We share XC skills and have fun by flying somewhat realistically on Condor 2 in widely varying conditions and terrain.
In our group are beginners and advanced pilots. We talk on a Discord server. We often fly with OLC-like scoring and upload to SkyLinesCondor. If you want to use a phone or tablet as a flight computer (e.g. XCSoar or SeeYou) in real life flight or just to fly XC on Condor expertly, we encourage you to take the time to link your device to Condor so that it's very familiar to you before you fly in real life. We can help you set up and link XCSoar.
You can find our flights at Virtual Soaring (the best list) Condor Server List, CondorClub server list, or Alternate Condor Serverlist
Condor realism: Some of us fly with safety habits on the realistic side to train for real flight. Below 1500 ft AGL, look for landing sites. Below 1000 AGL choose a landing site. Unless you have an escape route to lower terrain, no thermalling below 500 ft AGL; time to land. Keep safe height margins to cross ridges or escape mountain canyons.
It's a great idea to keep an airport within glide distance. Because Condor PDA doesn't show all the airports and it's very limited when you need to explore options, it's good to fly with your own device to show your height above glide to nearby real airports. You need to load a map, waypoints and a glider polar. Go to www.teamxc.us/files-XCSoar. Then tweak your device safety margins: (polar degradation 50% is conservative, arrival height 800 ft typical, terrain height 500 ft typical). You can fly with your own style.
We would be happy to have other groups or individuals join us, in any language.
Email teamxc.us@gmail.com with questions.
Monday races on server "TeamXC Mon 9pET Race". The flights appear about 20 minutes before the hour. Join time stops about 10 min after the hour.
Friday races on server "TeamXC Fri 9pET Race". The flights appear about 20 minutes before the hour. Join time stops about 10 min after the hour.
Wednesday flights are OLC-style on server "TeamXC Group -ignore gates-":
Most of us will start at or just before the time on the calendar (the server appears at about 20 minutes before the hour). Because we ignore gates, join times on the server are very open...if you're late, come and fly with us anyway. You can join the flight and start flying any time in a 4 hour window.
You can "restart" your flight if you land at an airport.
Due to the open join times, if you land out or crash you can fully exit Condor, then re-join and be back with the group.
Tasking is open as well. There is a suggested line to follow, however you are not required to follow that line. Typically we try to get abreast of or past the end of the line anywhere on the map, then we free-fly anywhere for additional distance and triangle points usually returning to the start airport.
Because of the 4-hr join times, the gates are inactive. This is important for new people coming into the OLC-style flights. There is no requirement to fly to the start and finish gates, and they won't change color. Just launch and fly off in the general direction of the line.
We don't care much about scores: you can fly longer if you want more points...they are just used for fun on the day of the flight, and depend on the duration goal each pilot has for a given flight. Scores on skylinescondor.com are based on distance and a roughly symmetrical triangle that might fit in your track. Usually you will want to close your path (make a loop) for triangle scoring. That means remembering on your final glide to fly across some part of your track usually close to the beginning, but after you released from tow. Then your track will have a loop that a triangle can fit inside.
Upload your flights to skylinescondor.com