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HoratioWondersocks

Thunderstorms in fs9

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Hello AllDoes anybody know if the thunderstorms in fs9 vary in intensity at all?The reason i ask is because last night i took a flight from Gatwick to San Giusto(LIRP)with downloaded weather from ACTIVESKY, and while we have had very heavy showery weather this week in the UK with the occasional rumble of thunder when i started my flight from Gatwick the thunder storm was Mahoosive more like the storms you see in the U.S. on one of those storm chaser programs.Is there only one type and intensity of thunderstorm in FS9?cheers Andy


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They seem to vary for me, texture wise will depend on what you have installed but as far intensity Active sky seems to get it spot on.Rob


Rob Prest

 

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The storms do indeed vary in intensity depending on the information in the METAR. If the metar shows towering CB, Activesky increase the intensity for storms that the METAR shows has tops that are really high, vs storms that do not show towering CB and a lower top to the clouds, or no CB at all.One thing that it cannot do however is mimic the varying stages of thunderstorm development. 1) Building - Strong updrafts 2) Mature - Severe downdrafts, downpours, hail, windshear3) Disappating - Diminishing rain, less severe winds and turbulenceThe weather in FS is more of a 'snapshot' than a dynamic environment where weather flows with cause and effect.Also, FS can't mimic the difference between a line of storms and a squall line which is going to pretty much destroy your aircraft if you attempt to fly through it. The difference being that the squall line (if there is one) precedes the strom frontal boundary.Regards,Mike T.

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Thanks GuysNow that i come to think about it a long time ago i downloaded and installed a freeware thunder enhancement package and that may account for my rather over the top storms.Its not really a big deal but i was just interested in knowing.Bye the way i did look in my sounds folder and found the original thunderstorm WAVs and the enhanced replacements and have switched back to the originals.PS Does anybody know how i would reinstall all the originals ie all parts of the thunder effects and on which installation disc i would find them.cheers Andy


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The only thing I've ever noticed is that lightning and thunder are more frequent in certain storms. ActiveSky does a good job of capturing the size of storms though. Once I was cruising at 35,000 feet over Texas and not really paying attention until I was surrounded by clouds! I checked the real weather and there were some monster t-storms in the area that really went up that high. This is probably my #1 new feature request in a new version of FS... weather that is really dangerous. T-storms that virtual pilots fear as much as real world ones do. Someday maybe...


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Craig from KBUF

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I agree with you 100% on that. Flying in CRZ in a thunderstorm is not a big deal in FS. On approach I have had some bad situations when operating close to the aircafts MLW in heavy storms, real world I would have diverted.Rob


Rob Prest

 

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If you use the WeatherSet2.exe which comes with FSUIPC - you can see the turblence scalar value for the level at which you are flying.It can vary from no present to 1 for lowest to 10 for extremely high intensity.And FS default weather does vary turbulence level quite a bit - though it really doesn't matter to your aircraft much.A small light aircraft under 50,000 lbs is going to be tossed around quite a bit at turbulence level of 4 and overstressed at 7 or 8. The autopilot can't keep the aircraft anywhere near wings level at those factors.You can't tell the difference much while FS flying though such weather because it's depicted by screen movement not by the feel in the seat of your pants as real world flying.A 200 foot drop in one second and a 1,000 foot drop in 1 second look about the same on your screen - but really are noticably different in the real world.

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Thanks for the info about Weatherset2. I adjusted the turbulence scaler in my FS9 cfg to 1.5 from 1.0 but I will give this utility a try.Rob


Rob Prest

 

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Guest DALTech_Ops

Thats always been my biggest weather beef is the lack of turbulance modeling. Activesky, while a very nice program, does not even come close to modeling the results of turbulance. And to be fair, it may merely be a fault of FS restricting Activesky. That said, I've adjusted everything you can in Activesky to achieve realistic effects to no avail. All I ever get is a mild to overly aggressive (but slow motion) porpoising effect where the nose drops up and down, up and down. Never does it provide the effects of mild to strong turbulance - mild to very abrupt bumping, thumping etc. Turbulance, as anyone who has flown privately or commercially well knows, tosses the aircraft very quickly in any number of directions up, down, left, and right including rolling. At times it can be so severe it hampers your ability to read and comprehend gauges etc. Hence the need for 5 point restraining devices. These forces also play a large roll in a number of situational awareness accidents where these physiological effects compound more common causes of situational issues. Unfortunately without these, we never truly get the feeling of flying in FS. In fact at times, one can almost get the feeling in FS that the plane is standing still and everything else is moving. Not very convincing.The only time I've ever came close (yet still not achieve) to realistic turbulance in FS is when I have the sim rate cranked up to say (4x) and I hit a patch of choppy air. With the rate at 4x you actually come close to the abrupt and sometimes severe changes in direction. Back to 1x and its the slow motion porpoising effect.Just this past week I was returning from Salt Lake City and on climb out we hit rough air and at times I felt like I was being tossed around in a tuna can.Just my 2 cents worth and opinion..............

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Thats strange, Flying into OKBK las night online I did get severe turbulance on approach. Some things I would suggest you do.1. set fs9 turbulance scale to 1.5 (anything higher will not work)2. Active camera head latency set to 1.60 (only works when TrackIR is paused)3. Active sky Turb frequency 95% in cloudsAlso the flight dynamics of the aircraft you use will be a major factor.Rob


Rob Prest

 

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Guest Bob_Albertson

>The storms do indeed vary in intensity depending on the>information in the METAR. If the metar shows towering CB,>Activesky increase the intensity for storms that the METAR>shows has tops that are really high, vs storms that do not>show towering CB and a lower top to the clouds, or no CB at>all.>>One thing that it cannot do however is mimic the varying>stages of thunderstorm development. >>1) Building - Strong updrafts >2) Mature - Severe downdrafts, downpours, hail, windshear>3) Disappating - Diminishing rain, less severe winds and>turbulence>>The weather in FS is more of a 'snapshot' than a dynamic>environment where weather flows with cause and effect.>>Also, FS can't mimic the difference between a line of storms>and a squall line which is going to pretty much destroy your>aircraft if you attempt to fly through it. The difference>being that the squall line (if there is one) precedes the>strom frontal boundary.>>Regards,>>Mike T.>> Mike,The three stages of a thunderstorm are:1) Cumulus: Characterized by updrafts2) Mature: Characterized by rain begining to fall from the cloud base3) Dissipating: Characterized by downdraftsYou had everything perfect except for the Cumulus stage. Also, hail can form in the Cumulus stage, depending on the ambient lapse rate and the adiabatic (saturated) lapse rate. The closer the ambient lapse rate is to 3 deg/1000ft, the more unstable the atmosphere and the more likely hail will be found in the anvil of the thunderstorm (hazard to flying, not that it has made it to the ground yet). For those interested in the whole story on thunderstorms it is contained in Advisory Circular 00-6A. You can download it from the FAA's website, just search the AC's database. Interesting discussion, sorry if it was way off topic, but it grabbed my attention. I'm a real world pilot, and weather is something I feel doesn't get enough attention during initial private pilot training. BobJust if your wondering:Commercial Pilot ASEL & AMEL; CFI-IA, AMEI

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