ASX sp2 winds aloft problem

[scott967 62]

I was setting up ASX to use at PHNL, but I am having a problem with the winds. According to NOAA AWC, the winds are:FBHW31 KWNO 160759FD1HW1DATA BASED ON 160600Z VALID 161200Z FOR USE 0800-1500Z. TEMPS NEG ABV 24000FT 1000 1500 2000 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 18000 24000LIH 0621 0724 0727 0829 0926+13 0926+07 0933+03 0937-02 0932-10 0415-24HNL 0726 0729 0731 0830 0923+13 0830+08 0831+02 0831-03 0722-10 0115-24LNY 0733 0829 0822+13 0831+08 0826+02 0724-03 0410-10 3416-23OGG 0724 0728 0830 0930 0825+13 0832+08 0827+02 0723-03 0410-10 3317-23KOA 0709 0710 0811 1010 0912+12 0718+07 0719+02 0709-02 3307-10 2914-23ITO 0615 0616 0618 0819 0609+08 0724+07 0728+00 0611-03 3014-09 2719-23But in ASX I am getting:Departure (PHNL):PHNL 160953Z 22411G19KT 10SM FEW033 SCT044 22/17 A3021 RMK AO2 RAB13E27 SLP230RMK SFCWINDDIR CHANGED FROM 050 FOR SMOOTHING RMK INTERPOLATEDPHNL 160533Z 160606 06014G22KT P6SM VCSH FEW030 SCT045 TEMPO 0812 SHRA BKN035FM2000 06019G28KT P6SM VCSH FEW030 SCT045Enroute:No enroute stations imported from flight plan...Destination (PHOG):PHOG 160954Z 22418G24KT 10SM -RA FEW045 SCT060 22/18 A3021 RMK AO2 RAB0855 RMKSFCWINDDIR CHANGED FROM 050 FOR SMOOTHING RMK INTERPOLATEDPHOG 160709Z 160706 05012KT P6SM VCSH FEW030 SCT060 TEMPO 0812 5SM SHRA FEW025BKN035 FM2000 05017G30KT P6SM VCSH FEW030 SCT060No alternate station specified...Winds aloft by waypoint:Waypoint 6K 9K 12K 18K 24K30K 34K 39K 44K 49KPHNL 224@32(14) 224@27(11) 224@24(3) 224@07(-11) 224@03(-25)267@46(-36) 276@72(-44) 263@101(-55) 273@80(-67) 281@40(-72)PHOG 224@31(14) 224@27(11) 224@21(2) 224@12(-10) 284@11(-24)263@49(-37) 272@73(-44) 264@105(-55) 272@85(-67) 284@43(-72)So not only are the winds aloft wrong, but ASX is reversing the surface wind from the METAR, causing the airport to turn around. Also I was wanting to do some soaring, but the typical ridge lift won't work with this wind. A second thing is if you "load current" into the Wx Config, you get the "smoothed" winds, not the actual METAR winds, creating more work in order to fix this.Since 90% of the time winds at PHNL are from 050-070, getting these "Kona" winds from ASX is a problem.scott s..

[downscc 1,327]

This is why I uncheck Wind Smoothing... never use it.

[JSkorna 137]

Hi Scott,From Damian:Hi,In order to help prevent wind shifts, the data has to be smoothed to be made consistent without large directional changes.We use the flight plan cruise altitude (or default to 30K if no cruise altitude) as the base of "real data" to figure maximum "left" and "right" variations from this "real data". The surface winds are modified to remain within 30 degrees left or right (60 degrees total) of this "real data" baseline. Without applying this data smoothing (as well as all the other techniques), as you are experiencing, wind shifts will occur in greater frequency. We of course want users to be able to properly plan their flight considering data smoothing so we modify the weather and the METAR string along with placing a "RMK" showing how the surface winds were changed (from which original direction).Thus, when using wind smoothing you should consider the data provided by ASX vs. actual "real" forecast/observation data.Unfortunately there is no way to have the best of all worlds right now (accurate directions & reduced wind shifts), as FSX wind depiction of external weather is problematic. We're just trying to do all we can to address our user's concerns and make things as great as possible.We are of course taking all this input and using it to direct us as we continue to make things better.I'd also like to say to all that while it has sometimes been 'assumed' that solving the wind shifts in FSX is an easy feat (from various threads recently), consider that we have been working on this for over 2 years now with over 1000 man hours devoted to it. We have tried over 100 unique "solutions". Let it be known that even if you take the SAME direction and velocy of winds, and apply it GLOBALLY to ALL STATIONS, forcing this same wind value at the aircraft and everywhere else, you are still going to experience significant wind shifts and seemingly random directions. The problem is internal to FSX. Limiting the wind shifts therefor requires a huge investment of resources and time in trial and error trying all sorts of "outside the box" techniques. We realize SP2 isn't perfect, and we didn't promise perfect. We do however promise to continue doing all we can to make things better.Thanks for the feedback, please keep it coming..Best,Damian ClarkJimhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-community-sigbanner.jpghttp://www.hifisim.com/

[scott967 62]

>Hi Scott,>>From Damian:>>Hi,>>In order to help prevent wind shifts, the data has to be>smoothed to be made consistent without large directional>changes.>>We use the flight plan cruise altitude (or default to 30K if>no cruise altitude) as the base of "real data" to figure>maximum "left" and "right" variations from this "real data".>The surface winds are modified to remain within 30 degrees>left or right (60 degrees total) of this "real data" baseline.>Thanks. From looking closely at the current_wx_snapshot, and comparing that to the NOAA winds data, I see that the winds are from 070-080 from surface to 24000, and then (I guess jet stream) from 240-250. From the above comment, I take it that the flight plan data entered into the "briefing" page should set the base wind direction. But, I tried to enter and process flight plan data with various cruise altitudes of 5000, 7000, etc, and could see no change. The synthesized wind at PHNL is always about 240 from surface to 40000, at least from observing the report page. I didn't test it in FSX. Once I turn off wind smoothing, I get the actual winds, which I see is the design.scott s..