Cody Bergland 4 Posted July 3, 2010 Share Posted July 3, 2010 Howdy folks, Cody from Jaggyroad Films here. I have had the Discus for a while, but haven't had the time nor inclination to "really" see what soaring was all about. I tried the craft a few times around Dillingham and enjoyed it, but never got further. Last night, I had a change of position... I was going over the new Andras Airfield package after speaking to Mathijs and getting my addons squared away for filming the package and decided to fly the Discus (with the single propeller blade motor) off the glider runway and see how far I could make it south. These are the following addons I currently have: 1) CumulusX (the latest freeware version) 2) WinchX 3) SimProbe 4) Andras Airfield 5) All available Swiss sceneries (minus Switzerland Pro, which I am working on...) 6) VFR Germany 3 7) Austria Pro 8) REX I winched off the ground to roughly 4,200 feet and then headed due south. Made it halfway across the lake then decided to deploy my motor, getting me up to around 4,700 or so feet. I then proceeded to the closest hill to catch some ridge lift as the winds were favorable with a 14 knot tailwind as I headed south. Upon sliding into the ridge lift, it became apparent to me that I might be able to make it all the way to Innsbruck. So, weaving my way slowly south-east, and finding the ins and outs of ridge lift quickly, I managed to make my way all the way there with altitude to spare and without having to utilize my engine again. I was very proud of myself for this flight, as I have never gone cross country in a sailplane in FS before. So, with that said, I have a few questions: 1) Am I correct in that I need to be using Simprobe and CumulusX together? Or does the latest version of CumulusX not require Simprobe? 2) Any advice on thermals? I noticed I may have hit a few areas where I suspected there was a thermal, but I'm not too keen on areas to find them. Any advice on hunting thermals with CumulusX would be splendid. 3) Any other addons you might suggest for soaring? I'm finding the challenge very exhilarating. 4) I noticed a significant amount of turbulence while flying last night. This was especially true while in ridge lift. Is this normal? I suspect so, but I gotta tell you, my plane was being tossed around like precious china in a 6 year olds hands. 5) When I loaded my plane, and my proper weight, I found that fully loaded I was a bit overloaded. I reduced my loading by removing some of the water from the tanks. What is the proper way to use this water when flying (should any be released ever?). What are the ins and outs of the ballast? Anything else I am missing? Thank you all for your advice/help, -Cody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Bergland 4 Posted July 3, 2010 Author Share Posted July 3, 2010 I did a bit of researching around the forum and answered a few of my questions already regarding Simprobe and the ballast, although I'm still having issues grasping the full understanding of how to best use the ballast... insight welcome. I do not need Simprobe with the latest version of CumulusX. This may have contributed to the additional turbulence that I saw last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Schweigler 203 Posted July 3, 2010 Share Posted July 3, 2010 Hi Cody, You don't need simprobe, true. But it is not bad to have it installed, because it is simply inop with the newer cumulus versions. Turbulences are normal in ridge lift and thermals. Sometimes the air can be very rough. 4200ft wich heigh is too much. In andras field you should get something arounf 1000ft AGL. The winch can be placed 850-900 meters away from the glider. The ballast system is to make the plane faster without loosing performance. If you want to fly the heaviest legal Discus, you must fly the B model because the BM and BT are limited in ballast due to the engine, though the tanks are the same. FSX is too stupid to allow standard ballast quantity, so they are always full and the plane is overloaded. This is flyable but not allowed. You can overstress the airframe more easy. Advise for thermals? Search a decent looking cloud and find the lift. Then begin to circle in it. And then practise practise practise Another add on for soaring? Buy a license of cumulusx! There are some pretty cool features in and they're getting more and more in future. Best regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Bergland 4 Posted July 3, 2010 Author Share Posted July 3, 2010 Hi Cody, You don't need simprobe, true. But it is not bad to have it installed, because it is simply inop with the newer cumulus versions. Ok, thank you. Turbulences are normal in ridge lift and thermals. Sometimes the air can be very rough. Ok, I wasn't sure. It doesn't hurt to ask 4200ft wich heigh is too much. In andras field you should get something arounf 1000ft AGL. The winch can be placed 850-900 meters away from the glider. Note, that is not 4200FT AGL. It was more like less than 2000 AGL. I can't remember offhand what the MSL of Andras is. Thank you however, and I'll take that into account next time I take her up. The ballast system is to make the plane faster without loosing performance. If you want to fly the heaviest legal Discus, you must fly the B model because the BM and BT are limited in ballast due to the engine, though the tanks are the same. FSX is too stupid to allow standard ballast quantity, so they are always full and the plane is overloaded. This is flyable but not allowed. You can overstress the airframe more easy. Ok, this is helpful. I was over complicating a very simple problem. Advise for thermals? Search a decent looking cloud and find the lift. Then begin to circle in it. And then practise practise practise Roger that! Another add on for soaring? Buy a license of cumulusx! There are some pretty cool features in and they're getting more and more in future. Best regards, Joachim Thank you Joachim for taking the time to answer all my questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Schweigler 203 Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 No problem, you're very welcome. Every new Discus pilot is :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emi 5161 Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 hey, i have a few more advices for you: 1) you have given the altitude in feet, but in gliders in germany (where andras field is) you have usually a metric altimeter and the speed is showen in kmh. 2) the best thing to find good termals is that you first try to circle above the terminal/area of the airport. there fsx has termals very often. by the way, in reallaty you handle the termals that way, that you're looking for the winddirection and then you fly into the corner of a clound in which it will be blowen. i'm not sure if you can do it in fsx in the same way, but i'd just try it... 3) the winch is in almost every case at the end of the runway. so if there's a long runway (example 3200m at Male) then the winch is 3200 meters away from your glider. (but then it pulls you at about 1km high^^) regards Emi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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