There I was, on short final

[coinneach]

KSFO-EIDW, 777-300. Had weather set to update every 15 minutes. No changes at EIDW in the last three hours. Surface wind 230 @ 15, no turbulence, but some minor bumps between 2400 and 7000 that made my pax nervous during approach. Altimeter 30.12. I was on a rock-solid approach to 28, 200 feet AGL, when Dublin decided to update their ATIS...

Surface wind calm, but with level-4 turbulence (LOLWUT). Altimeter 29.91.

*WHAM* *bounce* *float-float-float* *squeak* *sarcastic comment from FO*

Arrived at the gate 3 minutes ahead of schedule, and got dinged 250 points for incorrect altimeter. Sorry about that, I was too busy trying to not
drive the gear up through the wings and not so much worried about pressing B when the weather went to hell in 1 second.

Three hours until the 50-hour inspection on this bird. The 777 is making me less money per mile/pax than my 737; I only made a profit of some $100K on this flight (not including the multiplier), which is about normal. Think it's time to retire the beast and buy a 757 or A320.



Post Edited ( 11-14-08 20:25 )

[Launchbury]

It's a problem of FS if you're using real world weather. Lots of times FS does not download the weather for your arrival airport until you're
on short and final. So if the weather at your airport is significantly different from the weather that was last uploaded, you're going to be in
for a pretty big surprise.

[Valoran]

That brings up a questions that's been tickling the back of my mind lately. Aside from AS6 (which only marginally works on FSX according
to their website.) how do you folks set your weather in FSX? WHat would be a realistic weather change setting if not having the program
update every 15 minutes? None, slow, medium, or fast? I have mine set to slow and I don't get boundary problems but I haven't seen
anything in the documentation that would tell me which would be the most accurate setting to a real-world mean weather change speed.
I realize that some places, especially in the mountains, weather can change very quickly while other places not so fast. What setting do
you all think would be most realistic.

My apologies Coinneach for riding on your post but I thought you might find it usefull as well.



Post Edited ( 11-17-08 22:26 )

[dannye92]

Active Sky X set to update every 2 mintues

seems the best option to me

[Valoran]

That wasn't my point. I said "aside from....Active Sky 6 (or X)". I'm not in a position right now to invest in another $45 enhancment to my
flight simulator. Essentially, it's FSPaX or ASX until sometime in the spring. I'm going to wait until FSPaX is released, thank you.

Now, could someone else actually answer my question? It was pretty simple and direct I thought.

[KenG]

Valoran wrote:
That wasn't my point. I said "aside from....Active Sky 6 (or X)". I'm not in a position right now to invest in another $45
enhancment to my
flight simulator. Essentially, it's FSPaX or ASX until sometime in the spring. I'm going to wait until FSPaX is released, thank you.

Now, could someone else actually answer my question? It was pretty simple and direct I thought.

Weather in FSX as compared to the real world sucks! Without good commercial add-on software there is no easy way in FSX to smooth
out the pressure differentials and wind shift spikes that you get all of the time. If you are going to insist on using built in weather then
the best flying conditions is to set global weather to what you want on arrival and fly. Also unrealistic but it guarantees that during take-off,
cruise and landing you will have predictable weather.

Even ASX has its own host of problems when it comes to the weather. ASX can reproduce some excellent multilayer cloud "scenery" but
its pressure and wind simulator is also subject to spikes. FSUIPC also has a wind smoothing (and IIRC a pressure smoothing) options;
but, again that is payware and does not meet your criteria.

Sometimes simple questions don't have simple answers.

[Leftcoaster]

Can't speak for FSX but since I started using FSMetar in FS9 I have not seen any radical wx changes near the destination airport. FSMetar
updates as you approach any FS weather station so while it does nothing to fix the horrific FS upper air wind shifts, it provides a degree of
stability and continuity during approaches and landings.

I have my wx change slider set to medium and manage ok but with FSMetar that setting seems to have become redundant.

Search for the program's author, Markus Brunner, in FS9 Utilities over at AVSIM if interested.

Cheers

[coinneach]

Valoran, I'm flying FS9. My poor little (*eyeroll*) 2GHz Duron handles the current load well enough, solid (locked) 24fps with all the sliders in the
middle and no GA traffic (airliners are OK), but if I dare to do something silly like, for example, turn on detailed clouds, my fps drops to 3. I
can't imagine what would happen if I ran FSX.

FSMeteo maxes my CPU whenever it updates. FSMetar doesn't work (doesn't set clouds or visibility, doesn't change wind velocity aloft). I don't want
yet another add-on that costs as much as the original program and adds even more system load, so AS6 is right out. FS' in-built weather tends to lag
behind the real world by a week - example, visibility in the LA basin has been 3-4SM due to smoke from wildfires for the past 6 days, but FS insists
that the weather is clear and a million. And if I create my own weather scenarios and turn off dynamics, FS changes the weather regardless.

[Valoran]

Thanks for addressing the actual question. I appreciate it.

To the rest of you. I know that add-ons are better, the point is, I'm not in a position to purchase an add-on that fits my
needs at this point. I simply wanted to know weather setting the weather updates to none (with gradual change) or every 15 minutes was
more accurate. I don't really care if it's lagging behind real-world ( and It's usually spot-on within 15 minutes at my home airport in N.
Arizona by the way) or not. My question wasn't really even directed at winds-aloft boundary changes. You guys have got to read posts
more carefully.

Actually, to be exact what I'm wanting to know is: 0 change, low change, medium change, or fast change
Which is the most realistic setting to have default weather set on when not updating every 15 minutes. ( I
don't want the weather to clear briefly and then magically reappear every 15 minutes)

Geez, I feel like I'm back in my classroom trying to get my third graders to stop and bloody read the question before spouting a stupid
answer.

[Leftcoaster]

Geez, I feel like I'm back in my classroom trying to get my third graders to stop and bloody read the question before spouting a
stupid answer

Here's a third-grader answer:

Real world wx changes in real time and in case you have not noticed, and FS9's weather change sliders do not provide any documented
correspondence between low, medium and fast changes and the real world. Therefore your question regarding realism is subjective
and one that only you can answer.

If it helps at all I have found medium change to be an effective setting compromise but that too is entirely subjective.

Reality in any flight simulator is whatever you want it to be; any first grader knows that. Lighten up...

[Valoran]

Leftcoaster wrote:

Here's a third-grader answer:

Real world wx changes in real time and in case you have not noticed, and FS9's weather change sliders do not provide any documented
correspondence between low, medium and fast changes and the real world. Therefore your question regarding realism is subjective
and one that only you can answer.

Actually, aside from the silly dig, that was an adult answer that directly corresponded to the question asked and I appreciate you taking the
time to go back and read my original question (or at least the restated one). Thank you Leftcoaster.

Does anyone else have an adult opinion they would like to share here?

[KenG]

Many have already shared adult opinions and the fact you asked a question does not obligate anyone to answer it. If anyone is acting like
a child it is you. First you hijack then you patronize people for have a discussion that does not answer your specific question. There is
more to the MSFS weather simulation than the one slider.

Now if you don't mind I have a real world plane to catch and I will be sure to ask the weather brief where he set today's weather rate of
change so I can come back and tell you. If anything it will add an amusing antidote to my day.

[pagir]

Just stay calm, everyone...

[coinneach]

pagir wrote:
Just stay calm, everyone...

Seriously, of all possible things to ignite snark, FS' handling of weather? Good gods.

[SkyAirWorld]

Yeah kinda' says alot if weather can cause problems...

As I have been told many times by people.... "Chill"