Simple as that - can I identify the OAT and windspeed from within the 737 without 'cheating' and using the sim menus please?Thanks:-) (you were as ignorant as me too once.... so thx for patience!)Gordon MacKay

Hey Gordan,The info you need can be found on page 2 of the FMC PROG pages. CheersDavid

Gordon,there are three areas where wind information is displayed:(a) IRS (not modelled in PMDG)(:( Navigation Display© On the CDU, Prog page 2/2What OAT are you referring to? TAT or SAT?TAT is displayed on the main panel, SAT on the CDU, Prog page 2/2Regards,Mark

Thanks David and MarkMark - It was the Outside Air Temp I was looking for as referred to on page 45 of the adv 737 tutorial by Tim Metzinger - the same goes for my desire to establish cruise windspeed.....

Don't mean to jump in to your thread, but, I have a related question.When you are setting up a flight with real weather, how do you findout the wind enroute from within FS2004? Winds aloft can be 70 80 knots in my part of the world, which tends to make a differnce to the fuel plan.I don't like giving the over paranoid FMC excuses to start irrotating my with false, "Insuficent fuel" warnings. I did a flight from Belfast to Ibiza (1100nm) and took 6 reserves, 3 alternate and 1 holding fuel, plus 14 for enroute, Almost immediately at cruise I got Insufficent Fuel warning and it stayed there until descent. The winds aloft where 40 to 60 knots, head wind, but I landed with only 1.5 less than my planned landing weight. This is exactly as I calculated enroute (manually) when I seen the fuel warning.

Here is the link to one of the charts that I have been using this would be for international http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/wafswind.shtml and this on for in the USA http://adds.aviationweather.gov/flight_path/ Hope this helps.

Active Sky 2004 will let you input the entire route waypoints and will check winds aloft along the entire route and give you that data as well as an average based on your TAS and Cruise FL.Regards,

Hey Paul,The way I do it is:1.Load up the flightplan in FS this wiil become relevant later (note that I fly with both the FMC and FS ATC which is why I have flightplans that are exactly the same as the route in my FMC).2. Download real weather.3. In the game (I.e. not the start screen) pull up the weather options window select user defined|customise|advanced weather. 4. On that screen at the top pick the 3rd option (something along the lines of pick individual station) and hit select station.5. Now pick a station that is close to your route (hence loading it first) and click ok.6. In the wind tab scroll up to your cruise altitude and find out the wind direction & speed.7. Repeat 5 and 6 along your route and basically take an average.You have to try and simply take an educated guess of it. You have to judge what affect these winds will have on fuel consumption from experience and adjust as necessary dependant on wind strength direction and the amount of distance you'll be affected by these winds.Say you leave Belfast and once you hit cruise altitude the winds are 50 knots headwind, over the middle of France they have shifted to crosswinds from your 2 o'clock at 70 kts and passing over Spain they are tailwinds at 85 kts. In this situation your main thinking point is going to be the strong head winds and tail winds at the start and end of your mission. Will the distance you're travelling with a tail wind negate the need for extra fuel for the headwind at the start of the trip?Since this is a game you could probably fudge it and get way with it but you can work it out more precisely as follows (disclaimer: this could turn out real scruffy and/or completely wrong ;)):Belfast to Ibiza 1100nmusing -600 & FL310Winds enroute:- 350nm headwind 50kts- 300nm from 2 o'clock 70kts- 450nm tailwind 85kts(for this excercise head and tail winds are dead on)According to the fuel load charts that'll work out at around 2 hrs 50 mins (2.83 hrs in decimal form) That works out at around 388 nm/hr.Part one determine how long you'll be in each wind 'zone' (simply use v=d/t)- 0.902 hrs- 0.773 hrs- 1.160 hrsUse these numbers to figure out NAM (number of miles of air flown through) time x wind component = NAM (headwind positive, tail negative)0.902 x 50 = 45.1 NAM0.773 x 35 = 27.1 NAM (note 35 is the actual headwind component of a 70 kts wind from your 2o'clock)1.160 x -85 = -98.6 NAMAdd these answers to the original route distance:1100 + 45.1 + 27.1 + -98.6 = 1073.6 NAM.Take this number and go to the fuel planning sheet and find out the fuel you'd need for a route of this length. It'll probably be in the order of around half a ton of fuel left behind, doesn't sound much but, IRL, that'll amount to a big saving over the year which'll keep the big boss happy. Hope this helps a bit.CheersDavid