Challenges added

1st Official Post

    Hi,
    This is a fantastic game and I really love playing it! I think that it could be even better if you added challenges for each type of aircraft, like glider races, journeys and difficult and easy landings for airliners, and aerobatic challenges for stunt planes. Each time the player completes a challenge, I think they should be awarded a medal or mark for how well they did it, which can then go down as a gamecentre achievement. Thanks!

    Tristan

    I have a challenge for you, it is one I completed recently. Fly from schänis to ulrichen in a glider. You start at the normal start height above schänis (1000ft AGL) and you cannot land and relaunch anywhere and cannot increase height using the button or use the engine if you choose the discus or use autopilot. I used the ASG29 and it took about 1.5hours of hand flying and ALOT of thermally. The beauty of this challenge is route selection. There are many routes available each with its own challenges. You can select nil wind but once at Ulrichen you must complete a LH circuit and land on 05.

    Good Luck

    • Official Post

    Hello there,

    I did the exact same challenge the other way around and I can agree it really is a beautiful route. I also flew once from Sion to Samedan, landed and flew back later via Saanen to Ecuvillens. I selected a moderate wind from the south and flew almost without thermalling along the ridges. I estimated the overall speed to be 160 km/h which is quite impressive for the Discus I think.

    Another "challenge" I like to fly is flying from Sion to Birrfeld with the Discus, again with some wind from the south. If you are high anougth at Ullrichen you can fly pretty much straight all the way to the finish, crossing over Alpnach and gaining the last bit of altitude before a very long final glide downhill. Its pretty strategic if you try to reach Birrfeld asap. If you fly to fast you land short, if you fly to slow you end up much to high. I ended this challenge with a low pass at Birrfeld, a standard cirquit and a nice crosswind landing with rollout to the tower. That was great fun and also very challenging.

    Another route took me from Ulrichen to Locarno in the south. Flying it as fast as possible makes it very interesting because you have a long way with wind from the front :D

    Gook luck have fun,
    Jan

    Hi! Thx for replying, this is great! I wasn't moaning at you guys by the way, more at the IPACS support team. (I suppose they do have lots of other important things to do with the game though to do though). Your challenge sounds fantastic; I look forward to trying it myself, as gliders are not something i regularly fly on the game. I will post if I succeed or fail, and if I have any challenges of my own that I think up, I will share them with screenshots. This thread can be a place to find challenges for anyone who wants them!
    Tristan
    P.s check my profile; I have added a challenges group.

    • Official Post

    This is something you cannot answer in one posting. Its best to read a lot about that topic and do some internet research. You'll find some videos of flight instructers etc. on YouTube and other video platforms.

    For now take this advice: Make the thermals visible with the checkbox in the wind settings. Its best to approach a thermal of to one side and then fly constant circles around its center inside the tube that simbolizes the thermal in the aerofly FS. That way you gain the most of the updraft and the airplane gets pushed up.
    When inside a thermal circling you need to fly slow, just above the stall speed. If you are to fast you'll fly around it, if you are to slow, the aircraft will stall and lose altitude.

    How not to crash:
    Let the airplane fly and look way ahead how the course of the airplane should be changed in the future. Use only limited control inputs to reach your target, fly with as little stick movement as nessessary. If you overreact with a huge surface deflection you risk losing the control over the airplane.
    If you want to do a safe landing you need a proper and long final aproach. Stabilize the aproach as soon as possible. The closer you get to the runway the smaller the adjustments are that you can make.

    Good luck and have fun,
    Jan

    Hi everyone who is involved in this thread!
    I have been teaching myself to use a glider after Jan's helpful instructions and am working up to completing 4535jacks' challenge. I have a question about gliders that I would like to put to anyone who is willing to help. When I fly the discus, there is a beeping sound that changes in pitch, and gets faster or slower. What is it? I was wondering if it has anything to do with thermals maybe?:confused:

    • Official Post
    Quote from Trisnpod

    Hi everyone who is involved in this thread!
    I have been teaching myself to use a glider after Jan's helpful instructions and am working up to completing 4535jacks' challenge. I have a question about gliders that I would like to put to anyone who is willing to help. When I fly the discus, there is a beeping sound that changes in pitch, and gets faster or slower. What is it? I was wondering if it has anything to do with thermals maybe?:confused:

    Hi,

    thats the electronic variometer sound. It creates a sound for the pilot so that he can continue to look outside.
    The sound layout is modulated in the following manner: If the aircraft is descending the sound is continuous and has a lower frequency if you are losing altitude more quickly. If you are inside an uplifting windfield (thermal/slope wind) and the vertical speed of the aircraft is positive (climbing) you can hear a pulsed sound that gets higher pitched if the strength of the updraft increases.

    So if you hear the sound beeping thats a good sign for a thermal, if it sounds very deep then you should fly a bit faster and try to stay outside that area.

    Regards,
    Jan

    Hi! Thankyou 4345jacks for the fantastic challenge; I really enjoyed it!
    I am now able to pilot a glider on aerofly (dont think I would be able to do it in real life though!!), and understand thermals and the variometer. Before this challenge, I never really understood gliders, but now I really enjoy 'flying' them. Below is my route (i just realised I forgot to mark it from schanis, even though I did start from there) - is it the route you took?
    I will send a challenge in return shortly!
    Tristan

    Tristan, I took a different route that used more low ground so didn't have to thermal as high. Gliding is great way to learn to fly and understand attitude and energy management. I leant to fly gliders before I started powered flying and I am so glad I did! In fact I am off for a weeks gliding next week to brush up some of flying techniques that have got a bit sloppy due to flying with an engine up front. It will be nice to see some more powered challenges but until we get vor and ILS then is quite limited. Someone could come up with a flight plan where we have to fly on particular heading at a certain speed for an exact time and complete several leg that will end us on approach to an unknown airport. We then name the airport to show we have completed the challenge. Obviously weather will need to be the same for everyone but this will be a real challenge of accurate hand flying and the rules will be no use of info bar, auto pilot or map from start to finish. This will mean the whole will need to be flown in cockpit view and using the instruments. Players will also need to climb to altitudes at set climb speeds and descent at particular rates.

    Gary

    My route:

    Hi Gary!
    Yes, I agree gliding is a fantastic way to learn about many important attributes of flighting, many of which are shared with powered flight. After completing the challenge, and becoming more familiar with aerofly gliding, I messed around with some of the powered planes like the cessna, and found myself looking a lot more ahead at the terrain, giving me better landings, and such-like.
    I did plan to go your route originally, but I found myself getting a bit carried away with keeping in a thermal, and before I knew it, I was at 10 000ft! At that point, I made some mistake, and followed a smaller valley up into the mountain, and just scraped it over the top.
    Your idea of a challenge sounds great, and I will try to think one up using that soon!
    Thanks, Tristan

    Hi! I have come up with a new challenge for anyone who will accept it!
    It is just a short one, but is quite challenging.
    Using either the blue Italian jet that I can never remember the name of (that is the easier option)!or the f-15 (the harder option), follow the route shown in the photo below. Take of from interlaken, and look out for a valley on your left as soon as you take off. Keeping as low to the ground as possible, take right at the first junction and into a breathtaking gorge. Remembering to keep low, fly up the valley until you see the mountain in the pic below that is at the end (of the valley), then fly round it and come back the way you came. The final bit where you fly around the mountain is really tough in the f-15. Which ever aircraft you use, you have to fly at full throttle the whole way, except take off and landing!! This challenge is best if you have practised it a couple of times.