Cross Country

 I have just finished my airport model for the flight simulator, X-Plane 11, of Long Mynd Gliding Airfield on the Welsh Borders near Church Stretton, Shropshire.  This airfield sits on top of The Long Mynd and is surrounded by valleys and hill ridges.

 A recently designed airport for X-Plane 11 for Talgarth in Wales, East of Brecon At the northern edge of the Brecon Beacons, about 40 miles away from The Long Mynd.
Just for fun, I thought it would be a good idea to fly a glider between the two airfields.  This would need some consideration of the wind direction and speed, the hill ridges and updraught patterns and an eye for thermal activity if I was to manage a glider flight of 40+ miles.

 Takeoff is by winch launch at Long Mynd in an Antares 40E sailplane.  This gives a 1000 foot climb and a further 500 foot lift above the airfield as the glider settles to cruise speed.

 Using the local ridges to gain lift from updraughts, I was able to climb to 2000 feet with ease and set out across the valley hoping to catch a thermal or two to keep me above 1000 feet.  By the time I had crossed the valley, I had maintained a good altitude and was at 1600 feet.

 Hitting the ridge on the back end of the Brecon Beacons, the glider was able to climb to 2000 feet with the available rising air.  I spotted the Talgarth field at an altitude of 1600 feet and needed to use wing spoilers to loose sufficient altitude to land.

Talgarth is bit of a humpback field and you cannot see the hangar buildings from the end of the runway.  A long way to pull a big glider to park or hook up to a winch.
This was my first cross country glider flight on a flight simulator.  It brings back memories of the 1970's when I was doing this in a real glider.

 We had the luxury of a double decker control tower in 1975 with a wind sock on its roof!