Fly a Glider in Flight Simulator X
Flying gliders is a fun experience, and Flight Sim allows you to fly without buying your own airplane. Follow the guide bellow to learn how to fly a glider efficiently in Flight Sim X.
Steps
- Select the glider from the "Free Flight" menu.
- Position it on the runway at the airport of your choice.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Y to call the tow plane.
- Take off at 30-40 knots. Press G to raise the landing gear and keep the glider level behind and slightly above the tow plane until it begins to climb.
- Keep the tow plane slightly above or below you you and slightly to the right at all time. This will keep you out of the tow plane's wake turbulence and will make it easier for the tow plane to fly straight by overcoming the propeller's p-factor force. Control vertical position with the stick, and the position behind the tow plane with the rudder.
- Press Shift + Y at will to release the tow rope and immediately turn sharply to the right. The tow plane should turn left. This is standard tow release procedure in the United States.
- Keep over sunny areas, concrete structures, parking lots and restaurants. Thermals (hot air rising upward) are likelier to be over these areas and will help your glider stay aloft. If you are flying over vegetation, you will find the thermals over brown areas. Green areas absorb heat.
- You will hear a high-pitched beeping sound when you take off. This is the variometer instrument. It tells you when you are climbing or descending. If the sound is high pitch, the glider is rising in a thermal. If the pitch of the sound is low, you're losing altitude. Go into a shallow dive and look for places with puffy clouds above you, or fly above buildings, houses or any other structures, until the pitch goes up and you start climbing. Fly tight circles to stay inside the thermal and climb until it runs out, then repeat as necessary to stay aloft.
- Land the glider. When you are ready to land, press G to lower the landing gear, point the nose down, pick a landing spot, open and close the speed brakes as necessary to keep your airspeed as close as possible to 50 to 55 knots, and land the glider.
Tips
- Microsoft Flight Simulator is always more fun when using a Joystick.
- Have fun. Your first flights will not be perfect, so just practice until you get it right.
- Make sure you know what you're doing before flying a glider. Checklist are mandatory items for pilots, but when you are flying alone things may happen too fast for them to be practical.
- On your first few attempts, you might want to turn crash mode off in the options menu. This will help for practicing landings.
Warnings
- Do not take this as a guide on how to fly a glider in real life. Remember, in the real world, you can't just hit "restart." Always make sure you have the necessary qualifications before attempting to fly a real glider.
- You'll need to learn how to use your equipment and simulator properly before attempting a serious flight. Make sure you know how the basics of how a plane works before attempting this.
Things You'll Need
- Flight Simulator X
- Joystick, Keyboard, and/or mouse.
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