Asa Preference : Global Mode Vs Station Based Mode

[Guest ashwath]

hi, what do hard core ASA fans out there prefer : a global mode with wind and visibility smoothing enabled or a station based mode without these options enabled??? in my opinion i would prefer the station based mode because global mode has the disadvantage that; the pilot has no clue on which active runway he/she would arrive at the destination airport because of all the continuous wind variations. its sooo confusing and the ATIS reports different runways at different time intervals and it is impossible to plan your approach at the last moment. in station based mode u exactly know the weather at each station so u would know which runway u would be landing at finally, but here in this case the disadvantage is that clouds suddenly pop in and out as u keep transitioning weather stations and there is no smoothness. HIFI developers....is there no way to have wind and visibility smoothing without enabling global mode??? others please convey ur opinion. Another question...i read on a post somewhere that reducing the 4 cloud sliders to 0 reduces cloud popping. what are those 4 cloud sliders??? may i know please.....and how r they going to prevent popping??? one last question...on my final approach to a runway (KDAL) or for that matter any runway i could see that the weather conditions did not match the conditions reported by ASA METARS...however about 3nm from the runway the weather changed correctly. how do u prevent such abrupt changes??? i know its a long post...thanks...regards,Ashwath.

[Guest]

AFAIK Even though global mode makes the weather all around you the same, ASA will still know what's the weather at your destination! Listen to the ASA radio on 122.02 (providing you've got a plan specified) or switch to ASA and check the weather at you arrival airfield on the Report page (by entering the right ICAO code). The fact that your weather is global in FSX does not mean the weather is the same at every station! ASA still knows what weather should be where and it will update the weather in FSX depending on where you are. The 4 cloud sliders are on the Cloud options page: CAVOK Cloud Generation, No Data Cloud Generation and the two below them. Don't know about popping but I do know those sliders generate clouds under certain circumstances. But on my computer it meant I had clouds even at clear days or clouds would come and go all the time. Ever since I turned those sliders all the way left, to zero, weather is looking better and less random.

[flyinjoe 0]

I use station mode because I have found that in Global mode, there is no transition of the weather depiction when you reach a new station area. I flew a flight last night in Global mode where one station reported broken clouds and the next one was reporting scattered. When I reached the new station area, the screen flashed and all of a sudden the clouds went from broken to scattered instantly and the whole sky just instantly changed the way it looked. I then disabled Global mode and flew the exact same flight. This time there was a gentle transition from broken to scattered instead of the instant change. I much prefer this gentle transition to the instant one and I don't really care if I don't get the wind smoothing.

[Dicko 3]

I use station mode because I have found that in Global mode, there is no transition of the weather depiction when you reach a new station area. I flew a flight last night in Global mode where one station reported broken clouds and the next one was reporting scattered. When I reached the new station area, the screen flashed and all of a sudden the clouds went from broken to scattered instantly and the whole sky just instantly changed the way it looked. I then disabled Global mode and flew the exact same flight. This time there was a gentle transition from broken to scattered instead of the instant change. I much prefer this gentle transition to the instant one and I don't really care if I don't get the wind smoothing.

How do you swap between global and station modes. Andrew

[flyinjoe 0]

I think you have to disable DWC (Direct wind and smoothing). At least that's what I did because that's what the help file said determines Global vs. non-Global mode.

[Guest ashwath]

AFAIK Even though global mode makes the weather all around you the same, ASA will still know what's the weather at your destination! Listen to the ASA radio on 122.02 (providing you've got a plan specified) or switch to ASA and check the weather at you arrival airfield on the Report page (by entering the right ICAO code). The fact that your weather is global in FSX does not mean the weather is the same at every station! ASA still knows what weather should be where and it will update the weather in FSX depending on where you are. The 4 cloud sliders are on the Cloud options page: CAVOK Cloud Generation, No Data Cloud Generation and the two below them. Don't know about popping but I do know those sliders generate clouds under certain circumstances. But on my computer it meant I had clouds even at clear days or clouds would come and go all the time. Ever since I turned those sliders all the way left, to zero, weather is looking better and less random.

hi, i'm finally beginning to get a picture of what u mentioned. there still remains one question. even if i use 122.02 on ASA how will i know which runway i would be arriving at my destination airport in global mode. i cannot use FSX's ATIS because it keeps changing the active runway all the time. this problem is not there in station based mode.regards, ashwath

[Guest]

hi, i'm finally beginning to get a picture of what u mentioned. there still remains one question. even if i use 122.02 on ASA how will i know which runway i would be arriving at my destination airport in global mode. i cannot use FSX's ATIS because it keeps changing the active runway all the time. this problem is not there in station based mode.regards, ashwath

I always choose the runway that's heading straight (as possible) into the wind: that's always the active one. Sometimes it's a gamble and I have more options: in that case I just chose one and change it whenever I was wrong... (I fly the MD11 and so I can setup two approaches in the FMC, which helps :( )

[Guest ashwath]

I always choose the runway that's heading straight (as possible) into the wind: that's always the active one. Sometimes it's a gamble and I have more options: in that case I just chose one and change it whenever I was wrong... (I fly the MD11 and so I can setup two approaches in the FMC, which helps :( )

hi,dont u think flying in station based mode would avoid all this confusion rather than flying in global mode and then getting surprised at the last moment??? i too fly the pmdg md11. but when the tower controller changes the active runway at the last moment its difficult to change ur approaches because u would be damn close to the airport and even if u did have an alternate approach planned in ur FMC ur aircraft cannot respond that fast to final altitude, heading and speed changes. and landing on a runway not cleared by the tower seems un-realistic!!!!!regards,Ashwath.

[Guest]

hi,dont u think flying in station based mode would avoid all this confusion rather than flying in global mode and then getting surprised at the last moment??? i too fly the pmdg md11. but when the tower controller changes the active runway at the last moment its difficult to change ur approaches because u would be damn close to the airport and even if u did have an alternate approach planned in ur FMC ur aircraft cannot respond that fast to final altitude, heading and speed changes. and landing on a runway not cleared by the tower seems un-realistic!!!!!regards,Ashwath.

Well, first of all I don't have that problem with changing runways, but that can be due to the fact that I only listen ONCE to the ATIS as soon as I come in range, and after that I simply fly towards that runway: I don't use ATC for that. :( Maybe not realistic but the FSX ATC isn't realistic either so I don't care. :( I tried station based mode but when flying high that looked awfull: nearby there were clouds and in the distance there often was nothing at all: I like the overall look of global a lot more. In station mode every station has it's own weather it seems, and it doesn't make a nice combination.

[Guest ashwath]

Well, first of all I don't have that problem with changing runways, but that can be due to the fact that I only listen ONCE to the ATIS as soon as I come in range, and after that I simply fly towards that runway: I don't use ATC for that. :( Maybe not realistic but the FSX ATC isn't realistic either so I don't care. :( I tried station based mode but when flying high that looked awfull: nearby there were clouds and in the distance there often was nothing at all: I like the overall look of global a lot more. In station mode every station has it's own weather it seems, and it doesn't make a nice combination.

hi,u say station based mode looks awful while flying high, well i fly station based mode with cloud coverage density set to maximum and cloud distance to the maximum, and the clouds are displayed even in the distance, looks nice. give it a try...while i give global another try...regards,Ashwath.

[Guest]

hi,u say station based mode looks awful while flying high, well i fly station based mode with cloud coverage density set to maximum and cloud distance to the maximum, and the clouds are displayed even in the distance, looks nice. give it a try...while i give global another try...regards,Ashwath.

As soon as my new computer arrives that will be able to handle cloud coverage density set to maximum and cloud distance to the maximum, I'll let you know what I think about it. I am planning to buy a new computer this month. Until that time I won't be able to test this, because unfortunately my 8800GTX broke down today... :(

[Guest ashwath]

As soon as my new computer arrives that will be able to handle cloud coverage density set to maximum and cloud distance to the maximum, I'll let you know what I think about it. I am planning to buy a new computer this month. Until that time I won't be able to test this, because unfortunately my 8800GTX broke down today... :(

hi,good luck on your new system. Regards,Ashwath.

[pscharff 56]

Hello,I think I prefer the station mode. The global mode is a little bit like the FS2002 weather engine.example:You are just flying in a weather situation of broken clouds then you will see broken clouds complete arround you, then you enter a new area with a clear sky conditions and immediatelly you can see a clear sky arround you although you come from broken clouds. In station mode you can see the clouds or the clear sky coming"...These are my first observations.Patric