Sorry, I've got to report this one. Generally I've been pretty happy with AS2004, but today it totally spoiled what was shaping up to be an enjoyable flight. Route was KDFW to KABQ, via J58 SPS J72. Departed about 1600Z, arrived 1800Z. About 70 miles from ABQ I encountered very large variations in air pressure. KABQ ATIS was reporting 30.15, but pressure in that area was dipping down to 17.31, bouncing up and down, until it finally settled down to the realistic pressure about 20 miles out. Really made it difficult to hold the assigned altitudes.Would FSUIPC pressure smoothing have helped with this? I don't currently have it enabled.Here are my settings://AS2004 configuration file[General]WindowPosX = 5160WindowPosY = 5205DefaultWeatherFolder = C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesFlight Simulator 9ModulesActiveSky2004SuppressionCeiling = 10000SurfaceWindLimit = 10CloudLayerLimit = 10LocalSuppressionRange = 40OnlineUpdates = TrueExtendedDestinationWindsForce = FalseGlobalWrites = TrueVoicePlayback = TrueLocalSuppression = TrueStartupSound = TrueUseProxyServer = FalseFogLayerGeneration = TrueUpdateSuppression = TrueOvercastEnhancement = TrueRouteWindSmoothing = TrueLimitSurfaceWinds = FalseLimitCloudLayers = FalseDisableUpperLayerGeneration = FalseVisibilitySmoothing = FalseDisableMessages = FalseAutoTimeZoneDetection = TrueUpdateInterval = 15VATSIMData = FalseZuluConversion = -6TAFProcessing = FalseWakeTurb = FalseStartPaused = FalseUseSystemTime = TrueDisableCAVOKClouds = FalseProxyAddress = NONEFSUIPC.ini:[General]History=C18RX5RBV5DBUAZN9A3NWTCASid=FlightTCASrange=40TrafficScanPerFrame=10AxisCalibration=NoCentredDialogue=NoClearWeatherDynamics=NoOwnWeatherChanges=NoWeatherReadInterval=4MoveBGLvariables=YesMainMenu=&ModulesSubMenu=&FSUIPC ...WindSmoothing=NoWhiteMessages=NoThrottleSyncAll=NoGraduatedVisibility=NoLowerVisAltitude=6000UpperVisAltitude=25000UpperVisibility=6000GenerateCirrus=NoWindShearSharp=NoUpperWindGusts=NoExtendMetarMaxVis=NoPatchSimApAlt=NoAutoClearWeather=YesExtendTopWind=NoWindSmoothness=5SmoothPressure=NoPressureSmoothness=5SmoothVisibility=NoVisibilitySmoothness=2MaxSurfaceWind=0WindLimitLevel=200WindDiscardLevel=400WindAjustAltitude=NoWindAjustAltitudeBy=2000MinimumVisibility=0MaximumVisibilityFewClouds=6000MaximumVisibility=2000MaximumVisibilityOvercast=2000MaximumVisibilityRainy=1000OneCloudLayer=NoThinClouds=NoThinThunderClouds=NoCloudThinness=1000ThunderCloudThinness=10000CloudTurbulence=NoCloudIcing=NoWindTurbulence=NoSuppressAllGusts=NoExternalOptionControl=YesAutoTuneADF=NoMagicBattery=YesKeepFS98CloudCover=NoRudderSpikeRemoval=NoElevatorSpikeRemoval=NoReversedElevatorTrim=NoAileronSpikeRemoval=NoShowPMcontrols=NoTrapUserInterrupt=YesNavFreq50KHz=NoClockSync=NoSmoothIAS=NoSetVisUpperAlt=NoVisUpperAltLimit=6000SuppressCloudTurbulence=NoSuppressWindTurbulence=NoSpoilerIncrement=512FixWindows=NoFixControlAccel=No[JoystickCalibration]FlapsSetControl=0ReverserControl=66292MaxThrottleForReverser=0AileronTrimControl=0RudderTrimControl=0

Hi,Don't EVER be afraid to post your experiences! Be polite, give us as much info. as possible, and let's see what we can do. Not sure if pressure smoothing would have helped, but 17.31 seems low. Not even sure if in a hurricane you would see pressures like this. If this happens again copy and paste the METAR and we'll take a look.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support

Hope this isn't a double post; I tried to reply and it appeared to tank...Which METAR would be informative? The destination METAR was perfectly reasonable, as was the departure METAR. If the problem was caused by an erroneous METAR from a station along the way, either due to a human error or an AWOS/ASOS that's out of whack, should I try to determine which station it was and get the data from the file current_wx_snapshot.txt? I reported the times and route because I would think the problem should be reproducable given that all the data is coming from the AS2004 server.

The active METAR.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support

>The active METAR.By this do you mean if I alt-tab out of FS to AS2004 it will be displaying this information? I've never bothered to look at AS2004 once I've loaded a flight plan and returned to FS.

Yep, you got it!JimActiveSky Support

FYI, altimeters currently made have a bottom limit of 28.10" and max of 31.00" Hg. 17.xx" is either a typo or misinterpretation. You might get something as low as 28.5", but that would be very rare. I would suspect either the reported value was erroneous and AS2 didn't know what to do with it, or something glitched in the program (more likely the former).

>FYI, altimeters currently made have a bottom limit of 28.10">and max of 31.00" Hg. 17.xx" is either a typo or>misinterpretation. You might get something as low as 28.5",>but that would be very rare. I would suspect either the>reported value was erroneous and AS2 didn't know what to do>with it, or something glitched in the program (more likely the>former).>Actually, the panel I was using (Bill Grabowski's ERJ-145) does have a lower limit on the altimeter setting of 27.99 using the dial, but I always just hit the B key to reset the pressure, and this was allowing the lower pressure setting. It's a digital readout, btw. I have no idea how an analog gauge would have handled it. I wonder if they could simply make AS2004 ignore such obviously incorrect values?

OK, I was referring to RW altimeters there :-). If you ever do come across a pressure setting (for real) of 27.99. believe me, you won't be worried about flying, because the centre of the tornado you are in will take care of that for you :-lol.The RW altimeters have those limits as it would be very rare indeed to stray outside those by much. Alaska had readings above 31.00" a number of years ago, and there were NOTAM's and warnings all over the place (to go with the high static air temps of -50F :-) ). One crash did result from those conditions (a C130 I believe). Anyway, the point is that if you see any readings beyond the normal altimeter ranges, they are likely typo's, and it could be that AS2 doesn't know how to deal with those. Sounds like that's what happened in your case, but it would be good if AS2 had a contingency plan for that.

Hi Glenn,Yes 27.99 would be quite interesting :)It is true, the failures are due to the METAR information, something throwing off AS2004 parsing logic. Interestingly, there already is a limit checker (below 29.00 and above 31.00, if memory serves me correct) which should set it back to default 29.92. But obviously something is not working correctly here, possibly related to our FSUIPC write process. I will investigate and fix it (as well as the core logic issue, if possible). Thanks all for your reports and input!..-Daman

Not sure if you saw this one http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=6850&page=2Andy b

Yeah, it may be an intermittant thing, because I've had my altimeter settings go to 29.92 on occasion when I knew it should have been a different value. Obviously the limit checker is working at least some of the time. The question then is, what are the conditions that are causing it to fail only some of the time.Perhaps the words of my boss at work, when I called him down to ask for help on a particularly stubborn and intermittant problem with an AFCS out of a Dash 8 some time back, might be of some "inspiration" to you in this. His words? "Have fun". He then walked away laughing. Hhhmmnnn, then again, maybe that won't help a whole lot... .:-hah