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Flight Planning (Winds)

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Hi everyone,I'm new here, so this thread may have been discussed already, but I'm asking the question anyway to you all great experts of the MSFS World!Here it is: Does anyone have something to get actual winds on a route (or an average trip wind, like a Tail or Head value?), including long haul routes, when using the actual meteorolical conditions (loaded via the standard FS2004 tool into FS2004...)?I've been searching the net for such a tool but found nothing...Any suggestions?ThxDave

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Something like this: http://www.hifisim.com/ ?Or are you looking for something that will tell you what the real-world winds are, without actually changing the sim weather?Tom

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Hi Tom!Sorry for the late reply...First, many thanks for your help, I've been on hifisim.com, and this could be what I was looking for...!In fact I'm searching a tool, a add-on or anything that could provide a flight planning with a log, based on actual and real time weather data... The aim is to use a plane with a more accurate fuel calculations. So far I've been using the standard FS9 feature that enables to integrate the true worldwide weather condictions, to get actual cruise winds, etc... But this tool doesn't let you know about any value, so no possibility to enter it on FMS... And that's what I'm looking for! Do you think the hifisim products can do that?Thanks a lot for your help!Dave

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Hi Tom!Sorry for the late reply...First, many thanks for your help, I've been on hifisim.com, and this could be what I was looking for...!In fact I'm searching a tool, a add-on or anything that could provide a flight planning with a log, based on actual and real time weather data... The aim is to use a plane with a more accurate fuel calculations. So far I've been using the standard FS9 feature that enables to integrate the true worldwide weather condictions, to get actual cruise winds, etc... But this tool doesn't let you know about any value, so no possibility to enter it on FMS... And that's what I'm looking for! Do you think the hifisim products can do that?Thanks a lot for your help!Dave
Dave,the program you are looking for is FSFlightkeeper from Aerosoft!It downloads the weather along the route (as Active sky also does), and you can then access that information in several ways. One is to (easily) install an ACARS gauge into the cockpit and then you can read the winds at many different flightlevels for all waypoints along the route. FSFlightkeeper does a lot more and you really should check it out! It adds a log book, ambience sounds, moving map, a screenshot manager (takes a screenshot every x minutes and uploads it to a server of your choice - called AirTV).Also in that ACARS gauge you have a moving map and you can eg zoom in to your position at the airport to keep track of the taxiways and parking positions.

Krister Lindén
EFMA, Finland
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HiFi products also provide winds aloft at every fix in a "briefing" that includes metars and TAFs.


Dan Downs KCRP

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Just to get you an idea what it looks like. Here I am flying as we speak from EFHK to KJFK on Vatsim in my Moomin MD11 :)http://www.kitte.ax/big.jpghttp://www.kitte.ax/small.jpghttp://www.kitte.ax/weather.jpgLike Active Sky, Flightkeeper can be run from a second computer using WideFS. Hopefully I haven't done too much advertisenments for this payware product here - I just think it's a very nice program that I think many aren't aware of!


Krister Lindén
EFMA, Finland
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I use FSBuild which integrates with Active Sky. You select your aircraft (you can modify or add new aircraft profiles via a text file), enter your alternate destination, enter anticipated total taxi time, reserve time, etc. You enter your flight plan or create one (manually or autoroute or from stored route) and cruise level. You can choose to export the plan to PMDG FMC format at least for the 737s and 747s, and also export to FS9 for other add-ons. You can also print a navlog that has anticipated fuel consumption for each phase and total fuel plus a navigation grid that displays the wind and direction, headings, altitudes, etc. I used archived weather for the current flight day for the FS flight time (use Zulu time in the archive request).There is also Dispatch Planner X advertised:http://www.blushingsheep.com/dpx.htmWhat I do not see there is weather integration displayed along the route, just departure and destination METARS arte used either downloaded or from Active Sky.

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Guest cuizinier
What I do not see there is weather integration displayed along the route, just departure and destination METARS arte used either downloaded or from Active Sky.
hello ronzie,by weather integration along the route do you mean average tail/headwind ? if it is the case, at the beginning of the navlog in FSbuild you have it under the label AVG W/C. It is very convenient for fuel planning in the MD-11's FMCbtw. I proceed as you do except that I use FSbuild export to FS9 beside export to PMDG then import the FS9 flightplan in AS, this generate in AS a very detailled weather report (for each waypoint) for your route (not limited to DEP and DEST). Then when I have time (during cruise for instance) I enter the per waypoint wind direction/speed in the FMC to have a better ETA estimation in the prog pagecheersJulien

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But this tool doesn't let you know about any value, so no possibility to enter it on FMS... And that's what I'm looking for!
Active Sky Advanced (the most recent version) can read a flightplan created in Flight Simulator and will give you the winds for each of your waypoints. It will also give you an average wind direction/speed and an average headwind/tailwind component (the last is what you would use in the MD-11 FMS).Like many others I use FSBUILD to create flightplans - it is very powerful and will read winds from Active Sky (any version). It has a somewhat dated user interface and can be difficult to learn, but the support is excellent. It is possible to load profiles created for different aircraft, e.g. the PMDG 747 and MD-11, that will give you accurate fuel predictions as well as step climb information etc.No lack of tools and addons - the difficult part is picking the ones that work for you :)Tom

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It is possible to load profiles created for different aircraft, e.g. the PMDG 747 and MD-11, that will give you accurate fuel predictions as well as step climb information etc.Tom
hi tomAre there specific profies for the PMDG MD-11 avalaible yet ? cheersJulien

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Wow all that looks awesome! thanks to everyone for the help!

One is to (easily) install an ACARS gauge into the cockpit and then you can read the winds at many different flightlevels for all waypoints along the route.Thanks a lot krister! This tool looks amazing... As far as I understand, this program provides real time meteo data that you can integrate into a PMDG FMS via an ACARS gauge? Did you mean the standard PMDG acars gauge of the 747 for instance?Thank you Ronzie for your help too! I have a question about FSBuild: Does this tool provide wind datas that you can easily integrate to a FMS or do you need Active Sky also to make it work? sorry for this basic questions but I'm actually discovering all this!Thanks everyone!Dave

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Wow all that looks awesome! thanks to everyone for the help! Thanks a lot krister! This tool looks amazing... As far as I understand, this program provides real time meteo data that you can integrate into a PMDG FMS via an ACARS gauge? Did you mean the standard PMDG acars gauge of the 747 for instance?Thank you Ronzie for your help too! I have a question about FSBuild: Does this tool provide wind datas that you can easily integrate to a FMS or do you need Active Sky also to make it work?
Hi DaveI doubt that there is anything that can integrate itself to the PMDG FMS. I wish there was!FSBuild does not provide it's own weather data including winds aloft, so you need Activesky or some other supported wx program.Also, you can't upload the wind data directly into the FMS using FSBuild or anything else (unfortunately).If yo have Activesky, the wind will be taken into account in the Flight plan and profile FSbuild calculates for you, and you then need to manually insert the wind data into the FMS if you want it to predict things correctly.

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Are there specific profies for the PMDG MD-11 avalaible yet ?
Well, I'm using one for another MD-11, but I cannot remember at the moment where it came from. May have been included with FSBUILD itself, the author is "M.Brodbeck" and it has a (rather poor quality) Swissair MD-11 thumbnail image. I find that it predicts fuel consumption reasonably well, but tends to give too low cruising altitudes.I did see someone post on the FSBUILD forum that he was working on a PMDG MD-11 profile, and that he would share it on the Avsim file library when done.Tom

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If yo have Activesky, the wind will be taken into account in the Flight plan and profile FSbuild calculates for you, and you then need to manually insert the wind data into the FMS if you want it to predict things correctly.
See my previous post I recently discovered that FS buid give you the average Tail/Headwinds for the flight plan. You still have to enter it manually in the FMC but it is easier than the per waypoint method !
Well, I'm using one for another MD-11, but I cannot remember at the moment where it came from. May have been included with FSBUILD itself, the author is "M.Brodbeck" and it has a (rather poor quality) Swissair MD-11 thumbnail image. I find that it predicts fuel consumption reasonably well, but tends to give too low cruising altitudes.I did see someone post on the FSBUILD forum that he was working on a PMDG MD-11 profile, and that he would share it on the Avsim file library when done.Tom
OK I use the same and agree it perform poorly with the PMDG MD-11. I have seen the post in FSbuid forum but thought I might have missed the release ...thanks anywaycheersJulien

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Dave,as Jet1 replied it's not an acars device that is integrated with the FMS of the PMDG747 or any other aircraft. It's a totally new gauge that is installed by FSFlightkeeper and then accessed through a clickspot you can enter into the panel. It then communicates with Flightkeeper on the same computer or on another computer via WideFS. It gives you a wealth of information regarding eg navaids, weather enroute or at any station, a moving map, a ground map, aircraft status and lots more. I believe you find lots of screenshots at the developers webpage that gives you a good idea of what it looks like.Having said that, FSflightkeeper does not input the weather it has downloaded into MSFS. You still need a program like Activesky for that. So I go through the same routine as many else:1. Put a real life flightplan into Fsbuild that I then let the program assemble and export to different formats (PMDG, Squawkbox, FSCommander, LevelD, FS2004 etc).2. Start Activesky, download the weather info, import the flight plan FSBuild created, let Activesky process the weather along the route and save it to disk.3. Let FSBuild assemble the same flightplan again and this time it finds the weather data Activesky has generated which it incorporates into the flightplan.I further4. Start FSFlightkeeper, start a new flight scenario in it (if MSFS is running, it senses what aircraft you have loaded, weights, airport, gate etc), import the FSBuild generated flightplan and then download the weather info Activesky generated. You can still use other sources for the weather but I guess then it might not be consistent with what Activeskyk generated).


Krister Lindén
EFMA, Finland
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