Changing the active runway

[Scott Miller 12]

Is there a way to change the active runway in FS2002/2004? While setting up a flight plan from LAX to JFK I put my plane on the active at LAX by using the Move to Airport option and it set me down on 7L. The problem is most, if not all, landings into and departures out of LAX are westward over the ocean due to noise abatement requirements. ATC also has you take off from and land on the wrong runway at Ontario (8L instead of 26R). How do I get the tower to use the correct runways?

[Guest lemonadedrinker]

Hi,change the wind direction to face where you want to take off from and you should be good to go!Andy.added;and that will also apply where you land- just set the wind from the direction you want and apply to land. you should get the runway you want.A.

[Guest Yak Yak]

download the AFCAD utility here at AVSIM. I have the same problem at my local airport (KSMO...just down the road from KLAX). I always take off on rwy 21 in RL, and rarely use 03. However, in fs9, it always uses 03. So i made my own AFCAD and closed 03 (not realistic, but better than having AI head-on collisions).another way is to use real-weather, such as AV6. Once AV6 loads real weather, it can "reset" the ATC and make it assign the correct rwy according to wind direction. However, this is not always the case. For KSMO, it always uses 03, no matter which way the wind blows. -feng

[Scott Miller 12]

Thanks, Andy! I suspected wind direction probably had something to do with it but I didn't know how to change it. I'll find out!Scott

[Scott Miller 12]

Thanks, Feng! I've had ActiveSky on my system for a while, but haven't tried using it yet. Guess I'd better break down and read the manual!Scott

[Guest lemonadedrinker]

Hi Scott,I only use the default weather in FS9 and to change all sorts of things in the game i do this;alt/world/weather/customize weather/advanced weather and from there you can change clouds, wind, visibility etc etc.In fact I did get some smaller cloud textures to replace the MS ones- from 1.2MBs down to 128Kbs or similar, but that was it. I think the weather engine in MS is pretty good- more than enough for a simpleton like me. I set the vis to 5 or 10 miles and go from there. you can set wind speeds/shear etc for different altitudes as you will see and so you could set the wind direction at your landing airport early on knowing you should be sorted when you arrive, but if you apply to land and it's not the rw you want, cancel landing intentions, go into weather, sort out the wind and reapply! if you tune into ATIS that will also tell you which runway you will be using and that will come up a fair way from the airport to give you plenty of time to sort things out. ATIS will repeat until you change the frequency away from it; the green bar will stay there until the voice has finished reading the informatiom but it will then go .Andy.

[Scott Miller 12]

Thanks for all the help with the weather, Andy! I always check with the ATIS as soon as I get close enough to an airport to tune it in. The only part of the message I usually pay any attention to is the runway in use part. Guess I need to start listening to the ENTIRE message from now on!Scott

[Guest lemonadedrinker]

Hi,I never read the ATIS righht through. check the runway and click away. Maybe this is one reason I crash so much.Andy.;-)

[Scott Miller 12]

Hey, thanks to your help I'm finally getting a handle on this thing! I made one very important discovery after spending several hours of trying to change the active runway! It can be done ONLY if I don't tune in an airport's ATIS first, before changing the wind direction manually or downloading real world weather off the Internet. Whenever I did FS ignored the change in wind direction and refused to change the active runway regardless of what I changed the wind direction to!Scott

[hjwalter 25]

Hi there,When you save a flight (in FS9) when parked e.g. at a gate, FS also saves a.o. the ground wind direction and strength but only on the departure airport and the immediate vicinity. When you subsequently open such a flight, the saved wind direction will automatically result in a corresponding take off runway being assigned for yourself and all AI aircraft, whether taking off or landing.However, when you open another saved flight from the same airport without changing the wind direction before the save, the assigned take off runway could be different, based on the default FS9 wind direction.Therefor, if you always want a specific runway to be assigned from the same departure airport, then you must always change the wind direction (and strength) before you save each flight from that airport. This is done from the drop down menu: World/weather/User defined weather/Customize weather/Specific weather station/. Click on your departure airport on the little map and then on the "Advanced Weather" button. Now you can change wind direction, strength (about 10 knots), clouds, etc. Klick "OK" three times AND THEN (RE-)SAVE YOUR FLIGHT.This procedure will however not influence wind direction etc. at any arrival airports especially not on long haul flights. Personally, I prefer to change wind directions at my arrival airports e.g. because of beautifull local sceneries which can be enjoyed during approaches but barring short flights, I havn't found out yet how to do this.I hope this helps.HansP.S. If you have parallel runways on your departure airport then ATC will always route you (and any AI aircraft) to the nearest (Afcad) start location. If you don't like the assigned take off runway, you should choose another departure gate or parking to begin your flight from (and re-save it as above).

[Guest lemonadedrinker]

Hi there,<<<<>>>>>I'm not sure, but I don't think ATIS would have anything to do with the inability to alter the runway. I think that once you have accepted a landing procedure from ATC,even if you want a different runway, the system is set up for you to land on a particular runway only and you will not be able to change it even by altering the wind to a hurricane from another direction! What has to be done is to cancel your landing intentions via the ATC window, then do the business with the winds etc and then re-apply to land. I think!Andy.edit: you must always remember to find out the elevation of the airport you are landing at so as to get the winds blowing at the right height tooo. That is done with clicking on a blue box and stretching it, or creating a new one where you want; then the side boxes can be changed as you want and you are only affecting the blue box when you alter things. When you click on a yellow box it becomes blue and ..... etc etc!Andy.A.

[hjwalter 25]

Hey there Andy,When approaching any airport for landing, ATC will direct you to a (parallel) runway depending on the default (or real world via internet) wind direction at that moment. Don't forget that all approaching AI aircraft within more than a 60 mile radius are all already assigned to the same or parallel landing runway because of the existing wind direction. If by whatever means during your approach, you manage to somehow force the wind to come from another direction and you want ATC to direct you to a corresponding runway, this would cause havoc with all those AI aircraft and truly mess up the AI engine. The only way to get yourself assigned to a selected landing runway via ATC is to set the wind direction at that airport and then save your flight at the departure airport. All AI aircraft will then be using the corresponding runway for landings/take offs by the time you get there.However, as I've already said in my above post, I hav'nt figured out a way of doing this myself yet, at least not on any flights which take me outside the maximum range dictated by the small map from which an airport can be selected for influencing the local winds.Hans

[Guest lemonadedrinker]

Hi,There must be differences in the way we are approaching this question!For instance, after posting my reply above I went off to try it out.KOQU has an ILS on r'way16, but I was directed to 34 after applying to land.I cancelled 'landing intentions', went into weather/advanced/ etc/ etc and changed the wind at the elevation of KOQU (ie, just make that box blue!) to about 150" and set it at 35 knots, gusting to 40 knots and some shear effect as well; clicked ok,ok,ok etc to come out and back into the sim. I reapplied to land and was directed to r'way 16. No problems at all. And also, that changed the wind all over the sim at whatever altitude it was set to; also, coming back to the plane, we now had a big tailwind which pushed everything all over the place until it sorted itself out.That is all default FS9 and I've never had any difficulties about this 'cheating' which I do most of the time!! As for the AI planes, all mine come from CalClassic and the pilots have years of experience; all of them are fully trained to cope with anything the weather can come up with and I am fully confident in their abilities :+ I think the weather engine is stunning.Andy.

[Scott Miller 12]

Well, all I know is that after a couple of hours of repeatedly tuning in ATIS both before and after changing the wind direction (all of which was done while sitting on the tarmac at LAX and ONT) ATC would consistantly refuse to change the active runway if I tuned into the ATIS first, after loading a saved flight, before going in and changing the wind direction or download weather data from the Internet. I haven't tested this inflight yet though...Scott

[Scott Miller 12]

Thanks, Hans! If I understand you correctly I've been going about it the wrong (opposite) way! I guess I need to go and change all my saved flights now (G)!Scott