Visibility

[scootersm 0]

I'm on approach to a airport reporting 4 mile visibilty or less and I'm at 20 miles out on ILS approach. I can see the runway clearly. Then on final approach about 1000' AGL i get whats reported. What is causing it. I have Activesky 6.5, FSUIPC, GE Pro, Flight Enviroment, Ulitmate Terrain serris. Thanks for your time. I know it's setting somewhere.Scooter

[vololiberista 205]

I'm on approach to a airport reporting 4 mile visibilty or less and I'm at 20 miles out on ILS approach. I can see the runway clearly. Then on final approach about 1000' AGL i get whats reported. What is causing it. I have Activesky 6.5, FSUIPC, GE Pro, Flight Enviroment, Ulitmate Terrain serris. Thanks for your time. I know it's setting somewhere.Scooter

Are you using real METARS? If so, there are occaisions when the reporting stations are quite close to each often within 10-15DME. In which case the weather engine in use will interpret the nearest METAR to you location. You will need a registered copy of FSUIPC which then can be used to smooth out the transitions from each station making everything more realistic. Bear in mind though that it is quite normal for an airport to report for example: fog or overcast weather and yet less than 10 kms away the weather is quite different. That's normal.Vololiberista

[january 19]

I'm on approach to a airport reporting 4 mile visibilty or less and I'm at 20 miles out on ILS approach. I can see the runway clearly. Then on final approach about 1000' AGL i get whats reported. What is causing it. I have Activesky 6.5, FSUIPC, GE Pro, Flight Enviroment, Ulitmate Terrain serris. Thanks for your time. I know it's setting somewhere.Scooter

Consider a layer of fog close to the ground and perhaps 500' in height. On the ground, looking horizontally, the visible distance might be 4 miles or even much less, and be so reported. But in the air, looking down through the fog it seems to be only a few hundred feet in depth and the ground is clearly visible. Many a pilot has been shocked on approach to have the runway suddenly become invisible as he enters the mist on final approach.Alex Reid

[scootersm 0]

I do have Reg FSUIPC, some time I use Active Shk 6.5, Some times default wx. On the FSUIPC what are your settings, TAB and settings.I just added REX nice!

[Wolfko 0]

I think that's a limitation of FS9.ExampleYou are flying in the "area" of a WX station which is 20 NM from your destination airport. This station reports vis at 10 NM which is the highest visibility reported, no matter if the vis is 10 NM or 50 NM. As I understand AS6 then sets vis to a random value at or above 10 NM. Let's say AS6 is setting the vis to 30NM. Then you will see your destination airport from 30 NM away, although in reality the vis at the airport is only 4 miles. When you enter the "area" of the wx station located at the airport your vis will drop to 4NM.This was a bit simplified, but that's generally how it works in FS9 AFAIK. Jim should know better.Wolfgang

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,It didn't take Jim too long to see this!!Without going into FS and monkeying around with layers and settings and such you need to know that this is a limitation of FS. If you are flying above 10K, the ground visibility will not be shown until you are below that 10K height. Then all of a sudden you will be in "the soup". Now, you can monkey around, but on the next weather refresh, either in FS or with any weather engine will remove those manual settings and you will see "jumps" in your conditions.It has nothing to do with surrounding station reports or METARs, but the way FS handles ground visibility.What you need to keep in mind is that if your destination airport is reporting low visibility, you will get that condition but only once you are under 10K.

[scootersm 0]

Are you using real METARS? If so, there are occaisions when the reporting stations are quite close to each often within 10-15DME. In which case the weather engine in use will interpret the nearest METAR to you location. You will need a registered copy of FSUIPC which then can be used to smooth out the transitions from each station making everything more realistic. Bear in mind though that it is quite normal for an airport to report for example: fog or overcast weather and yet less than 10 kms away the weather is quite different. That's normal.Vololiberista

I have a Registered FSUIPC.......What are your settings in the VISIBILTY tab?