Misaligned contrails

[Guest]

Does it happen to any of you guys? Sometimes when flying my POSKY 767 my aircraft contrails are misaligned... just like the picture attached. The plane heads one way and the contrails are shown in a different "tilted" heading. Is there a way to fix it?Cheers!PS: Virgin Atlantic currently does not use 767s or POSKY aircraft in their fleet ;)

[Guest TerryT]

I would venture a guess and say it has to do with the winds aloft and the track the aircraft is flying. The difference is the angle you see in your picture.Terry

[Guest]

I thought this could be the problem too, but in more than 50% of my flights? The picture isn't 100% aligned with the aircraft, but when I do so with my camera it's clearly heading in other way....

[Guest flightpro08]

Two words:Winds Aloft ;-)Ryan-Flightpro08 :-cool VATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Senior Controller (C-3)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com|Taxiwaysigns.com] Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 41.03 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition SP1*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298-----------------------------Click [link:ftp.avsim.com/library/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=&Author=Ryan+Fretwell&CatID=Root]Here to Download my New American Eagle POSKY CRJ-200!

[Guest]

LOL, it's the winds ;_)Turn weather off and they will be straight.

[Guest]

Well guys i have to disagree.... winds were turned off in my FS2002 configuration and in my ActiveSky 1.5 configuration. Maybe the hole is a bit deeper?

[Guest]

If the answer really is "winds aloft", all I can say is, that is NOT how it would be in the RW. With the exception of gusts, up- and down-drafts (which would have a shredding effect only), if you're flying in the RW in a 100 kt cross-wind, seen from a chase plane view as shown above, the contrail would stream straight behind the airplane. Think of a fish swimming in an aquarium, leaving a trail. Straight behind the fish, right? Now, put the aquarium sideways on the Orient Express, doing 100 knots. Sure, the fish is going sideways, and so is his trail -- but from the fish's POV, his trail is still straight behind him.Wind is not an isolated stream -- the whole atmosphere moves, and the airplane moves through it. What that looks like, is a bad trim problem! :-lol --BeachComer Stephen "Beach" Comer Real World Pile-it Commercial ASMEL, Instrument Airplane 4500 TT, 2500 BE20 & BE10 Serving Happy Landings Since 1973!

[greggerm 312]

I am going to wager that it is winds aloft... It was pointed out back when FS2002 was released that the contrails did not properly track with the winds. I get this contrail anomoly *every time* I fly above 30,000 - in part because I use FSMeteo for weather at all times. :)Check your FSUIPC and weather settings... chances are you have some winds a'blowin up there.-Greg

[Guest]

I noticed something, ,it happens a lot when I use time compression modes...sometimes I fly at 4x and it starts to happen. I still have my doubts about winds aloft...

[Guest CYOW_pilot]

Gustavok,Trust us, I have to add my 2 cents to say it is a result of the way FS2K models the effects of the winds aloft (and as another poster has correctly pointed out, not an effect seen in real world flying).In FS2K the difference between the aircraft heading and the contrail direction is the drift angle. Try it with an aircraft that shows the actual wind vector and drift angle (such as PSS3xx or PIC767) and you will see that the contrail always appears to be angled into the wind when the aircraft is viewed from head-on (because of the drift correction the aircraft is applying). In a zero cross-wind component situation the contrail and aircraft heading will be aligned.Kevin in CYOW

[Guest]

I'm telling you it's winds aloft. Yeah sure, it might not be very realistic, but that's WHAT IT IS!!!!