Derek McAllan Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 G'day all, It's been many many moons since I last posted some screenies, what with all the real life flying fun I've been having. I've started playing around with FSX as a soaring simulator again just lately, and while it in no way compares with Condor for the mechanics, it certainly does look a lot nicer! The strength with FSX in ORBX land is that I can actually use this to practise my real cross country flights to some degree... most of the landmarks I need to identify in the real world are actually well represented in FTX AU with OZx. Having my home airfield represented with Jarrad's wonderful YCUN freeware is just the icing on the cake The flight I did tonight is one that I've done before for real, if you've been following along with my soaring adventures this was my very first cross country flight, you can read about it here or here. After a launch from Cunderdin, the flight followed the Great Eastern Highway to the East until Tammin, then turned NorthWest heading towards the Watercarrin Wheat Bin before returning to Cunderdin. Task distance is 91km, a mere hop - but pretty long for my first effort - and tonight I was flying the fantastic freeware LS8-18, a Standard Class LS8 that has extended wingtips to 18m. Anyway, on with the show. At the top of my first climb, about 7,500' and heading off on task. Cunderdin town and airfield behind me. Rounding my first turnpoint - the Tammin Wheat Silo. Wheat silos make terrific turnpoints for soaring in WA, they're all over the place and you can see them from miles off. It's hard to imagine that up until a few short years ago, taking a photo of your turnpoint while rounding it like this was a requirement to prove you had completed a task... it's only been the last few years that GPS logs have been allowed as evidence. Thermalling after passing Tammin, topping up on a bit of altitude. Another thermal, this one was full of avian companions taking advantage of a bit of free lift. Dodgy wildlife photography... I really should be paying attention to where the glider is going! Lots of nice thermals around today, and at least a bit of humidity to allow some Cu formation. Turning over the Watercarrin Bin. Exiting a cloudstreet and on final glide. Plenty of altitude and only 25km to go... time to redline this thing Smoking the finish line... Vne at half a wingspan in ground effect in front of the GCWA facilities and dumping water ballast. Followed by a popup to 700' and into the circuit. Thanks for reading along, great to be back and I'm sure to have more up soon! Cheers, Derek PS - a couple of RL comparison shots so you can see what an amazing job Jarrad did way back when he did this scenery! Cunderdin Airfield YCUN from about 4,000' in the late afternoon. Not bad for an iPhone shot. Looking over the town before heading off x-country to Tammin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradB Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Thanks Derek for these fantastic soaring screenies . Keep them coming . Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Lovell Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Nice ones Derek... both sim and real world shots. Glad you're doing well with your real life soaring! Like the cloud shadows btw! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Hamilton Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I really should be paying attention to where the glider is going! Lest the ground rise up and smite ye, which it appears to be doing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasi31 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Great set of shots Derek. Thanks for posting and the real world comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockliffe Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Great pics Derek. If you keep posting stories about your gliding exploits I will have to fly out to Oz and join you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam2299 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Great set of shots Derek. Thanks for posting and the real world comparison. +1. Excellent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitzer Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 A great set of shots and good to see the comparison between FSX and the real deal. I've had the pleasure of a couple of one-day flight experiences in a glider and while that hardly makes me an expert I do recommend the Aerosoft Discus X as being a worthwhile investment for soaring in FSX if you don't already have it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pgreenwo Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Stunning captures. The ground textures looks great vs RW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Great shots these indeed Derek. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek McAllan Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks for all the nice comments guys! Like the cloud shadows btw! Cheers John, the new update to CumulusX has nicely softened shadows, much nicer to look at than the old ones. There's lots of nice benefits to having a paid CumulusX license Lest the ground rise up and smite ye, which it appears to be doing... Was looking backwards in this shot so my nose would've been high! But yes, that's always a danger lol Great pics Derek. If you keep posting stories about your gliding exploits I will have to fly out to Oz and join you! You know you want to Howard! Great to see lots of love for country WA in the screenie forums lately. I've had the pleasure of a couple of one-day flight experiences in a glider and while that hardly makes me an expert I do recommend the Aerosoft Discus X as being a worthwhile investment for soaring in FSX if you don't already have it? I have the DiscusX but I don't actually think it's all that flash. The freeware gliders by Wolfgang Piper and Ian Forster Lewis far surpass the performance of the DiscusX, they look great from the outside too! The DiscusX has a much nicer VC though, which of course has a framerate hit. Cheers, Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric C Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 It's great to see you posting screenies again my friend, it's definitely been a while! Hope all is well and I'm happy you have been enjoying some real life gliding, and I'm definitely going to be following your site about it. Great screenies, and you have inspired me to get in the glider more in FSX. Hope to get a set or some shots up, take it easy and keep em coming mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retep49 Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Yes great shots Derek, thanks for posting and I like to see that there are more flightsimmers who love the gliders. Here is a link to freeware gliders and here you can find the one Derek was flying: http://www.fsglider.de/p_e.htm Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilottj Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Good stuff Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo32 Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 fantastic shots derek,i thought all of the screenies were real,there awesome buddy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek McAllan Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 Thanks folks! It's great to have some time to devote to FSX again Cheers, Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boetie Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Incredible Derek. Your commentary makes intersting reading. Nice to see some screenies from you again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonman Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 A great set pf pictures Derek! And the narrative is a great one as well! ... and so are Your cloudshadows! Really fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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