Soaring

From FlightGear wiki
Revision as of 13:58, 29 April 2009 by B21 (talk | contribs) (added breadcrumbs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

FG Home >> Wiki >> User portal >> Soaring

FlightGear now has several glider models and winch, AI aerotow or MP aerotow launching methods (in addition to the normal "in-air start" method.) See also the developers page.

Gliders

[[File: Airwave Xtreme 150|center|border|180x180px|alt=|AirwaveXtreme150.jpg]]
AirwaveXtreme150.jpg 
[[File: Moyes Dragonfly|center|border|180x180px|alt=|Dragonfly-towing.jpg]]
Dragonfly-towing.jpg 
[[File: Paraglider|center|border|180x180px|alt=|Paraglider.jpg]]
Paraglider.jpg 
[[File: Schweizer 2-33|center|border|180x180px|alt=|Sgs233.jpg]]
Sgs233.jpg 
[[File: Schleicher ASW-20|center|border|180x180px|alt=|Asw20.jpg]]
Asw20.jpg 
[[File:

Glaser-Dirks DG-300|center|border|180x180px|alt=|DG-300.jpg

]]
DG-300.jpg  

Winch Launches

Winch launches are currently available with the Bocian and ASK21. With the Bocian, it's possible to click in the scenery on a point where you would like to place a winch; with both, you can use control-w to place a winch directly in front of the glider. Press w to start the launch (in the ASK you need to hold it down) and, once at the top of the tow, release the cable with W.

Aerotows

For aerotows, two types are possible - AI or human pilot (via multiplayer). To get an AI aerotow, select either the ASK or Bocian, choose KRHV as your airport and select the KRHV_towing_demo in the "Scenario" list box in FGRUN (the "Flightgear Wizard".) You should see a J3 Cub wobble its way towards you from a nearby taxiway, and pause close to your aircraft. Press control-o to hook on to it, and hold tight... the O key releases the cable.

For a multiplayer aerotow, you obviously need to arrange a tow with a human pilot - full instructions are available here: Doing_aerotow_over_the_net

Other gliders available for FG which use the JSBSim (notably the sgs233) or UIUC FDMs are not yet capable of winch or aerotow launches. Code to facilitate this has been added to JSBSim since the 1.0 release and it is hoped that JSBSim gliders should be compatible with ground launches in the next release. In the meantime, for such gliders it is necessary to start in the air - the sgs233 does so automatically.

Thermals and Sinks

Schleicher ASK 21 gliding in the Pinzgauer Spaziergang thermals scenario

Thermals and sinks are modeled, but they must be defined individually in a thermal scenario file. To see how this is done it would be best to examine the file called data/AI/thermal_demo.xml, which sets up 11 thermals and 6 sinks around San Francisco Bay. To learn more about AI scenarios in general, see the related article called AI Systems. Note that the thermals and sinks exist independently of FlightGear's weather system, so it's possible to have cloud layers that don't match your thermal heights. To prevent this you may want to manually set the cloud layers to match your thermals. Thermal cap clouds are available since about one month after 0.9.10 was released. If you are using 0.9.10 or earlier you can make cap clouds work by a) fetching the cap cloud model from CVS, and b) adding a <z-m> offset to the cap cloud wrapper file to put the cloud at the right altitude.

Extra Soaring Locations

A very nice piece of add-on scenery for gliding in the Menden (EDLA) area is available [1], including the required AI scenario file containing thermals for that area.

If you want to discover the Austrian alpine region, you might want to read Pinzgauer Spaziergang.

Logging your flights

If you log on to a multiplayer server while soaring, then your flight will be recorded at the FGTracker site, like this: [2], which makes flight review a snap.

Learn the theory

For those wishing to gain a more in-depth knowledge of correct glider operation, the FAA glider handbook makes good reading.