs2020 somewhen, super convenient, just get some alt with engine, then engine stop, then prop feather pitch, and voila
Thumbs up for Gliders here too for MS FS2020, seen all the video’s of the mechanics/nuts and bolts this sim has for modelling the atmosphere better than anything seen before, what better way to showcase that than with some high quality Gliders? Such a soothing relaxing way to fly too and enjoy the scenery.
I understand Asobo/MS have a lot of work to do in the sim yet, so why not sub contract out the Glider work to another company … Aerosoft as mentioned have a good track record here and are already working on other projects for the sim … I hope Aerosoft are listening 
Not sure with FS2020’s awesome atmosphere modelling thermals have been included already or not? they were in FSX and for the casual user they were fine … must admit I’ve never flown a real glider, but a good place to start perhaps might be importing over FSX’s thermal modelling as a starting point? … something to build upon or tide us over until an appropriate Gliding package can be included?
Same thing too for Helicopters IMHO, reading between lines it looks like years before we can get good Helicopter modelling in sim, why not farm out/sub-contract that work too? what a perfect way to explore the FS2020 world it would be with a Helicopter … I know company’s like Virpil are on the verge of producing an affordable USB collective controller, so we would need the proper control mechanism in place software wise too.
I’d rather have Gliders, Helicopters than Airliners in FS2020, we have PMDG who make excellent Airliners on board for the future, so why not company’s that specialise in Gliders and Helicopters?
Goes without saying I’d be happy to pay for quality Gliding add-ons and Helicopter ones too, this way, every one is a winner.
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I learned to fly gliders way back in the 1970s, so really miss them in this game. I can’t fly full scale in real life, due to health issues, but I do fly RC gliders through video goggles with head tracking. Ridge soaring where I live is awesome, so it should be easy to do with a glider model in MSFS, even if thermal generation is not properly modelled yet. There is always Condor 2 glider sim, which I have, but the scenery there is limited in area and doesn’t come close the choice and realism of MSFS.
To me, gliders are the pinnacle of flight and endlessly rewarding. Even a true motorglider would be a workable and great place to start in the sim and could be modelled fairly easily. In real life they have very good soaring abilities, close or even better than some motorless varieties.
Still, I will give the DV20 a go with slope soaring for now, as the vids look promising. Thanks for those who posted them.
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think about how great it would be this plane in VR, let’s face it flying any plane with great.
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I can’t wait for gliders! It would be great to do distance and height challenges based on real weather.
I really hope they implement a functioning Yaw String on the pitot tube along with winch and tow planes!
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That would be a super fun multiplayer scenario - one player in the glider, the other in the tow plane!
I’m a glider pilot and have climbed to 22,500’ in a glider with oxygen of course. I can certainly vouch for gliding, go and do it! The video is great and reminds me of the late Matt Wright’s flying, (Balleka). Matt died tragically in a gliding accident pushing the limits. Here is one of Matts video’s filmed in the UK soaring along the coast. On one of these flights he actually ended up in the sea in his ASW20! …
Charles
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Any tips or info on how and where to find or create these thermals? Upslope lift is definitely in there, but I’m getting conflicting reports that thermals are/are not implemented.
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Skip, unfortunately I have not detected any signs of thermals. As a glider pilot of 40 years, I would notice them in the real world even in a powered aircraft in the real world. It’s not unusual to be bumped around on a thermic day in a light aircraft. Often a wing tip will be suddenly lifted as it fly’s through the edge of a thermal and the aircraft turned away from the thermal by the lift if the pilot does not correct on the controls. Thermals would be indicated by these bumps and wing lifts along with fluctuations of the ASI and VSI instruments. I have not seen any evidence for these tell-tale signs of thermals. This is very disappointing! It may take a third-party add-on to add the thermals to the scenery. Actually, I did notice an acceleration upward on one C152 flight within the simulator which could have been a thermal of just turbulence. Charles
Thanks, that’s what I suspected.
That might not even be possible if the underlying, necessary portions of the weather engine are simply missing. It’s similar to how some of the third party aircraft makers are waiting around idle because the aerodynamics and avionics can’t be implemented due to missing features. If we could pop the hood on this simulator and shine a flashlight under there, I bet it would look like swiss cheese with all the holes.
Anyway, a nice “glider” flight I’ve found is to set a 30 knot westerly wind, and take one of the Diamonds south out of Arica, Chile or north out of Antofagasta, Chile. You can turn the engine off and glide for several hundred kilometers riding the ridge upslope. Scenery is gorgeous too. I wish the prop would stop windmilling though.
You can also ridge soar off the Rock of Gibraltar, if there is a decent wind from the east or the west. Which tends to be the case more often than not. Or if you want to be able to actually go a bit further, try the ridge to the east of Salt Lake City, with the wind set up to blow from the west.
I’m not convinced that ridge lift is properly modelled at present though. It seems to need an overly-strong wind to be there, and doesn’t seem to come into effect unless you are way up the slope.
As for thermals, I’ve not noticed anything that could definitely be one - i.e. uplift over flat terrain, without other potential causes.
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