26. Flight Training#

Flight Training in FS One offers two sets of flying lessons: Basic and Advanced.

In all, there are over 30 flight training lessons.

To reach the Flight Training window, from the Main Menu click on Flight Training (under the Single Pilot category).

In each lesson, you see the aircraft fly maneuvers and the transmitter sticks move. You also hear a professional radio-control pilot explain how to fly the maneuvers. You can watch the lesson in slow motion or even pause it to examine control deflections and transmitter stick positions.

  • To choose a set of lessons, click on Basic or Advanced.

  • To step through a set, click on the Next Lesson button.

  • To review a lesson, click on Previous Lesson.

When you return to this screen after having done some other flying, you will continue at the same lesson where you left off.

Note

If you do not hear engine sounds during Flight Training, go to Options | Sound/Music and increase the engine volume.

Image of the Sample Basic Flight Training lesson description.

Sample Basic Flight Training lesson description.#


Image of the Sample Advanced Flight Training lesson description.

Sample Advanced Flight Training lesson description.#

26.1. Basic Flight Training#

These lessons cover maneuvers such as takeoff, turning, and landing. There are 7 basic lessons.

  • Choose a lesson by clicking on Basic to see the menu of lessons (see below). Make a selection.

  • Click Fly to start the lesson.

  • During a lesson, besides the airplane in flight you also see the Playback Tool and the Transmitter Display. Use the mouse to drag them around the screen if you like.

  • The transmitter sticks match the prerecorded stick inputs.

To move around in the lesson:

  • Click on the playback control buttons to restart, reverse, pause, slow-motion, play, or fast-forward. The green progress bar shows you how far you are through the lesson. The narration will not stay in sync if you use the playback controls.

To stop the lesson:

  • Press Esc .

Image of basic airplane lessons list

26.2. Advanced Flight Training#

These lessons cover aerobatic maneuvers such as snaps and slides. There are 25 lessons.

  • Choose a lesson by clicking on Advanced to see the menu of lessons (see below). Make a selection.

  • Click Fly to start the lesson.

Image of advanced airplane lessons list

26.3. Learning to 3D Hover Airplanes#

You can learn to hover airplanes with the FS One Hover Training Assistant, turned on by pressing O . The lower bottom switch on the widget can be used to turn the assistance on and off. Use the green +/- buttons to increase/decrease the amount of assistance. When set to the maximum value hovering will become very easy and is a great place to start learning. Lowering it will make the hovering more natural until at the lowest value the assistance is effectively turned off. No matter what the setting, during normal cruise flight, the assistance setting has virtually no effect, i.e. it cannot be “felt” in the control sticks. As you slow down into high alpha and a hover, you can begin to feel the assistance in your stick inputs.

Image of the FS One Hover Training Assistant

FS One Hover Training Assistant O#

26.4. Learning to Thermal#

You can thermal soar in FS One. You pick a sailplane, select a flying site and set of thermals, make a hi-start selection, and launch! The steps below describe it.

Make Your Selections

  • From the Main Menu, click on Single Pilot Freestyle.

  • Turn on the Variometer sound so that you will know (by hearing) when you are in lift and when you are in sink.

  • While flying, you can also press V to toggle the vario widget on/off during a flight session.

  • From the Aircraft Selection window, pick the “Supra” sailplane from the list.

  • From the Flying Site screen, pick the “Bryce Field” 3D Site.

  • From the Wind screen, pick “Thermal Set 10” (near the bottom of the list):

Image of thermal set 10 selection page
  • Select any Sun/Sky you like. The sky “Foxtrot Oscar” looks realistic for soaring conditions.

  • At bottom center, click on Takeoff and select Hi-Start Launch.

  • Make your hi-start selection. Select the hi-start that brackets the weight, e.g. “1.8-6.5 lb class” for the Supra. Make that selection in Options | Towlines.

  • Your Fly Screen should look like this:

Image of fly page for thermal soaring
  • At left, click on Save Flight so that next time you can quickly reload the same selections for this thermal soaring setup. (Your current hi-start selection is not saved.)

  • If this is the first time you have flown the Supra in FS One, at left click on Flight Manual to see how the controls are setup.

  • Click on Fly.

Launching

  • Move the throttle stick up, to remove any “crow” - landing flaps/aileron deflections.

  • Center the 3-pos flight mode switch to select “Normal” flight mode.

  • For launch, set launch flaps (“Launch Camber Preset”) using the 2-pos switch. Flip the 2-pos switch until you see “Launch Camber Preset” for the flight mode.

  • To launch, press the Spacebar to start your climb on the hi-start.

  • When you are near peak altitude and ready to release, enter a slight dive and then pull up to release the towline from the Supra. You should see the hi-start parachute open once it is released.

  • Use the Options setting so that the towhook freely releases. See Options | Towlines | Captive Towhook Release for details on making that setting.

Flying

  • Press M to show the Map Overlay. Compare it to the thermal map below - shows thermal positions as blue dots. Each thermal is different. Each thermal radius and updraft vary with altitude, just as in real life. (The blue dots do not appear in the simulator while flying.)

Image of the Thermals shown on the overhead map for Bryce Field. Grassy center is the launch site.

Thermals shown on the overhead map for Bryce Field.
Grassy center is the launch site.
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  • Press V to show or hide the variometer (the vario sound will stay on). When climbing, the vario shows a positive climb rate. Also, the sound will beep higher and faster, the faster you are climbing.

  • When you are in a thermal, circle and try to center the sailplane in the center of the thermal. Search online for tutorials on RC thermal soaring techniques.

  • Press H to see your rate of climb (“FPM”) on the HUD (heads-up display).

  • While searching for thermals, to see more ground (to compare to the thermal map) press F2 for a Shifted Elevation View (see Camera Views | Shifted-Elevation Views).

  • Press T to show (and later hide) the Flight Log / Timers widget. This log/timer lets you record time aloft, or practice a landing countdown.

  • Press L to show a landing target. If you like, press P to pause the flight, press F12 twice, and move the mouse to see the landing target on the runway just ahead of where the pilot is standing.