Granite Glider Guiders
"If it's got wings, it'll glide"
| About us | |
| Activities | |
| Glider-Fest | |
| Photos | |
| RealFlight G3.5 Thermal Soaring | |
| RealFlight G3.5 Airport | |
| RealFlight Models | |
| Slope Sites | |
| Weather |
Setting up Thermal Soaring in RealFlight G3.5
RealFlight G3.5 can be used for thermal soaring practice, although the setup is a little bit involved and not well publicized. This page will walk you through the process of setting up an airport and aircraft for thermal duration soaring practice.
We will start by modifying the 'Sod Farm' airport. This is necessary in order to be able to start flying your glider at a reasonable altitude and airspeed. RealFlight does not offer any type of winch or bungee launch, but the steps below will allow you control the starting altitude, attitude and airspeed any time a 'reset' is performed.
Using the menus, select 'Simulation', 'Select Airport...'. Expand the Photofields list, and select 'Sod Farm'. Press OK.
Now select 'Simulation', 'Edit Sod Farm'. There is a lot you can do here, but don't be intimidated by the airport editor. We will make only a few simple changes. In the window labeled 'Folder Listing' expand the 'Objects' folder, then expand the 'Spawn Points' folder, then select 'Plane Spawn'.
Now go to the 'Properties' window and click on the value area across from 'Relative Position (ft)'. Change the 'Z' value to 200 (or whatever you want for a starting altitude). Press OK.
So we aren't blinded by the sun, change the 'Orientation (deg)' value for 'z' to -145 by clicking on the value column and typing in -145.
Click on the value opposite 'Drop aircraft on reset'. Change the setting to 'No'.
Now click on the value across from 'Initial Velocity (FPS). Change the value here to something reasonable for the aircraft you intend to fly. I use 30 feet per second which is about 20 MPH. Type in the desired value and press enter. The 'Properties' window should look like the one below:
Now select 'File', 'Save As...' and type in a new name for the airport.
Now click 'File', 'Return to Simulator'. We are done with the airport changes. If you select a powered plane, it will start from a flying position. We must now modify a glider to get it to start in midair.
Click on 'Aircraft', 'Select Aircraft...' and select the 'Bird of Time'. Press OK. It will still be hand launched at this point, don't panic. Now click 'Aircraft', 'Edit Bird of Time'. Click where it says 'Hand Launch' and change it to 'From Ground'. It should look like this:
Now select 'File', 'Save as...' and change the name as shown below.
RealFlight also allows you to control the thermal parameters at a system level. To make things relatively easy, try using the settings shown below. Click on 'Simulation', 'Settings...'. Expand 'Wind and Weather', then click on 'Thermal System'. With these settings the lift is pretty obvious...
Now, for those of you who like picolarios, or need more feedback than just how your plane is flying, try this. Using the main menu, select 'View', 'Gadgets', 'Edit NavGuides...'. I turn on Altitude, Heading, Airspeed, Wind Direction, Wind speed, and Wind Updraft. Now, how's that for coring a strong thermal?
