SwissGliderFlight (V3.0)

Flight created on 09.06.2019 (30.09.2023 V3.0 English)

Estimated flight time 2h

Difficulty: easy - hard (selectable at the beginning)

Mission: Fly a timed sightseeing flight in the Swiss mountains.

Prerequisite: Glider (ideally the DG-202 and the DG-800S-18 from Wolfgang Piper Https://www.fsglider.de)

Compatibility: The flight is fully compatible with the landscape addon "Switzerland Professional". The addon is old, but it still makes Switzerland look "nicer".

Note: At the beginning of the flight you should

Deactivate thermal display and

Activate Aircraft Damage. (See below)

If available: Deactivate CumulusX!

Introduction

You are approaching the starting point of the sightseeing flight.

You sail from Bad Ragaz, past Chur up the "Lenzerheidepass". From Lenzerheide / Vallbella you continue to Tiefencastel, along the Albula valley to Thusis, via San Bernardino towards Bellinzona. Before Bellinzona the route goes north along the Gotthard freeway, past Biasca over the Gotthard pass. From the Oberalp Pass, the route continues east along the Vorderrhein until it branches off to the north over the "Bündner Vorab" (mountain 3028 m.a.s.l.) towards Glarus. Along the Walensee you finally come back to Bad Ragaz.

Start

At the beginning the flight is Frozen.

This is a special mode where you just virtually hang in the air and prepare everything for takeoff.

Not to be confused with the Pause mode, where the simulation is simply interrupted.

So use this mode to set the flaps of the

DG-202 to -8 (first stage negative flaps) and the

and to set the trim to -0.5

(my experience value for 150km/h | 80 knots)

Now choose if you want to fly with, or without help.

1) Thermals, birds and info:

- Thermal spirals only indicate where thermals are. So if you see thermals at high altitude, fly there, the thermals work all the way to the ground, they only show approximately the top of the thermal.

- Birds indicate thermals and upslope thermals. I have shown the flocks of birds exaggeratedly large (and with 28 birds in each) so that they can be seen at all from a useful distance.

- Info: This simply tells you which locality you are flying over, and occasionally tells you how high each thermal is acting.

2) Birds:

Only birds show thermals and slope updrafts. So always look around if you see birds somewhere. I know, very unrealistic that there are birds in every updraft....

3) Without help:

There are birds on the upslope, otherwise the birds are off today, find your own thermals.... Unfairly difficult? True! But who expects birds to fly in every thermal?

Subsequently, choose a glider:

Glider selection:

You have the choice between the gliders DG-202 and DG-800S-18 (if installed), or any other glider.

Any powered glider is also possible, if you don't have a glider but still want to fly the round.

Finally, choose the strength of the updrafts:

Light = Strong updrafts

Normal = Normal updrafts

Heavy = Weak updrafts

Random = Random strength and location of the upwinds

When you pass the green gate, the timer starts. Try to set a new course record.

Note: At the beginning of the flight you should:

- Disable thermal display:

Under Options, General, Weather, set "Thermal visualization" to None.

Schematic only confuses because the spirals are displayed on up and down winds.

- Enable aircraft damage:

Under Options, General, Realism, set "CRASHES AND DAMAGE" to "Detect crashes an damage".

For technical reasons, this is set to "Ignore crashes an damage" at flight start.

Interesting facts about sailors

Each aircraft has a different glide ratio.

1:10 means that 1m of altitude is lost for every 10m of distance.

Of course, flap configuration, airspeed, weight, wind and many other factors are important.

But the higher the glide ratio, the better and farther you can sail.

Glide performance hardly plays a role when flying in thermals. In thermals, it is immaterial whether you gain 300 meters of altitude after 3 or 4 circles. For valley crossings or cross-country flights with headwinds, upwinds and downwinds, on the other hand, it does matter whether you have lost 100 meters more altitude after three kilometers of flight, or still reach the next thermal.

The glide ratio of the gliders:

DG-202 1:42.5 (at 110km/h | 60 knots)

DG-800S-18 1:52 (at 110km/h | 60 knots)

So with the DG-800 better / faster times should be possible.

For comparison (data without guarantee!):

Single engine aircraft approx. 1:10

Boing 747 in cruise configuration approx. 1:8

Paraglider approx. 1:9.5

Competition paraglider approx. 1:12

Hang glider (delta glider) approx. 1:20

Eagle (bird) approx. 1:20

House sparrow (bird) approx. 1:5

Woodpigeon (bird) approx. 1:9

I hope you enjoyed this flight, if so please give feedback to p3d@andi20.ch . Also send error messages (spelling mistakes, wrong information, etc.) to p3d@andi20.ch, I appreciate any feedback.