Why real weather
is the baseline.

The reason is technical, not arbitrary. MSFS 2024 allows C++ WASM gauges — the kind the THGF variometer and EFB are built on — to make outbound HTTP requests directly from within the simulator. That capability is what makes the entire community integration possible: the sim can talk to the website, the website can talk back, and pilots can be connected across sessions in real time.

MSFS 2020 is completely sandboxed. There is no network access in or out of the simulator from a third-party instrument. Nothing the THGF EFB or variometer can do inside a 2020 session can reach the outside world. Community telemetry, sign-in, live position reporting — none of it is architecturally possible in 2020. This is a platform constraint, not a choice.

MSFS 2020 does support real weather — but only for the current moment. There is no historical weather playback. This makes group flying and competitions unworkable: for pilots in different time zones to share the same weather window, everyone needs to fly at the same real-world time, simultaneously. MSFS 2024's last-24-hour historical weather solves this — you can schedule a group flight for a specific atmospheric moment and fly it at any convenient real-world time.

MSFS 2024 is the first Microsoft Flight Simulator built to support this level of deep integration between the simulator, the website, and other pilots. The THGF community layer is designed specifically around that capability.

Your position is never broadcast without a deliberate choice. The opt-in happens inside the simulator through the THGF EFB — the Electronic Flight Bag instrument built into every MSFS 2024 glider package. When you use the EFB's site chooser to pick a flying site, you're prompted to sign in with your THGF callsign and choose whether to share your position with the community. If you opt in and then teleport to the site, you become visible on the live map from the moment your flight begins.

The actual broadcasting is handled by the THGF variometer — the C++ WASM instrument that runs alongside the EFB. Once you're airborne with real weather active and sharing enabled, the variometer sends your position, altitude, heading, and climb rate to the website at regular intervals. This happens entirely within the simulator, with no external application required.

When your flight ends — the variometer detects landing — the EFB surfaces a single-button prompt to upload your IGC track log directly to your THGF flight log. One tap, and your flight is on the community feed, attributed to your account, and considered for records automatically.

To stop sharing mid-flight, toggle the opt-in off in the EFB. Your position disappears from the live map within two minutes. No telemetry data is stored between sessions — live positions are held in memory and expire automatically if not refreshed.

Sign-in happens through the THGF EFB — the Electronic Flight Bag instrument built into every MSFS 2024 glider package. Because MSFS 2024 WASM instruments can communicate with the web, the EFB can authenticate your THGF account from inside the simulator. Your callsign, set in your THGF profile, becomes your identity across every session.

That callsign is how your flights get attributed to your account, how records appear under your name, and how other pilots can find you on the live map. The variometer embeds it in every IGC log. The telemetry system uses it to broadcast your position. Without that link, there is no community layer — the sim session is anonymous.

Creating an account is free. Joining group flights and entering competitions is free for all signed-in members. Creating group flights requires a free Patreon follow. Creating competitions requires a paid Patreon membership.

Hang gliding is a conditions sport. The entire discipline — site selection, launch timing, route planning, thermal reading — is built around responding to real atmospheric state. A position report only means something if the pilot is flying in conditions that actually exist somewhere on Earth right now, or within the last 24 hours.

MSFS 2024's last-24-hour historical weather is the closest approximation available in simulation: real pressure systems, real thermic potential, real wind patterns drawn from actual meteorological data. Flying in these conditions and reporting your position creates a record that reflects genuine flying judgment.

Preset weather — clear skies, calm winds, fixed thermals — removes that judgment entirely. A live position in preset weather tells the community nothing useful about where someone would actually fly, or how.

Group flights work because every pilot in the session is flying in the same weather window — the same historical moment, the same pressure gradient, the same available lift. That shared context is what makes flying together feel like flying together rather than just occupying the same geographic coordinates in parallel.

Competitions have a harder requirement. Scored events depend on performance being comparable across pilots and across task days. If one pilot flies in authentic thermal conditions and another in a preset with guaranteed altitude, the score comparison is meaningless. Real weather is the only level playing field available in simulation.

Competition results verified under this policy feed directly into the THGF records leaderboard. Those records represent the best flight performance achieved under real-world atmospheric conditions — a genuine measure of simulated flying skill.

This policy governs community data — not your flying. There is no restriction on what conditions you can fly in, what scenarios you practice, or how you use the simulator. Preset weather, custom thermals, fixed conditions — all valid for practice, training, and exploration.

The community features simply don't activate without real weather. Your position won't appear on the live map. Your flight won't count toward records or competition scoring. The IGC upload will be accepted but marked as non-qualifying.

Think of real weather as the key that unlocks the social layer — not a barrier to enjoying the simulation.