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Introduction This is a new turning point for world aeronautics, and more specifically for sailplane races. From 5 to 11 September 2021, the 1st Virtual Sailplane Grand Prix - World Final 2021, the first FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) approved World Aeronautical eSport contest, took place on the specialised simulator Condor 2. The 1st Virtual Sailplane Grand Prix - World Final 2021 brought together twenty pilots from twenty countries, who competed over a week of competition, every evening from 8pm French time. On the programme: 7 races of less than 2.5 hours in the French Southern Alps, to crown the first eSport World Champion in the history of world aeronautics. The Project The FFVP (Federation Francaise de Vol en Planeur) launched the eSport movement from the first lockdown, in March 2020, well aware that its licensees needed to fly virtually, to maintain their skills. The French association, supported by its volunteers, therefore started to invest in eSport by creating "Masterclasses" - lessons supervised by recognised pilots open to all - then by organising two eSeries competitions in December 2020 and March 2021. These experiences have allowed us to test the most appropriate formula to promote our sport and to offer an attractive competition to pilots. The Grand Prix formula was therefore chosen to create this event, in collaboration with the FAI and the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix teams. This virtual competition had several objectives: To make the general public discover the Sailplane Grand Prix and eSport To make the parallel between real and virtual races To create a ranking of the best virtual pilots in the world To make credible the use of the simulator for the training of leisure pilots The regatta start was intense with twenty gliders abreast The Event There were two parallel competitions: an official competition with 20 pilots, and an OPEN competition, to develop eSport in the world, with 390 pilots. This very first eSport event saw 410 pilots registered. This is undoubtedly an incredible number that will grow over the next editions and open up new possibilities for aviation sports, such as gliding, to gain greater public understanding, and to train new pilots worldwide. The aim of the OPEN event was to allow everyone to participate in the races, with simpler rules, and to be able to create a virtual pilot ranking list in the years to come. The OPEN pilotes were racing in the same races as the official pilots of this 1st Virtual SGP. French pilot Donat-Pierre Luigi flies over the Ecrins during the 6th race For the official competition, every evening at 18:00UTC, 20 pilots from 20 different countries competed using Condor 2 Soaring Simulator on the same tasks flown in the afternoon by the real gliders during the 10th FAI SGP Final in St Auban. The competition was conducted according to the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix rules. Pilots flew seven out of seven races with tasks ranging from 254 km to 351 km. Six out of seven races were based on real races. An extra race (day 6) took place when the real pilots could not fly (due to weather) in St Auban, allowing the virtual pilots to put on a great show for the public that day, while flying in the Ecrins mountains: The eSport project and competition was led by Antoine Havet and his team of 20 volunteers. The pilots competed in an excellent spirit and did not file any protests. They helped the organisation throughout the event to create an attractive live stream for the public. Results Ben Fest (Germany) was declared the first eSport World Champion in an aeronautical discipline, after winning this 1st Virtual Sailplane Grand Prix. The podium was completed by Witold Rozak (Poland) and Jeroen Jennen (Belgium). The public was able to experience the eSport races via Condor 2, and a major effort was made to cover the races live on Youtube, Facebook and Twitch. The races were available worldwide and also broadcast on esport.sgp.aero. They were commented in French (by Maxence Stawski and Emmanuel Quartier) and in English (by Mark Travner, Antoine Havet and Matthew Scutter). The video control was managed by Timothee Barusseau and Jean-David Thoby based remotely (north of France), while the race direction (Antoine Havet and Jean-Francois Gombault) managed the event from the St-Auban-CNVV airfield, in order to be able to make the direct link between the real and virtual races. The competition was supported by many personalities, including the 10th Sailplane Grand Prix World Champion Sebastian Kawa. Mario Kiessling (2nd), Maximilien Seis (3rd), Tilo Holighaus (CEO of Schempp-Hirth and 10th SGPF pilot), Brian Spreckley, Benjamin Neglais and other pilots joined the live broadcasts every evening, to talk to the public watching the races, in order to promote the eSport competitions. More details are available here: https://esport.sgp.aero/results You can watch the races again here: https://youtube.com/faisailplanegp Prize Giving For this virtual contest, the sponsors gave us the opportunity to reward the drivers according to their ranking: JustSoaring, an American start-up, offered a complete simulator set-up worth $2,000 USD! This is a huge reward for the winner, who was also offered by the FFVP a discovery flight, in St Auban, with a pilot from the French team! The Condor team also offered dematerialised gliders for the Top 10 of the Official and OPEN competitions: about 40 in total. We would like to thank them warmly, it is also thanks to them that the eSport project can progress. The Future Of eSports The next version of the simulator, Condor 3, was announced by the game designers during an interview during one of the races! No release date has been given, but enthusiasts should be able to enjoy an incredible weather improvement in a few months (arrival of rain, thunderstorms... and choice of weather by zones): a big step to make the races more realistic, the simulator's weather being judged a little too homogeneous for the moment. The FAI Sailplane Grand Prix and the FFVP are pushing for the recognition of eSport by the community and the public. The objective is to develop gliding worldwide, to train new pilots, and to create a large community around Condor and the Grand Prix races. To achieve this, it is planned to create virtual races every day, in Grand Prix format, from 2022. There will also be 9 qualifying races... to qualify for the second edition of the Virtual Sailplane Grand Prix. The 2nd Virtual SGP should take place in 2023, at the same time as the 11th real SGP World Final, the aim being to link the two events and keep this relationship between the real and the virtual. More information on http://esport.sgp.aero Organizing Team Antoine Havet, Jean-Francois Gombault, Marc Till, Michel Bernard, Timothee Barusseau, Jean-David Thoby, Angel Casado, Thierry Bodin, Maxence Stawski, Emmanuel Quartier, Romuald Mauvais, Mark Travner, Matthew Scutter, Mikael Savin, Sebastien Chaumontet, Alexander Georgas Some More Facts The Virtual SGP took place on the evening of each event of the 10th World Grand Prix Final, at the same place as the Real Grand Prix, i.e. at the start of Saint Auban, on the Arc Alpin stage, created by a team of French and foreign volunteers on Condor 2. This is currently the most used stage on the simulator, as it extends from the south of France to Austria, covering more than 530,000 km2. There was a desire to have the virtual pilots fly on the same circuits as the real pilots, while adapting the weather, in order to be able to compare the pilots' choices on each circuit. These events were therefore adapted to the virtual format thanks to French experts, on Condor 2: Marc Till, Michel Bernard, and Jean-Francois Gombault. Venus 3 Glider Gliders Among six possibilities, the pilots chose only 3: the Ventus 3, the JS1 and the JS3, all flying in their 18m version, of course... and with a wing load limitation of 48kg/m2 as in the real SGP. The Italian Thomas Truffo delivered exceptional paintings for the event: each glider had a livery representing its country, allowing the public to easily recognise the glider and the pilot presented on the screen. More Info esport.sgp.aero
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/images/notams/notams20/a1r1021/a1r1021.jpgThe A-15 is a single seat, mid-wing, V-tailed, FAI Open Class sailplane,was flown for the first time on March 26, 1960. The sailplane has excellentflight performance due to a number of design and technological innovationswhat allowed to compete against the best representatives of the class. In the early 1960's the A-15 set several records, including a world goaldistance record of 714.023 km (444 mi), flown in June 1960. About 350 unitswere built. /images/notams/notams20/a1r1021/a15-2.jpg /images/notams/notams20/a1r1021/a15-3.jpgFeaturesFull FSX/FSX:SE and Prepar3D v2/v3/v4 compatibilityAll materials with HD specular, bump and reflection maps5 different liveriesCustom sounds on cockpit switches, knobs, leversCompletely custom animated VCAll gauges are developed with 3D partsWindshield and gauges reflectionsAccurate flight dynamicsPDF User Guide /images/notams/notams20/a1r1021/a15-4.jpg /images/notams/notams20/a1r1021/a15-5.jpgPurchase A1R Design - A1R A-15 for FSX/P3D See other aircraft from A1R Design Bureau
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/images/notams/notams20/coug0829.jpgAt least one developer is apparently working on a sailplane, or morespecifically a motor glider, for the new Microsoft Flight Simulator.Though no details are provided, Jon Coughlin Games has posted avideo showing the aircraft in flight.
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Hello everybody! I am starting a brand new casual Sailplane (Glider) club called Soar Virtual Sailplane Club! We accept you regardless of which sim you use, or if you fly at all. Whether you have flown for thousands of hours in a sailplane, or don’t know what it is and simply want to learn more, this is the place for you. We aren’t a Virtual Airline, but a group of people coming together around a common interest. If you would like to learn more, please check out our website or send over an email. Website: soarvirtualsailplane.club Email: andrew@soarvirtualsailplane.club See you soon, Andrew
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the number 1 reason all pilots should have glider experience is, it will make you a better pilot. a safer pilot. just about every 'miracle landing' (like the miracle on the hudson) were only possible due to the pilots having glider training. Skully would have splattered his plane into a densely populated neighborhood killing everyone if he trusted the towers directions over his glider pilots training. but furthermore, soaring will quickly become your favorite way to fly! case in point, I fly with freedoms wings international our founder seen in the vid, irv stobel holds 3 world records (747 transatlantic speed records) was the 2nd person to fly 'the worlds fastest plane' (f106 i think it is) he was the 1st to put on a space suite, and has flown everything from military to commercial, but nothing ever excited him like gliders did. soaring, is also the only kind of flying that will often have the pilot giggling and exclaiming 'this is awesome' again and again, even if they have flown gliders for 4 decades. soaring and gliding are pure flight, powered by the atmosphere itself. lets start off with a little bit of history. in the beginning, a man strapped some wings onto his back, and jumped off a hill, gliding only a few seconds, and landing just a short distance away. the next step in gliding begins the earliest history of flight, the wright brothers flyer was originaly designed to be just a glider, adding an engine to a plane was 1st thought of as nothing more then a gimmick. this led to the age of the primary glider, still used today in some flight training schools to teach the very basics of flight. launchesd off a mountain, and landing in a valley below, flight records were set, with flight times recorded in seconds. [ATTACH=CONFIG]214504[/ATTACH] these had a best glide slope less then that of a cessna with a failed engine. performance improved alot over the years with glide slopes improving from 4-1 to now 70-1 (best l/d or lift over drag with a 70 miles for every mile of altitude lost) but whats more important is sources of lift were discovered. [ATTACH=CONFIG]214505[/ATTACH] this marvel of modern engineering is the perlan 2 space glider built to explore the upper atmosphere (and test climate change effects without contaminating samples with exhausts) it has nearly reached 80,000 feet and is attempting to reach 90,000 ft, without using any fuel. So how do you turn gliding into soaring? by mastering the atmosphere, thats how. the atmosphere is fluidic, dynamic, in motion, and full of energy. solar: the sun heating the earth creates differential heating. when you fly beneath cumulus clouds you may feel a strong bump. these are thermals, gliders can circle in these rising columns of air and climb. diving faster through the sinking air, to fly long distances at fairly high speeds. wind: wind energy is used in 2 main ways. Ridge soaring when wind hits an object, like a mountain ridge, it has nowhere to go, but up. Ridge running is some of the most exciting, and beautiful ways to fly. ridge running uses the strong winds flowing over the mountains to race along at high speeds for great distances. There is no way to get the pure epic beauty from any other type of plane, not only do gliders give you the best unobstructed views of your surroundings, but the strongest lift, the blazing fast speeds, are found close up and personal with the most remote and beautiful mountainsw in the world. wave soaring when the winds striking a ridge, and the airmass is stable, and the wind speed increases with altitude, mountain waves form downwind, often several waves many miles apart, and far away from the source will form, these standing waves are theorized to go clear to the stratosphere. these are how gliders are able to fly higher then jets, without using fuel. these mountain waves are what the perlan 2 space glider uses to get above 78,000 feet. Competition gliding as a competitive sport has been around since flight has existed. Competition has been the primary driving force when it comes to advancements in aerodynamics and performance. Glider, or sailplane racing takes skill and courage. Even before the race starts, 40 or more gliders maybe circling together in a single thermal at close range in the pre race gaggle, each 1 trying to outclimb the rest to be in the best position for a fast start. then the race begins but thats not the only way to compete. Glider aerobatics raw powerless power and grace under g forces with g force limits up to 12 g's and extreme maneuverability glider aerobatics are not only graceful and beautiful, but a highly competitive sport all its own Soaring glider simulators the good the bad and the soso fsx yes fsx has soaring, if you add cumulusx for thermals and ridge lift. advantages: very few, except being able to soar the entire world (like everest) and sightseeing (like the taj mahal and pyramids) or if you want to blow off some steam cause a certain golfers always golfing where you fly, shutting down your airspace every single weekend disadvantages: tow characteristics are practically comical, 'real world weather' even with the expensive rex weather engine changes too drasticly too suddenly without any real reasons for it. (but you can try soaring hurricanes, which i have multiple times) flight charachteristics are barely realistic, never once was able to spin it. biggest disadvantage is even if you create a glider specific multiplayer channel, jets, are fascinated by gliders and wil keep buzzing you or trying to fly the ridges your flying and crash over and over...often crashing into you and that brings me to crashing, no matter what you do wrong you just get a message 'you have crashed' unlike the others where you might spin from 60,000 feet with 1 wing ripped off and still have realistic control over the crashing. condor 1 and condor 2 I will discuss both, but would recommend condor 2. condor 1 has thousands of user submitted sceneries with more added all the time so you can soar a big chunk of the world. condor 1 only has thermal and ridge lift, but is vastly superior to fsx in soaring weather generation. however the graphics and terrain detail level left room for improvement. flight and tow and winch launch characteristics are all very accurate, including tow plane prop wake, glider handling and performance. and realistic results from overspeeding (high speed flutter followed by loss of a wing) and excessive g forces enter condor 2, and the long awaited dream of realistic wave flights. condor 2 drasticly increases the terrain detail, ridge lift is even more accurately generated, and now, even mountain waves complete with lenticular clouds alow for altitude record attempts (many sceneries have records over 55,000 even 60,000 feet) advantages: highly accurate soaring, large community of competitive pilots, most real world glider pilots, from students using it as a training tool, to serious well known competition pilots using it to keep up proficiency during the off season, or just to compete in a virtual environment where taking risks has less catastrophic consequences. also includes a primary glider, and, an aerobatic 'swift' challenge yourself to intense competition against hundreds of pilots disadvantages: only runs on pc has fairly high vid card requirements (as you saw from the glitch in the 1 vid, solved by makings ome vid setting tweaks) silent wings silent wings alows competition against either real life pilots or ai pilots flight characteristics are pretty good, tow characteristics are excellent weather can be set to crazy unrealistic (like thermals to over 100,000 feet) it runs on pc linux and i think even mac advantages: cross platform - compete against ai disadvantages: extremely limited number of sceneries while condor has many hundreds maybe thousands (condor1 several hundred condor 2 more added all the time) silent wings might have 6-12 for simulators I highly recommend condor 2 especially if you fly gliders for real. its the most accurate and has the largest most active community with daily records altitude records, multiple concurrent competitions, from beginner to world class. As I implied in the beginning, EVERY PILOT SHOULD HAVE SOME GLIDER EXPERIENCE. If you think like a glider pilot you are a safer pilot at all times. soaring is also the ultimate green sport, as well as making you even more aware of what the airs doing around you. I hope i have managed to make you take a 2nd look at soaring as 1 of the most intense, exciting, (or peaceful) ways to fly.