Condor Thermalling Technique

In this video I quickly go through a few key elements & tips for proper thermalling. I decided to quickly record a few minutes of flying and add narration after watching many pilots in Condor - and in real-life - fall into the same thermalling habits.
The most common issue I see is inconsistent speed & bank-angle control, leading to poor average climb-rates as pilots do not stay centered in the lift. I believe the biggest contributing factor to this habit is a lack of anticipation. Pilots wait to see their target airspeed or bank angle and then make a change in the controls. This results in their corrections being too late, and much larger oscillations around the desired atittude/speed. I hope this video illustrates the benefits of anticipating a target airspeed or bank-angle and making control corrections ahead of time.
Greater consistency and maximizing of lift is the foundation of all cross-country soaring, from casual flights to hardcore contest flying!
Notes:
* This was made without my normal editing software, my apologies for some audio quality issues throughout the video.
* Keen-eyed observers may note that my yaw-string control is not great in this video. I had the rudder sensitivity tuned too low while recording this video, and could not match the roll authority of the DuoDiscus I was flying in this simulation.

[@DUKEisALIVE]

What a fantastic video! Answered all my questions in such a short time frame. As a paragliding pilot who just got started with Condor for some winter training and as a tool for route planning and familiarization this is pure gold.

[@limamikeaviation]

Fantastic Video!! I have been looking for a condor tutorial but clearly Ive been looking wrong now I have found gold! Fanstastic video!!

[@noelwade]

Thank you. Sorry I don't have more videos to offer - I've been working on acquiring a real DuoDiscus to teach advanced / XC soaring techniques and mentor new pilots. Feel free to ask if you have questions though!

[@gregstarjun]

great video thanks, now that I have started my licensee I will definitely be getting this sim to further improve :D

[@noelwade]

Congrats on starting the adventure! Feel free to ask me if you have any questions about Condor, about learning to fly gliders, or any part of your journey to getting your license! Please note that Condor, like most sims, requires some tweaking and tuning to make it "right" - don't expect to just install it and have it work perfectly. Two common issues are that by default the rudder is overly sensitive (you may need to turn the sensitivity down), and aerotowing in Condor (especially Condor 1) is harder than in real life - so for most sessions its best to just start in the air (no tow at all). Best of luck!

[@markburton5170]

As a gliding instructor I recommend maintaining a suitable constant attitude and allowing the airspeed to fluctuate a bit with turbulence.

[@noelwade]

Ideal thermalling technique is a very nuanced set of actions and skills, and no 5-minute video on KZbin will cover all of it. One should not "chase the needle" slavishly; but you also cannot simply fly a constant bank-angle either. Thermals are irregular in 4 dimensions (3 spatial dimensions plus variances over time) - if a pilot does not react to them, these irregularities will cause major speed and bank fluctuations which will move the glider away from the center of the lift. This video is an attempt to demonstrate how you can "stay ahead" of the glider as it encounters these irregularities, and *not* wind up lagging behind the aircraft as you "chase the needle".

[@znek4288]

This is super helpful! Im learning thermalling techniques in my next glider lessons

[@noelwade]

Thanks! Feel free to ask if you have questions or would like to see a specific topic or technique covered. And good luck with your lessons! Gliding takes some work before you get to enjoy the "good stuff"; but flying cross-country in a glider is a thrill like no other!

[@johnfoster1201]

Love it! Thanks for sharing, Noel.

[@markburton5170]

Good video. In real life, please look outside the cockpit much more - gliders meet up in thermals and midair collisions are the greatest hazard in gliding (I had to parachute after a midair collision on thermal entry 20 years ago, the other guy also had to parachute and we were both unhurt).

[@noelwade]

I am absolutely *not* counseling people to stare at their airspeed indicator! This demonstration is designed specifically to illustrate the common issues I see with many soaring pilots as I mentor them in both Condor and in real-life with my DuoDiscus. It is not intended to be a comprehensive tutorial on how to fly (including performing a visual scan and using aural and kinesthetic feedback - i.e. the sound of air rushing outside the cockpit and the "seat of the pants" feelings - to reduce the reliance on instrument readings).

[@markburton5170]

@@noelwade I'm sure you don't stare at your panel in real life! I wanted to add for viewers of the video the vital importance of a constant visual scan outside the aircraft. I feel a danger for pilots of too much time playing with simulators is that it gets you used to not looking round (single screen simulation does a very bad job of representing looking around, even use of a VR headset does not wholly solve this). Where do you fly?

[@markburton5170]

Ah, just looked at the OLC record of the 2011 flight you posted and see that was from north of Seattle. I fly an Arcus M in the UK.

[@noelwade]

@@markburton5170 - Good stuff, thanks. And yes I agree. I think the use of a simulator _should_ be used in conjunction with a "head tracker"**. Being able to 'look around' is key not just for thermalling, but also for basic learning like the traffic pattern (i.e. determining where you are relative to the runway, when it is "over your shoulder" in the simulator). **I have used VR with Condor2 but the field of view is just too narrow (even less than a normal computer monitor) and don't think its the right approach for 99% of situations.

[@noelwade]

@@markburton5170 - Arcus, very Nice! I sold my single-place ship and partnered with another pilot in a DuoDiscus T because there is a lack of good cross-country instruction/mentorship in the region. I'm hoping to rectify that with this two-seater. I still live near Seattle, but mostly soar in the drier & more-open terrain east of the Cascade Mountains. Near Seattle the lift rarely gets above 1500m and 1 to 1.5m/s. The heavy forest cover and urban areas mean that soaring near here is a lot of "tip-toe" flying. On the other side of the mountains the lift regularly goes to almost 3000m and 3m/s, plus there are tosn of farm fields and small airstrips that make cross-country soaring much easier. The only downside is the 3 hour drive each way! 😕

[@neoetude]

Thank you for amazing video! 👍👍👍

[@1976husky]

Noel, this helped me, thank you. Are you in the condor club or on US Soaring discord?

[@tangoalpha6013]

Very interesting! is it possible to simulate in Condor similar situation even without external pedals?

[@noelwade]

Yes, if you have a joystick that twists, you can assign the twist axis to your rudder pedals (but I find that you have to turn the sensitivity very low to avoid over-controlling the rudders, as the twist is such a small movement). However, you cannot use the "automatic" rudder setting in Condor to simulate this very well.

[@ThePilotSBL]

what glider type is this? Like ask something or

[@Alex-dr6sv]

duo discus

[@ThePilotSBL]

@@Alex-dr6sv ty