Just bought ActiveSky 2004 tonight and am generally very impressed. So far I've only had one issue with winds aloft -- on my first flight from SFO to SAN, it happened somewhere near Catalina (SXC). A couple of 180-degree shifts in wind direction, causing overspeed/underspeed, but my PMDG 737NG was able to compensate relatively well.A more serious problem is a low haze/fog layer that I can't seem to shake -- it happened at the end of the first flight and throughout the second. As I approached San Diego, the weather looked exactly right, with basically clear skies (METAR reported SCT200), and I had the field in sight from at least 30 miles away. As I was preparing to turn onto downwind, all of a sudden I got a very low fog/haze layer that created a semi-transparent "ceiling" at 500 feet or so. As I turned onto final, I could still see the runway lights, but it was hazy.Finished that flight and set up at LAX to fly to Vegas. Again, METAR reported SCT200. Positioned the plane on the ground and loaded up AS2004, and sure enough I got this low fog/haze layer again! Did my preflight, loaded the flight plan into ActiveSky, weather updated and it was gone! Clear skies. I was a happy guy. Went back "into the office," called for clearance, pushed back, started engines, got taxi clearance, turned onto the taxiway -- and the low "ceiling" was back. Hmm. I took off with it still there and "broke out" at 1000 feet or so.Turning around to head over the mountains, it stayed with me the whole time, with the tops of the mountains poking through. It looked horrible. I've seen this with FS2004 since it came out but assumed ActiveSky would get rid of it.Enroute METARs were clear and so was FS weather, except for the ground fog/haze. Approaching Vegas I noted clouds developing, which was great! Very impressed with the subtle transitions. LAS was reporting FEW100 SCT250. The FEW layer looked pretty good; the SCT layer was pretty much nonexistent, maybe a little wispy cirrus. Don't know if AS2004 decided 25,000 feet was too high for real clouds?Throughout the approach, I kept getting the same problem with the fog/haze layer, which occasionally would disappear for a couple minutes then reappear -- really distracting.Any thoughts? I set up FS display settings exactly as stated in the manual, which I read thoroughly. And here's the config file://AS2004 configuration file[General]WindowPosX = 17550WindowPosY = 330DefaultWeatherFolder = C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesFlight Simulator 9ModulesActiveSky2004SuppressionCeiling = 10000SurfaceWindLimit = 10CloudLayerLimit = 10LocalSuppressionRange = 50OnlineUpdates = TrueExtendedDestinationWindsForce = FalseGlobalWrites = TrueVoicePlayback = FalseLocalSuppression = TrueStartupSound = TrueUseProxyServer = FalseFogLayerGeneration = FalseUpdateSuppression = TrueOvercastEnhancement = TrueRouteWindSmoothing = TrueLimitSurfaceWinds = FalseLimitCloudLayers = FalseDisableUpperLayerGeneration = FalseVisibilitySmoothing = TrueDisableMessages = FalseAutoTimeZoneDetection = TrueUpdateInterval = 15VATSIMData = FalseZuluConversion = -5TAFProcessing = FalseWakeTurb = TrueStartPaused = FalseUseSystemTime = TrueDisableCAVOKClouds = FalseProxyAddress = NONEThanks for any help you can provide.Regards,Marc Sykes

Both of these issues should be addressed in a patch due out mid-January. Please read the posts at the top of this forum for details. In the interim you should try disabling route wind smoothing and visibility smoothing.

I actually did my first flight in some time *without* ActiveSky tonight -- flying on VATSIM with a friend who had gotten online/prepped before me and wanted to move, so I didn't have time to load it up. Had the same issue on approach into SAN -- descended through clouds, broke out, then had the fog/haze layer sitting right on top of the airport, which suddenly disappeared when I was 3-4 miles out. Man, I hate that!!!! I guess it's an FS9 thing, but if there's any way ActiveSky can get rid of it and keep the weather clear when the destination airport is reporting clear skies (as SAN was, throughout -- METAR was KSAN 070751Z 17004KT 10SM BKN180 13/11 A3008 RMK AO2 SLP185 T01330111 401780067), I'll be willing to pay double. :)I've tried a few flights with visibility smoothing off, too, and it doesn't help at all -- actually makes it worse, if anything.I'm pretty sure this issue is known but I'd still like to see official word from Damian or Jim as to whether the upcoming service release has shown any potential of minimizing or eradicating the problem -- which I consider to be FAR more of an annoyance than the winds-aloft issue, though I don't like that either. One of the major reasons I purchased ActiveSky was because I like to shoot visual approaches when WX permits (which it almost always does in Socal where I usually fly), but I find that by default FS9 tends to interpret a METAR like FEW040 SCT080 as "cloudy" and therefore a visual becomes difficult to impossible, with scattered clouds even at 1-3k. Then you have the haze layer which goes on and off unpredictably, so you actually might have a visual on the field from your downwind, then be on approach at 1500 AGL, the haze layer pops up, and suddenly you're in the soup. This shouldn't happen and in a situation like the above, I believe it's not too much to ask for AS2004 to be able to make the skies 100% clear below 4,000. Then again, I know jack about how the FS weather interface works, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.Regards,Marc SykesSenior VP, LAX OperationsPacific West AirwaysVATSIM ZLA ARTCC Chief