Hi guys. Wonder if you can answer a question.I only ever fly online with VATSIM. In ActiveSky 2004 I have the "VATSIM Online Weather" option checked, also "Online Updates", which is set to 15 mins. TAF processing is disabled.However, when I compare the METAR that is being used by VATSIM for my location, it is different to the METAR shown in the AS interface. We VATSIM users are used to METARS being up to a couple of hours old, and when I was at LSGG last night the VATSIM METAR according to Servinfo showed LSGG 302020Z, whereas the AS interface showed LSGG 302230Z. I've noticed this a couple of times before, but last night it meant my flight plan was all wrong as I had included a SID for the wrong runway. The controller kindly advised me that the winds were 40 degrees adrift from what AS was telling me. When I checked on Servinfo, the METAR there was spot on.My question is, therefore, does AS display the current METAR from HiFi's own servers, even if it is writing the older VATSIM data to FS9, or is there something more fundamentally wrong?Cheers.Bruce.

Hi Bruce,I wasn't sure so I went to our manual and here is the entry:VATSIM Online WeatherDownloads Departure and Destination METAR data from the VATSIM network. Only valid when you have a flight plan processed and are using Online Updates. Use Route-based wind smoothing to ensure consistent departure and landing winds that correspond to network weather.Please make sure you are doing all these things!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

It's interesting that it only works if you have a flight plan processed through AS. I hadn't realised that before and occasionally was lazy and didn't do that but just did a custom fetch as necessary, particularly for the arrival airport. I for one will be more thorough in future. Now about those darned wind shifts aloft.....

Rob,For the wind shifts......is your Counter-clockwise winds fix checked ON?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

Ah, now that's a problem then Jim. I've chosen NOT to use route-based wind smoothing, because firstly I prefer to put up with the wind shifts in favour of the more realistic winds aloft, and secondly with wind-smoothing switched on the TAT I get at altitude is unrealistic. At FL280 I've had a TAT of +5

JimI've just tried a flight with a route processed and wind-smoothing on, and nothing has changed. When I check the METAR on VATSIM with the one shown in the AS interface, there is at least an hour's discrepancy, even though I have VATSIM METAR's and online updates checked. Surely if AS is using VATSIM METAR's, the two should be the same?I notice that when it updates, AS always says something like "Retrieving data from Hifi...etc", without any mention of VATSIM. Does this mean that AS gets the VATSIM weather via the Hifi server, or does it obtain it directly from the VATSIM servers?I hope I can get some pointers as at the moment I am having to revert to the basic weather which comes in via Squawkbox, but at least its accurate for VATSIM.Cheers.Bruce.

Bruce,From VATSIM we are pulling only departing and destination METARs. Please make sure your time conversion value is correct. Also make sure your computer time zone is correct and that you are using system time in FS and AS. Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

HiI've just done another flight and I've noticed what happens, and Jim's quote from the manual is spot on. AS downloads the DEPARTURE and DESTINATION weather only from VATSIM. All the en-route data comes from the Hifi servers. This means you get correct departure and arrival runways.This is fine, but I find using route based wind smoothing almost impossible, firstly because the temperature at altitude is far to high to allow me to climb to cruise altitude, and secondly, when arriving at my destination I almost always get an error message, something like "error downloading..XXXX, skipping waypoint" where "XXXX" is the ICAO code for my destination.If I load and process a route, but don't use route-based wind smoothing, these problems don't occur. I need to know therefore, will AS download the VATSIM departure and arrival data, if I have loaded and processed a route, but if I don't have route-based wind smoothing selected? Alternatvely, is there a fix for the temperature and the "skipping waypoint" problems?Cheers all.Bruce.

We are working on the temperature issue. The error issue may be at the VATSIM end, seeing that it is your destination station that is causing the error.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

JimThanks VERY much for your help. I have now developed a work-around which seems to be working for the moment, which is to have a route processed and wind smoothing on at departure, then turn wind smoothing off during climb out, and temp drops to approximately the right level. Then shortly before reaching top of descent I turn it on again, and so far my arrival weather matches VATSIM.Thanks again.Bruce.