Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'soaring'.
Found 7 results
-
![More information about "Asobo LS8 fictional livery package [4K]"](//content.invisioncic.com/i324524/monthly_2024_01/ls1.thumb.jpg.ffc6bae8df3d61363645cfecef03138a.jpg)
Version 1.0.0
4 downloads
Bring color and variety to the skies of Microsoft Flight Simulator with this new LS8 Livery Collection. I find that gliders often get too little attention in MSFS, especially when it comes to creative and realistic liveries. That's why I've made this freeware add-on with 10 carefully designed, more or less fictional liveries to breathe new life into this beautiful class of gliders. Whether you're in the mood for a subtle, elegant livery or want to adorn your LS8 with an eye-catching, customized design, this Livery Collection offers you the perfect way to stand out in the virtual skies. The following 10 liveries are included: Basic Red Stripe Classic Orange & Blue Pink Orange Red & Black Blue & Black Australia Namibia Switzerland Modern Black How to install: (0. Delete older versions of this add-on.) 1. Download the ZIP-file. 2. Open the ZIP-file. There should be a folder called "nfm-ls8-liverypack". 3. Drop this folder into your MSFS community folder. 4. Start MSFS. The add-on should work now. If you have any suggestions, ideas for improvement, criticism or questions, please write a comment or contact me via direct message. To discover my other products, you can either visit my profile on Flightsim.to or my website. My Website To find out the latest news about my upcoming add-ons and products, follow me on Instagram! My Instagram Have fun! -
I would like to soar around for a bit but there are no thermals. Clouds are there but no thermals. I tried switching to summer, tried changing preset but nothing works. Is there any other way to do it or are there any addons that add this feature ? I will be really glad for any help!
-
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
-
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.
-
Review: Condor 2 Soaring SimulatorBy Nils LipsCondor 2 is the new version of the successful Condor SoaringSimulator available for Windows, and Apple computers with Windows andBoot Camp installed. For flying purposes, I am a person that likes to have just onesimulator installed, and one that does all the tricks reasonablywell. This means though I have to deal with compromises. However, Itook the opportunity recently to improve my understanding of thegliding scene, and so have spent a great deal of time with Condor - agliding simulator which I have seen in some pretty extensive cockpitbuilds. /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot7.jpgIn this review I'll walk through the simulator step-by-step byusing the functions available on the start-up screen. After which I'llexpand on the total experience of the user interface and of course thefeeling of flight. System RequirementsPCTo install and run Condor you will need Windows 7, 8 or 10Intel i3, i5, i7 CPU or equivalent5.5 GB of free space on hard drive or SSDA dedicated graphics card with 1 GB memory. The graphics card should have benchmark (http://www.videocardbenchmark.net) result of 1000 minimum, 4000 is very good and 8000 perfect.(Integrated graphics cards and cards with benchmark result below 1000 are usable, but with severely reduced graphics settings)Internet connection required for activationApple MacTo install and run Condor you will need Windows 7, 8 or 10 running in BootcampIntel i3, i5, i7 CPU or equivalent5.5 GB of free space on hard drive or SSDA dedicated graphics card with 1 GB memory. The graphics card should have benchmark (http://www.videocardbenchmark.net) result of 1000 minimum, 4000 is very good and 8000 perfect.(Integrated graphics cards and cards with benchmark result below 1000 are usable, but with severely reduced graphics settings)Internet connection required for activationSource:condorsoaring.com User ProfileThe first thing you need to to is create a user profile. This is aprofile that will be used to store your stats and allow you to fly onmultiplayer. You can select a country, registration, tail code andname. /images/reviews/condor2/t/Condor2FlightSchool.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Condor2SetupGraph.jpgFlight SchoolThe flight school section of the sim is rather interesting. It usesa solid method of first reading the theory, then watching theinstructor perform the dance, and finally you trying the same. TheoryThe theory is comprehensive, yet compact enough to supply thestudent pilot with the required information. This is a highly welcomedaddition to what would otherwise be a very dry monkey-see-monkey-dotraining exercise. The information is well written and clear, and notat all difficult to comprehend. View LessonThis is the monkey-see part of the story. The theory has been givenand the instructor will now show you the trick. It's great to have anexample of how to do it, and works incredibly well in combination withthe theory. Try LessonThe really fun part of the lesson, is trying it foryourself. Unfortunately, there's no real instructor to slap you on thehead if you get it wrong here, so it will require plenty of selfreflection, since there's little feedback to your actions. The flight school comes with a variety of lessons, sorted bydifficulty level. The beginner part of the story is the basictraining; performing takeoffs and landings. From there, you go on toactually flying the aircraft, finding thermals, ridge lift and waves,and learning how to intercept and stick with them. Outlandings arepart of the intermediate training as well. As you progress further, the lessons include the use of the PDA,and software to calculate both the best performance and use ofballast. The final, most advanced flight school section is aboutaerobatics! Having seen a couple of glider aerobatic displays, I'dhave to say it's more spectacular than one might think at first. So to conclude: the lessons are clear, compact, and the learningcurve is not that high. Plus there's the ability to perform someaerobatic lessons, which is really nice. Free FlightThe free flight option allows you to select a flight of your ownplanning. It also contains additional options to customize the flightto your own wishes. The different options are laid out over a coupleof tabs/pages which mostly speak for themselves: /images/reviews/condor2/t/Condor2FlightPlannerTask.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Condor2FlightPlannerWxTherm.jpgTaskFlight PlansTimingTask PointsWeatherWindThermalsWavesHigh CloudsHangarClassTypeSkinBy default, Condor 2 contains seven gliders and four towplanes. Other gliders can be bought from Condor as payware, and I'll expanda little on that below the aircraft list. Lange Antares 18SLET L-13 BlanikAvionic Diana-2Schempp-Hirth Duo Discus XLSportine Aviacija Genesis 2Schneider Grunau Baby IIbJonker JS1C-18 EVO*Jonker JS1C-21*DG Flugzeugbau LS8-sc Neo*Schneider Schulgleiter 38*Schempp-Hirth Standard CirrusMarganski Aviation Swift S1*Ventus 3-15* & 3-18* to be published (web site stated late June...)* payware add-on /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot0.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot1.jpgCustom AircraftNow this is an area in which plenty of people will consider adownside - the lack of custom aircraft, however the Condor developmentteam has a very good explanation for this. The flight model used bythe aircraft is so heavily dependent on the actual simulator, that thecreators believe a realistic behaving custom aircraft is simply notfeasible without a thorough understanding of the inner workings of theCondor software. This being the case, they have decided to keep themonopoly on aircraft and provide the user with a couple of extrapayware aircraft in which to expand the experience. SettingsOf course, no simulation would be complete without a couple ofextra options to choose from. One important option is the selection ofballast, usually done by filling ballast tanks with water. Here youcan select whether you want the ballast to be fixed. The center ofgravity bias (tail or nose heavy) can be set, as well as the windspeed. The other options are more in depth, like the moisture content,wing loading, and analysing the options by using the polar curvegraph, showing the indicated airspeed over the vertical speed (you canuse this graph to find your optimum glide). NOTAMThe "Notice to Airmen" tab, is highly useful and used to set thebasic operational environment in which you fly in. Here are theoptions to choose from: Aerotow / Winch / Airborne startThe three basic start options for gliding, and they speak forthemselves. To add a little more depth to these options and also toperform emergency scenarios, the rope length, plus the rope breakpossibility, can be set. For the airborne option the initial startheight can be adjusted. An extra option here is to set the Acro Box. RealismThe realism setting menu is used to adjust: the range in which youcan see plane icons, the range for which you can see the thermalhelpers, and the range for seeing helpers at turnpoints(waypoints). /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot10.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot11.jpgAllowThese options are there to allow the use of 'sim' options, such asthe PDA, real time scoring, external views, padlock view, smoke, planerecovery, height recovery and mid-air collision recovery. PenaltiesJust like other types of racing, gliding competitions featurepenalties in which to prevent people from cutting corners or usingsim/unsafe practices. These include: flying through clouds; penaltiesfor the above mentioned recoveries; flying in penalty zones; wrongwindow entrances and the use of thermal helpers. GhostsCondor has a ghost glider to race against. This can use yourprevious time records so as to get a visual representation of yourperformance enhancement, or loss... MultiplayerA great feature of Condor is the multiplayer section. The skies canbe very lonely without other folk to fly with, or even competeagainst. The general server attendance is something to keep in mind,as I'll explain later after I go through the main functions step bystep. LAN Server ListIf Condor is connected to a local area network (LAN), eachmultiplayer session currently being hosted on the LAN is listed in asubpanel. Address BookSaves handy servers, so you can easily refer back to them later on. /images/reviews/condor2/t/CaptureENDFLT.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Condor2FlightPlannerNOTAM.jpgDirect Connect ToUnfortunately, a big downside to the multiplayer element, is thatthere are hardly any players using the multiplayer option. On quite afew occasions I checked the servers, and there were simply no playersactive. I saw a couple of people online the first time I checked thefunctions of Condor, but not since. My guess is the user base (atpresent) is too small for an all-time active multiplayer, so you mightbe better off making appointments on the forums. Dedicated ServerSo there's another application that comes with Condor 2: DedicatedServer. This tool can be used to host a server (apart from the hostfunction in the multiplayer section of Condor). Some of the multiplayer servers run custom landscapes, so if thisis the case, you would be unable to join a server without the requiredlandscape installed. Custom LandscapesNow, to be clear, I did not test any custom landscapes, however,the least I can do is to inform you of their existence. There areplenty of custom landscapes to download, especially from sites likecondor-club.eu. This (non-official) web site hosts a number of newlandscapes that are compatible with Condor version 2, and include thelikes of: Nephi, Luxembourg, and Tehran. I do however believe that apaid account is required in which to be able to obtain theselandscapes. Condor have a number of toolkits for scenery development readilyavailable, so here at least they support the creation of 3rd partycontent. Flight Replay And AnalysisA highly valued option of any flight simulator, is the ability toassess your performance. A home simulator is pretty tricky to use forflight skill improvement, since the feedback is often lacking. Thatsaid, this analysis can be used to at least give an insight into whichaspects of the flight can be improved upon. A PC based simulator willnever replace real flight and instruction, but it can supplement it,if used with care. /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot12.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot2.jpgThe flight analysis display has a couple of features: generic map;barograph (altitude); pilot; flight plan; flight info and the optionsto load and/or export flights for analysis. SetupThe setup page is where all the generic settings can be found. Isay generic, but it's quite comprehensive actually. GraphicsGraphics settings are what you'd expect; screen resolution,anti-aliasing, monitor setup, texture size, objects, etc. SoundMaster, effects, vario (I love the special vario settings, sincethe vario beep is so prominent for much of the time). It also has a 3Dsound setting, which I presume means for surround effects. Control InputThe usual input device setup, with sensitivity, null zone,linear/non-linear. NetworkIcons / Plane type tags, that's all. OptionsThese are the more intricate options, and are described below: InstrumentsUnits (Metric, Imperial, Australian)Altimeter setting (QNH (above mean sea level), QFE (above field elevation)Vario Time ConstantsAverage Time ConstantMiscellaneousLanguage (EN std)Field of View Auto PanningView SmoothingVertical View ControlScreenshots type (BMP or JPG - I'd advise using the latter)NMEA output (port for COM or GPS hardware, for example)Smoke Options: colors: (W/W, R/W, R/G, R/B, B/B, B/W) /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot3.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot4.jpgHelpThe help tab will redirect you to the Condor web site helpsection. My Flight ExperienceUser InterfaceOn my first couple of flights I had some difficulty getting theuser interface set up correctly. I had issues of not being able toreturn to the sim when I selected alt+tab, or when clicking on thewrong window. On one occasion, my sim kept turning the sound off every3 minutes (not sure what was going on there). I did not have the issuein other tasks I was performing. Something I'd really want to see infuture updates, is being able to use my left (2nd) monitor for genericuse (say YouTube for example) in every mode of operation (full screen,full screen emulation or windowed). Having to alt+tab in combinationwith the aforementioned issue, is tricky. Full screen emulated seemsto work the best for me (with limited testing). FlightI'll have to be honest here, and state that I've never flown aglider, so I have no personal experience in which to offer first handexperience. However, I do have a few gliding friends, and I've watchedsome webinars and plenty of videos to get a certain feel for what Ithink it should feel like. So if I go by the above, Condor 2 feels very realistic, in thesense that I noticed a lot of work had been put into how theatmosphere and the glider interacted with each other. The little bumpsand winds, the ridges, everything seemed to work really well. For asecond generation dedicated glider sim, created by some verypassionate and knowledgeable people, this is exactly what Iexpected. Of course, it's not an exact replica of the real deal, whichis unattainable for a sim, but anybody with half a brain would knowand understand that. Nevertheless, from what I've seen, heard andread, this sim is supposed to be pretty realistic. Flying each of the different gliders available in Condor, it's easyto notice the attention to detail, as each one has its own personalitytraits (even to a rookie like myself). /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot5.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot6.jpgFollowing the flight school lessons, a beginner can be up andrunning rather quickly. Yet gliding is a tough challenge! I highlyrecommend watching plenty of gliding videos to supplement the CondorFlight School. This will help empower your understanding and knowledgeof this beautiful branch of aviation. With some basic know how, you'llbe able to keep your glider airborne for quite some time, which, in myexperience, is a really fun challenge in its own right! There is though, one payware glider that doesn't really glide verywell, but is still an interesting and highly challenging glider tofly, and that is the Schneider Schulgleiter 38. Compared to the othermodern gliders, this contraption flies like a brick! I know, it soundsterrible right? But having hugged some trees with high speedenthusiasm, it appears that the Schneider Schulgleiter 38 is a greatglider in which to learn basic gliding skills in. Why? Because itoffers no instruments, nothing! It is in all intents, and purpose, astick, rudder, wooden frame and wings...and boy does it test you! The other odd-one-out is the Marganski Aviation Swift S1. Thisglider is an aerobatic glider. Having seen a couple of glider shows(both during the day and at twilight) I'm very impressed by what aglider can do on its way back down to earth. It certainly looksfun! Gliding ClassesA number of glider competition classes exist and these aredistinguished by performance differences and cost. The Open Class is the oldest competition class, and isunrestricted, meaning all types are welcome. The Standard Class was introduced in the late fifties as analternative to the increasingly heavy, difficult to fly and costlyOpen Class gliders. The 15 metre Class was created specifically to end thetrailing-edge airbrake controversy in the Standard Class. The classhas been very successful, being since its inception, a feature of allWorld and European Championships. The 18 metre Class allowed for economical spans exceeding 15metres. Manufacturers started to exploit this potential by offeringtip extensions for their flapped sailplanes. Two Seater Class speaks for itself. A two-seater class appeared forthe first time in a World Championships in 1952. The reason for havinga separate class was that the drag of the larger fuselage put twoseaters at a significant disadvantage compared to single seaters. If your glider fits none of the aforementioned classes, or you'rejust there for fun, you'd be in the Club Class. /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot9.jpg /images/reviews/condor2/t/Shot8.jpgConclusionHaving tested Condor 2 intensively over a long period of time, it'sclear to see that this is a simulator developed by a team of peoplepassionate about gliding. Along with the fantastic flight models, the default Slovenianscenery, while not as visually stunning as some of the latestsimulators available, is still very beautiful to behold. There aremountains, forests, and meadows, and coupled with the well balancedtextures, create an environment just perfect for soaring! Condor's UI is clear, has many options, and the flight trainingsection of the simulator will get you on your way, both effectivelyand quickly. Yes, the UI had some small issues which I mentioned earlier, butoverall Condor 2 works very well. If you are at all interested in gliding, then I highly recommendgetting your hands on this highly interesting and entertainingsimulator; it really is great fun! /images/reviews/condor2/condor2.jpgNils Lips Condor 2 web site
-
The Exquisite Challenge Of Soaring By Christopher J. Gordan I am continually surprised at how many people apparently fly over the scenery, and not through it. Make no mistake about it - flying the "Big Iron" on long flights has its challenges, and its rewards for a well executed task. Unfortunately, something is missing when you look out the window...just about everything! When cruising at FL 320, there is precious little to see apart from the panel. I think most would also have to admit that once enroute, you are actually minding the plane more than actually flying it, even without the autopilot engaged. Trim it out, monitor your systems, make small corrections to stay on course, and wait for the next VOR. Many people have realized this, and have become hooked on light aircraft, often refusing to use the autopilot, and sometimes navigating by pilotage alone. They have learned that it can be more interesting and challenging to fly a few hundred miles than a few thousand. They also get to really see where they are going, instead of just climbing out, and descending near the destination. How about taking it one step further? I can tell you from experience in both the real world and in FS that there are few tasks more challenging than soaring. You must constantly fly the plane. You must constantly be thinking, "Where am I? How much altitude do I need to get to the next safe landing spot? At what speed should I be flying? What's my current glide ratio? How far can I go from here? Should I stay with this thermal, or press on? Gee, I deviated from my true course to find this lift...on what heading should I roll out of this thermal to get back on track?" Oh yeah...no "go-arounds" once committed to land! Tough crosswind at the intended runway? You'd better plan ahead, or plan to run out of rudder and ground loop your beautiful $100,000 sailplane! OK, the FS default situations are rather limited. The default Schweizer leaves a bit to be desired in several areas, BUT...do a search for "glider" or "sailplane" on this site. You won't believe all the marvelous aircraft, panels and instruments, some of them so realistic in both appearance and performance, that you'll find yourself saying, "I can't believe I've missed out on this until now!" There are also three excellent programs for creating thermal scenery: Thermals.exe (FS98) and Thermals2.exe (FS2000) by Ed Dumas, and Thermake by Michael Polski. Thermake can actually make "autolaunch scripts" that will scramble the thermals each time you launch FS to fly in a favorite area. You'd never have to fly with exactly the same conditions twice! There is also an abundance of scenery and courses available for those who prefer not to "roll their own". If you really think you're really a good FS pilot, try some of the cross country challenges, races, and badge flights available at SOAR. Did I mention that you'll really see the scenery? Christopher J. Gordan cjgordan@lvcm.com Chris is a real world glider pilot in Las Vegas, NV and is currently the director of SOAR, a virtual soaring society of about 600 members worldwide. -
View full article
![More information about "Asobo LS8 fictional livery package [4K]"](http://content.invisioncic.com/i324524/monthly_2024_01/ls1.thumb.jpg.ffc6bae8df3d61363645cfecef03138a.jpg)
