Northern Lights in FS2K2!

[Guest]

I may have found an "easter egg" of sorts while flying last night from cyxy to cyqm. About 300 miles east of Yellowknife, NT Canada at an altitude of FL330 I witnessed Northern Light bands in the Northeast horizon. The bands appeared to dance in colors of blue & green. It lasted for about 15 minutes intermittently. Anybody else notice this?Ryan

[spotlope 0]

Yeah, the Northern Lights have been fairly well documented by some simmers. They do look neat, but I ran into some last night that seemed to be happening at around 2000-3000 feet and wrapped around the tops of some of the taller mountains in the area like a cloud bank. Definitely NOT what I understand them to do in real life! But a cool effect, none the less.

[Guest]

Bill,I really would like to travel deep into Canada (perhaps Wabush / Labrador City area?) to see the more spectacular array of colors. The ones that I am accustomed to seeing look like white vertical bands. But I am seldom north of YYZ. Ryan

[Guest oyvindhansen]

I promptly removed all the fx_aurora-files from my effects folder after observing some low altitude northern lights. In real life this phenomenon occurs at altitudes of several hundred kilometers I believe. - Oyvind

[Guest bfindlay]

Hey thats my home airport (in real life that is!). Yes, I have seen the lights in the sim, unfortunately with this crappy el nino winter, it has not been clear enough to see them in real life this season!!

[Guest]

I grew up in Goose Bay Labrador Ryan. The Northern Lights are something else to see indeed in that part of the world. I now live in British Columbia and they are no where near as spectacular. I remember the reds, blues, greens, yellows. It is just so amazing.http://www3.telus.net/dport1/Radar_small.gifRC3 - Just gotta' have it!http://www3.telus.net/dport1/Radar_small.gifhttp://www3.telus.net/dport1/dansig.jpg

[Guest]

Dan,I have only seen pictures (from a friend of mine who used to live in Wabush) & I know that doesnt do it much justice. Perhaps I should go board a Jazz DH1 and go see for myself. Ryan

[Guest]

Hey.....that's God's punishment for sending your artic air stateside. LOL When I went to work this morning atis was reporting M16! That's cold for us yanks:)Ryan

[Guest]

The guys at M$ sure didn't know much about aurora borealis when they made it for FS2002. :) Here in Finland we have northern light every now and then, and it is a pity to see auroras in FS when they are waaaaaaay to low. :(

[Guest]

I am confused when you say way to low. I live in Nebraska which is in the central US for those of you not familiar. I do fly (actually for a living) and have seen the northern lights on several occasions in my life and when I've seen them I've always been on the ground.

[spotlope 0]

What he means is not that he's too low, but that the aurora itself is too low. It appears as sort of a low cloud cover, Jimi Hendrix style. If there are any tall mountains or obstacles around, you really see the effect, as the aurora hugs the sides of the mountain. Obviously, this phenomenon is an upper-atmosphere one and sure as heck doesn't happen at a few thousand feet. That's what all the ruckus is about.