ATC and ActiveSky RE question

[JiBrady 20]

My last two flights seemed to experience the same problem. I flew an IFR flight plan into San Jose Ca. Air Trafic Control set me up for runway 30. When instructed to contact the tower, the tower told me to make left traffic for runway 12 (the other end of the runway). I switched on ATIS and was told the winds were from 140, so runway 12 would have been correct. Why did ATC send me to runway 30? It is as if ATC might not be following the current weather provided by ActiveSky? Perhaps I have somethins set up wrong?Thanks,jim b

[Guest nutmeat]

No, your setup is probably OK; this seems to be a problem with the ATC management within FS. I have experienced this same problem at other airports using the default weather, FSMeteo, and ActiveSky. It seems also to affect the AI aircraft as well as the other day I was cleared for an approach to the visual runway 34L at KRNO (correct according to real weather) and there was an AI aircraft also cleared for the opposite runway. We met in the middle but I was able to turn and avoid it but it is very disconcerting, even in a sim.

[Ken Pryor 0]

I increased the amount of time ActiveSky takes between downloading new weather info and that seems to have cured it for me. I've had this happen several times and I think it's because the weather program gets new wind information just before you land so it changes the runway to the appropriate heading for the newly received wind info. By having it wait longer between updates, I haven't had that happen anymore.KP

[Guest]

I've also noticed that if I call for weather and receive a runway, ATC seems to use the wind direction and speed of the current reading from ActiveSky. Depending on what altitude you are at the winds aloft can be quite deifferent from what is actually reported on the ground. I don't know if some kind of fix could be programmed into ActiveSky that would have it automatically use surface winds at a selectable distance from the arrival airport.

[Guest dogknot]

You should be able to avoid these problems by using the CUSTOM/DESTINATION WEATHER box located on the opening page of ActiveSky wxRE. Type in your destination airport (ie KPDX, KLAX etc.) and select GET. Also, on the OPTIONS page of ActiveSky wxRE is a box at the bottom-right called FORCE RANGE which is defaulted at 60nm. You can change this to be further out if desired from your destination airport. This should activate or 'force' the destination airports weather from 60nm out (if left at default) or further if you change it. This should give you and ATC plenty of time to set up proper runway/wind arrivals. Please note that FS2K2 needs some time to run out its current AI aircraft cycle before the new cycle is started. Hope this helps.EDIT: Ken Pryors post/tip can also be helpful. >I increased the amount of time ActiveSky takes between downloading new weather info and that seems to have cured it for me. I've had this happen several times and I think it's because the weather program gets new wind information just before you land so it changes the runway to the appropriate heading for the newly received wind info. By having it wait longer between updates, I haven't had that happen anymore.KP<

[Guest dogknot]

*bump* oops! ;-)

[JiBrady 20]

I have tried the suggestions, but 3 more failures. My flight plan is from Fresno to San Jose CA. In every case ATC sets me up for runway 30. Switching to tower they instruct me to make left trafic runway 12. In each case ATIS confirms that runway 12 would have been correct (not 30).When I started up Active Sky I entered KSJC into the CUSTOM/DESTINATION WEATHER BOX and pressed GET. Under options I set FORCE RANGE to 100 and I set METAR UPDATE INTERVAL to 20.One more thing, when I created my flight plan, I selected the option to use ACTIVE RUNWAY. However, it always starts me out at the wrong end of the runway at Fresno. Seems strange.Thanks,jim

[Guest]

Yes, the beta team had a discussion about this. And the possibility of an option allowing to freeze the rwy orientation for IFR flights may be available in the near future. Although it would be better to have ATC move forward and treat differently different flights, different CAT etc...

[JiBrady 20]

OK, because the Beta team has seen this problem before, it looks as if it is not something configured wrong on my system.Thanks,jim b

[Damian Clark 1,234]

Hi Jim when using the destination force can you confirm that you have the force CHECKED? There is no reason the wind direction should switch on you once inside the force range, and if it does, it is because the wind really did switch. If you want to avoid weather updates like this you can increase your metar update interval.. thanks!-Damian[table border=0" cellspacing="30" cellpadding="0][tr][td align = "left"]Damian ClarkHiFi Simulation SoftwareDeveloper of ActiveSkyThe next-generation weather environment simulation for FS2002!http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky[/td][td]http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg][/td][/tr][/table://http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/ima...][/tr][/table

[Guest dogknot]

Hi Jim! Well, I just had to try and figure this out so I flew your presumed circuit. Fresno (KFAT) to San Jose (KSJC). Everything went perfect. Was probably one of the best flights I've had in a long time. Beautiful cloudy weather at Fresno and broken up at San Jose. No ATC rwy reroutes. This is what I believe is the difference between my flight and your experience (if I'm wrong don't be offended). ATC won't know the correct winds and weather at the departure point unless FS2K2 is started first (you at Fresno gate or parking), then start up ActiveSky wxRE and let it load up current Fresno weather. Return to 2k2(Fresno) and allow weather to load and you update your altimeter. Back to wxRE and type KSJC and tick FORCE, allow to load. Open wxRE to Options and set force range to 100nm if not already done. Now back in 2k2 you can select FLIGHTS/FLIGHT PLANNER. Set up your flight as usual and all should be fine with 2k2, and ATC will be "in touch" with what is going on weather-wise. I'm thinking you were setting up your flight before any weather was recorded by 2k2, so ATC routed you to the rwy via wx/winds info stored in default memory. I had rain showers at Fresno with winds 035/08 and was taxi routed to rwy 29R for departure. Arrival at San Jose, ground winds were 296/09 and I was cleared and vectored in to 30L. Hopefully this will be helpful and successful for your flights as well.