Cross-Country Soaring 2004
User Guide 
1. Introduction
Cross-Country Soaring (CCS) is designed especially for real-world soaring pilots interested in practicing soaring skills or potential flying sites/routes during the days, weeks, and sometimes months between real-world flights. Traditionally, flight simulations have focused on powered aircraft, while soaring aircraft have been virtually ignored. CCS takes advantage of Microsoft Flight Simulator's excellent flight simulation and real-world scenery and Pete Dowson’s FSUIPC interface in order to simulate soaring flight as realistically as possible. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and FSUIPC are required for the use of CCS. FSUIPC registration is not required but is encouraged to let Mr. Dowson know how much the work he did especially for CCS is appreciated.
The fundamental principle of soaring flight is to find rising air and climb in it. In CCS, this rising air is in the common forms of thermals and slope lift. These thermals are randomly placed (with a few exceptions) and vary randomly from one another in size, strength, and duration. Also, they automatically lean downwind an amount that varies from thermal to thermal, depending on the thermal strength and the wind conditions while that thermal exists. If the wind changes direction or strength with time or altitude, the thermal will naturally change its lean direction and angle accordingly. Also, as in reality, CCS creates widespread light sink and localized sink around the edges of thermals. CCS, by default, does not create cumulus clouds atop thermals, but CCS provides means of aligning CCS thermals with cumulus clouds created by two other freeware programs, Thermiek and CUMULUS!.
CCS can also create slope lift, or lift caused by wind passing over mountains. Setting up slope lift takes a little work on your part but not as much work as is required by “traditional” means – scenery (BGL) slope lift. Also, to obtain the realism and coverage area of CCS slope lift using the BGL approach would require much more work.
CCS also contains the ability to conduct an automated flight test to determine a glider’s performance characteristics. This is especially useful for FS glider designers but is also useful for the FS soaring pilot interested in getting the maximum performance out of a given glider.
Once you've become skilled at finding and climbing in thermals and slope
lift, you may want to test your skills by flying a course of significant
length. The program will work anywhere in the
FS world, so pick your own soaring location. You can create your
own “house thermals” simply by providing latitude/longitude
coordinates and elevations. You can also
customize conditions by setting your own lift strength, thermal diameters, lift
ceiling altitude, and more. Any aircraft
can be flown, but a glider is the obvious choice for thermal soaring.