AsV6 WINDS ALOFT ?

[DF9AA 0]

When I plan a flight I import a pln into AsV6 about 1 hr before dep and use the winds aloft from Nav Log for my fuel calculation ( my own excel tool ) - but during flight those winds are sometimes completely different - either the wind velocity is wrong ( or different ) from what AsV6 gave one to two hours ago or the wind direction is completely off, so the calculated flight times between the waypoints are wrong.On yesterdays flight from EDDT to KPHX between GEP and LBF ( 434 NM ) the Nav log gave me a wind component of MINUS 89 - actual w/c was PLUS 12 !!Does AsV6 use different sources for planning and online winds ?Any ideas appreciated ....Karl, Berlin

[JSkorna 138]

Hi Karl,Our Nav Log and program get the data from the same sources. Are you forcing any conditions? What is your suppression ceiling and range?Part of this also may be changing conditions. Winds at planning may chnage over 3-4 hours. That is why that in RL the crew is constantly updating their calculations!Please let us know,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

[DF9AA 0]

Hi Jim,NO forced conditions - supp ceiling was 10000, now increased to 40000range was and is 50 nm.Will chk new settings soon and let you know.Sometimes I also use USAFE wind charts, which are somewhat different from your wind values ...Karl, Berlin

[JSkorna 138]

Hi,Stick with one source for now so that we can eliminate that as an error source.Increase your range to 200 miles also.Thanks,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

[DF9AA 0]

Hi Jim, I use the USAFE charts only to compare the winds Karl,Berlin

[DF9AA 0]

Hi Jim,here now a report of yesterdays flight - I never kept exact wind readings before...Route : KSFO-KBOS 747-400 FL 390 EET 04:21 .pln import into ASv6 : 1300 ZT/O : 14:22 zWind readings : First fig. ASv& pln / sec. Fig. ACT ASv6LIN 297/097 sameMVA 296/077 298/0431526 TCH 258/055 268/030-045 was on the way to TCH for a longer period 226/058OCS 248/053 237/0471609 BFF 243/068 233/073 1632 ONL 235/065 225/0571658 MCW 231/063 230/0601722 BAE 227/104 232/073ECK 255/120 249/0751757 YXU 260/120 286/075From here to TOD the wind shifts started to swing around from 120 to 300 degrees with speeds from ZERO to 100 kts in a matter of seconds !!Shortly after TOD at 32000 ft the wind was even more eractic and the speed went up and down ( econ desc. at m.86 ) and finally the flight was interrupted due "STRUCTUAL DAMAGE " ( I never had this before - roughly 500 hrs in the logbook ! )You mentionned RL flight planning - thats what I did in the first 20 yrs of my 40+ years in aviation - we used FORECASTS ! I believe ASv6 uses spot winds, which are obsolete after a few hours. Especially if you plan a LONG-HAUL flight with 10+ hrs it is better to use forecasts and leave the work to the pilots ...I don't know if you can implement forecasts into ASv6 - USAFE OWS is a good source in the net ! Can be reached via www.baseops.deFinally I must say that the service for the FS community is excellent and I appreciate it very much.Karl, BerlinEdit : YES, I use FSUIPC !

[JSkorna 138]

Hi Karl,Thanks!Try with suppression range at 200.Please let us know,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

[Damian Clark 1,331]

Hi Karl,"I believe ASv6 uses spot winds, which are obsolete after a few hours. Especially if you plan a LONG-HAUL flight with 10+ hrs it is better to use forecasts and leave the work to the pilots ...I don't know if you can implement forecasts into ASv6 - USAFE OWS is a good source in the net ! Can be reached via www.baseops.de"ASv6 uses WFS forecast winds data, updates it every 2-4 hours (depends on speed of network) and it is based on the valid period from approx +2 to +8 hours. In essence, when you get live winds aloft data in ASv6, it will correspond to the actual forecast winds data available on the net including aviationweather.gov's charts and US FD/FB winds.Of course, there are some variations in the data alone, as for example we use 1x1 whole number lat/lon wind points which then sample down into actual FS weather station points. But you should see things within approx +/- 5% on average with real forecast winds charts.As for the actual depiction, there are many factors at play here. Are you using default options? If so things should match up pretty close with a few exceptions (mainly in areas with few reporting points such as oceanic crossings). Upping suppression range to 200 or even 250 can really help in this regard.Aloft predictability, wind drift, DWC and other winds-related options can also affect the end depiction. Based on your reported winds depicted based on data, things look very close and normal with some FS9 interpolation as well as magnetic variation thrown in. I am a bit perlexed as to why your max wind speed was 75... Perhaps there is a limit somewhere in FSUIPC? Might want to investigate your FSUIPC options.Hope some of this info helps..Best,

[DF9AA 0]

Hi Damian,thanks for all your attention - here two new reports :( Supp.range at 200 )1. Yesterday KSAN-KBOS - at FL 390 wind swung around the compass rose and speed went all the way between 0 and 120 kts - forecast was at 75 to 95 kts - a/c speed went down to stick shaker and up to 90ties of Mach ! So I interrupted the flight ...2. Today GCRR( Canary Islands ) - EDDT - perfect forecasts and smooth transitions of the wind - sometimes from 320 degrees to 180 with windspeeds of 60 kts with no major speed changes !I use a unreg. version of FSUIPC ( 3.7 )- in any case if you recommend I'll buy it for FSX ...Kind regards from BerlinKarl

[DF9AA 0]

Hi Damian, Jim,once again a few remarks on those WINDS ALOFT :I did a couple of flights and found out that always when I hit the North American continent the winds go crasy ...Yesterday EDDT - KMIA - perfect winds ( accdg. to navlog ) until 5750N, between TAFFY and HTO the forecast called for round about 260/60 but AS6 gave first windspeeds up to 120 kts and later the wind starts swinging around the compass rose at 120 kts and forced the speed of the a/c from stick-shaker to Mach .97 : STRUCTUAL DAMAGE !!Supp.range at 225 nm !Karl, Berlin

[Damian Clark 1,331]

Hi Karl,That is one of the problematic areas in FS which seems to quite often depict strange winds. To help this situtation I can recommend turning off auto global toggle and global writes. If you have registered FSUIPC you can also decrease the rate of wind change to make things even smoother here.Also of course make sure that DWC is enabled.Does this help? While there are some unavoidable issues with winds and oceanic crossings, we've had quite a few success stories from those who've managed to get things working nicely without strong shifts. The last issue I recall was solved with by turning off the global write options and using 200nm suppression range.It might be good to note that new FSX capability is allowing us to redesign the way winds and station weather is depicted for a potentially much better experience that is more under our control.Best,

[DF9AA 0]

Hi Damian,thanks again for your prompt help - butauto global toggle and global writes are turned off and DWC is enabled ...Have reg now FSUIPC and hope this will helpHave a nice weekKarl, Berlin

[DF9AA 0]

FSUIPC does it ....Perfect and smooth wind changes - setting at 2 seconds for direction and velocity changes!Karl, Berlin