Lep

It didn't look that way -- check out this video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUAljcc7TvU .

I saw a video of the BM model taking off by starting up engine from an upright position rather than the usual position of one wing resting on ground. Anyone knows how this can be done? Thanks.

Thanks, Peter. Will look up on that. Lep

I've done ridge runs with the netto and am getting good kicks out of it. A question I have on the "Speed To Fly" feature of the C4 -- I understand when in strong sink, fly the speed such that the C4 "petals" are horizontal. But this way I have to practically go into a steep descent and tend to lose lots of altitude (more than a 1,000 ft sometimes). Is it wise always to use Speed To Fly? Would it be better to sit out the fast descent and emerge into lift again soon? Seems to lose less height that way.

Thanks for all that. Haven't really tried the netto for ridge runs. Will give it a go this weekend. Happy flying and have fun.

Thanks, Joachim. But I think you mean to say 5 m/s approximately = 1,000 ft/min (x2 x100), right? Quite a difference here

Thanks so much for the detailed explanation, B21. Really appreciate it. I've been flying all flyable planes/helos (from small prop to Boeing) in FS for a long time, except for glider until now. And I must say I'm amazed (and surprised) at the complexity (and simplicity) of the ideas behind the gauges that allow us humans to glide around like the way an eagle is able to do so naturally. I'm now grasping the concept better I think. I see that in still air, the netto reads zero while the TE reads a small sink (the glider's intrinsic sink). And I learn to look closely at the netto for signs of any uplift present and make use of it. Now just for one more thing -- you use knots (lift and sink) as measurement for the netto, but netto is also shown to use m/sec. So is it in knots, or m/sec? Would be glad to clarify this up. I take it that the TE is in feet/min. Thanks.

Thanks, Joachim. Okay will try to understand that.

Have been flying the Discus for weeks and liking it more each day. I'm now putting in more time in the D-4350 model, which has an additional Netto Vario in it. I read up on that and understand it shows the actual air mass up/down movement, minus away the glider's own sink rate. However, when NV shows a rising air mass, I see that the "winter" vario shows an even higher climb rate (eg. NV shows 450, winter shows 800). Shouldn't NV always shows a higher reading that the winter gauge, since it already has the glider's sink rate subtracted? The NV gauge shows a "m/s" on its face, but my FS is set to feet unit. So is the NV in m/s or feet/min? I understand the winter is in feet/min. Also, when I get into a quick descent, the NV starts to show a high sink reading too. Shouldn't it be just measuring the air mass sink/rise rate? (The air mass isn't sinking during the descent). Hope to gain a better understanding of this wonderful gauge. Thanks.

Thanks, Peter. Will get on with practicing catching the thermals. Hope to get a more powerful PC for some real clouds soaring.

Hi Peter, Thanks for your detailed reply. I tried out one flight with a wider range of ceilings with Clear Sky setting and managed to get good thermals, especially over some mountain ranges. Two questions here I hope you could help further clarify :- 1) Under User-Defined weather setting, if I set a wind but NO cloud layer, can I still get Blue Thermal? 2) When there is Blue Thermal, with no cloud, is the number of these "invincible" thermals also decided by the Thermal Coverage setting in the config? Thanks.

Have been putting in weeks of flying in teh Aerosoft Discus with registered Cx and truly love it. There was one flight where I set the weather to Clear Sky and saw that there was to be a Blue Thermal (the Auto Thermals Box was shaded Blue). After winch-launching to 3,000+ feet, I flew around for a long while but there was not one single thermal to be found. (Had set config to have thermals from 500 ft to 8,000 ft). On another occasion, I had user-set wind to 16 knots, but with NO cloud set. Cx showed Green for Auto Thermals, but again no thermal was observed throughout the flight. Hope to know how Blue Thermal can be obtained. I like cloud soaring, but they impose a heavy penalty on the frame rate. EDIT : I set the min lift ceiling to 3,000 ft and now I can catch thermal more easily. However, even then, there didn't seem to be many thermals to be found, even with Thermal Coverage set to 15 max. Is the amount of Blue Thermals also determined by Thermal Coverage setting in the Config?

Gosh ... how can I missed that?! I was looking for it in the C4's setting! Thanks. Lep

Hi Joachim, I've been flying in the Discus B almost exclusively now and am enjoying a lot the "joy of flights powered by nature". For the C4, I read up the manual but couldn't figure out how I may switch from the default vario mode to speed to fly mode. I understand the "petals" stand to show the same as the mechanical "winter" gauge, though it can also shows the speed to fly values which is helpful. As for the other features of the C4, are they mostly modelled too? Lep

Hi Peter, I've been using the registered Cx for over a week now and am totally awed by the great piece of work. However, I noticed the slipstream turbulence that's turned on in registered copy seems to be rather strongly simulated. I'm comparing this to what I observed in video clips I see, where gliders seemingly fly over mountain/ridge terrains without much of any turbulence in evidence. Mostly I have wind set to about 16 knots. Hope you could share on this issue. Thanks. Lep

Done some soarings this weekend and one memorable one I did was to glide up Mt Baker, all of nearly 11,000 ft!! Felt almost like mountaineer scaling up a mountain, only better (and faster too)! Took off from Concrete Mun, took a lift by "hiking" up a low wall of range up north (wind set from East), and finally commenced the ascent attack from "base camp". Wasn't as straight forward as it seems, for there were much uneven and undulating terrains up the mountain slope. Needs careful observations and choices on which route to take to go up. At times the summit seems so close, yet so far ... And when I finally reached the top, it was literally that top of the world feeling and sight all-round! After that, it was all a very nice, easy, and very scenic glide down back to Concrete. A very unforgettable flight, powered by nothing but mother nature. Awesome!! Lep

Thanks, B21. Just did a long glide from LOLC to LOIK, simply magnificent, and at times hairy too! Was thinking of doing one at Aosta to explore Mont Blanc, maybe even Matterhorn. Lep

Thanks for the wonderful links to the details. I've tried Mifflin in FSX and it was a great experience with those long ridges. I have also been looking for not only long, but also tall ridges for even more dramatic soaring. Found some good ones north of Sky Harbour, US. Some very nice ranges there. Lep

Just watched a wonderful clip on ridge soaring at Logan, Utah. Does anyone knows of a good, and long, nice ridge to soar along in FSX? For the one at Logan, where is a good starting point? Lep

Okay thanks.

While the manual did mention of the BT's service ceiling as 2,000 m, I was not able to find such info for the BM model. How high can the BM's engine efficiently operates up to? Lep

Okay noted. A great piece of work, indeed. Thanks. Lep

Thanks for the detailed advice ... still learning the ropes of gliding and these help. For the weather I used, I set it to user-defined and I thought I had removed all winds, ground and aloft. Will try again. Edit : I opened ASX but was not able to find inside the setting page any option for disabling the AS thermals and ridge lift features. Any way I can do this? Thanks. Lep

I've put in many hours into the Discus and find it truly rewarding and fun to fly. A question I have about the C4 -- while the altitude shows in feet, may I know is the climb/descent number showing in feet/sec? It seems more like showing in m/sec. Same for the vario "winter" gauge, this shows in feet/sec or m/sec? Thanks. Lep

Have been putting in some good hours soaring in mountain areas such as Austria, etc, and am getting nice experience out of gliding. This is a new and exciting encounter after so many years of flying powered add-ons. One issue I need help in, however. When gliding with no wind in mountain regions with Cu clouds, I encounter strong downdrafts (sinking by 1,000 ft or so) whenever I'm in between mountains, even though there is a massive Cu cloud overhead. Why is this so? Wind has been set to zero, so there shouldn't be any lee-side sink, right? In the real world, how does one safely cross mountain areas, with or without wind? I've seen youtube of gliders flying very high, way higher than all the mountains and clouds below, how did they get to so high up? Can one climb above Cu clouds, given lift is available only up to the clouds? Another question -- Using real weather download I encountered lots of changing winds-aloft, and each time it jerked the plane violently changing direction to the new wind. I ahve Active Sky which solves this, but I don't use it to avoid conflict with CX. Is there any other utility that get rid of this problem? Hope to hear some helpful advice. Never knew that soaring can be so much fun and challenge. Lep