cencored

I don't have a pna or lk8000 although I may try to get the lk8000 going on an old GPS or something...maybe even an old windows xp laptop? What do you use? Still only flying the tasks at the moment to get more experienced before starting online. I'm keen to connect to an online server just for fun (not competitions) as it gets a bit lonely flying around in Free Flight mode...

Thanks for all the comments. I have finally took the plunge and bought Condor. There is a plethora of tasks to fly and then start flying online with others or even do competitions. So far I am impressed with the flight model (with my limited experience) and some of the scenery is pretty good esp once you are away from the ground lol. Although I was hesitant to spend money on a product that gets barely developed anymore, I am impressed at how active the condor community is and how many RL pilots use it as their go-to sim platform.

Unfortunately I am not much nearer to making a decision on which Simulator after thinking about it for a while and trying out FSX, P3D and Condor. I went to the Condor forum and a lot of people there discourage simulator use before having started actual training. I do not have the opportunity to start training for a couple more years but am very passionate about gliding and would love to start digging my teeth in it...

Great idea, thanks for that Dave. I'll take a look. The FAA one looks very comprehensive though, so I might read that in case I can't find anything else.

Australia. I just happened to find an interesting glider manual (pdf) on the FAA website. Surely the basics should be the same?

No all good. I did find it hard so far to find much information on gliding tuition/tutorials etc online. I have a good grasp of the basics though, but was hoping to find stuff to train myself, do missions etc. Any ideas?

Thank you for the reply again Avidean and Jcom. Unfortunately my busy schedule will not allow me to take up this hobby for at least another year, however I wanted to expose myself to gliding already. I have done it similarly for GA flying and have gained a large amount of experience in piloting a plane, navigating, ATC communication etc. I wanted to do something like this for gliding to further my skills in a fun way whenever I have a couple of hours on the side with the hope of it being benefitial once I have the chance to start glider training for real. Therefore I wanted to read or fly tutorials or anything that gets me underway without doing the real thing just yet. I did not realize that gliding can form bad habits that quickly?! I have a capabale joystick and rudder pedals, so thought I'd be well prepared for it.

Thanks so much for the reply Avidean and the useful hints. I did take a look at Aerofly FS. Damn it looks nice, compared to Condor. It's not really a competitor to Condor though in terms of actual flight simulation is it?

Wow what have I dived into lol. I think I would prefer a simulator that offers me most of those capabilities ouf of the box and if FSX requires lots of tweaking to get it right, I think I'd rather go with something like Condor which offers all of this already and possibly - from what I read - at a more RW like level. I assume Condor is realistic straight out of the box without much ado, other than perhaps add secenery or gliders would that be fair to say? I would neither have the time nor experience to tweak fsx at such a level. Also is there good ressource/book which explains all the intricates of glider flying? I know for example that gliding is rudder intense, however have always found that you get away with less rudder use in FSX than in real life GA flying. On a side note, I am shocked that Condor is still being offered for sale for a whopping ~$60 US, considering it's not even in development anymore...

Thanks so much for the exhaustive replies guys. It is very appreciated. I've just become realistic about my passion for flying and in Australia (which is where I currently live) it is very expensive to do you PPL and fuel costs, insurance, plane rental etc is only for the wealthiest. From what I hear, gliding should be way more affordable and gives you that feeling of literally flying with wings possibly much more than GA single engine flying. Also what I have always loved is the possibility to interact with the terrain in some way, such as in ridge soaring. Something that is probably much more dangerous in a cessna and most of the time you end up flying across the terrain at 3000+ ft. You don't really interact with terrain, or fly past some incredible mountain ridges in close proximity etc. Not sure if that makes sense, it's more how I feel about it. In that way I believe gliding suits me much better anyway aside from the obvious cost savings. I simply love the pure interaction with nature, be that sailing, kite surfing and now perhaps gliding. I will purchase Condor and try to work my way into the scenery and glider models. Is ther any real world weather for Condor (like Active Sky Next)? Or any texture programs such as Rex? I've got all that purchased for my FSX...

Hi all, I would like to practice gliding more as I believe I am more passionate about it than jets or GA single-engines and it is something that I think I will be much more likely to do in reality from a financial point of view. Therefore I would like to train my skills up in gliding. This brings me to which simulator would be best to train gliding? It should be realistic but also visually appealing which is a must for me. I currently run FSX and P3d and have practiced in FSX with the DiscusX add-on and cumulusx/wingex. Also it would be nice to fly online with other gliders live. I have not yet found a place to facilitate this. Any pointers would be greatly appreaciated. Thanks.