What do you do when you can’t do what you want, and you have plenty of time on your hands (pandemic lockdown 2020)? You write an app!
I am a software developer, and sponsor of this project, so that would be the predictable answer to anything. When you have a hammer, everything else looks like a nail.
Realistically it had to be done. Read about our Must Haves and only working simulator for some background.
This app is available to anyone who wants to download it.
The Hang Gliding Files (THGF) application is what allows you to fly a Hang Glider in the Microsoft Flight Simulator Steam Edition flight simulator.
Flight simulators do not have the built in functionality to allow a foot launchable aircraft, or the easy ability to locate yourself on remote hilltops and ridges that are your typical hang gliding launch points. In addition, you need to have the proper wind settings, weather settings, date, time, season, and most importantly, clouds setup to create proper launch and flying conditions, otherwise, you will just glide to the bottom of the hill, if you can even take off.
THGF app lets you install gliders without having to scour the internet trying to find a glider compatible with the simulator. There are not very many available for this simulator, but enough to have some fun! These are 3rd party gliders, we did not make them or support them. We just make them easier to find and install.
We let you create flying sites! You can make as many as you wish, anywhere you wish. You define what make the site soarable, where it is, where the launch is or many launches per site, where the LZ is, where are the windsocks, even setup cars, trucks and static gliders to add some realism. You can even define ‘house’ thermals for your site that makes it much more likely that you will soar. This is very necessary for some sites, but not for all.
We then let you use either real-time weather or create your own weather scenarios to fly in. Not just a simple weather theme, no, we let you produce changeable weather over time and geolocation! This lets the weather dynamically change during the flight and that is very important to simulating the reality of flying hang gliders.
We also allow you to setup flight tasks using turn points that make for having interesting goals to make on any flight.
We let pilots use our ‘Chase The Wind’ feature to find out what sites are soarable at the current time for a given location using real world, real-time weather information. This helps you plan a flying day whether in the simulator or real-life.
We also provide in-simulator functions for such things as picking your glider up so that you can move around on the ground. Setting the glider down so that it is not blowing around with the wind. And most importantly: Launch and Land.
While flying: We provide some general information about what is happening! Altitude, heading, distance, temperature and time. The glider models come with simple variometers that are very necessary, but they do not provide everything a cross country pilot requires.
All your flights are automatically recorded in the flight log so that you can keep track of what you have been up to! You can add your in-flight screen shots and track logs right into each flight log record so you can keep that all organized.
This app is NOT ENOUGH to make for realistic Hang Gliding
This is sadly true. We ship with the app installable versions of 4 gliders. We also ship useable simobjects such a windsocks. We also include a variety of flying sites, both foot launchable and tow launch.
But if you fly where this is no additional photo-realistic scenery, you will be very disappointed in the results. There are many sites on the internet that provide these files. This is one.
You can create thermals using our app, but for a more realistic experience, we recommend that you download the program CummulusX. This program is way out of date, but it still works.
With those additions, some work on your part, a decent computer and graphics card, and purchased Microsoft Flight Simulator Steam Edition, you too can fly a simulated hang glider. And for some, that will be enough! Have fun.