Hi,

 

For general flight I'd been using "Fair weather". I didn't care for the little puffy clouds but I didn't want to turn weather off completely. I tried "Low and threatening" and this seems a much nicer choice. Not particularly low and not particularly threatening. Considering the number of waterfalls this seems a good choice. Any suggestions?

 

Jim F.

Low and Threatening is indeed quite enjoyable. If you're hosting a room online, pretty much anything other than Isolated Thunderstorms is fine. I've run into several lobbies with that one that don't realize there's an insane storm over the Kauai channel.

If the devs for Flight can make the Weather Engine look more like REX Essential, this is going to be my #1 Flight Simulator for Fun and Enjoyment. I am finding that FSX isn't that good default wise. I don't want to spend more than $100 on addons for it.

 

But if I did, I would have to consider buying all PMDG products. Imagine Sim Savvy for the Entire World Scenery+PMDG Aircraft+ REX Weather... That would make my day. If they add it to FSX and Flight, I am going to shred every money I can... As long as I don't go bankrupt. I should buy Ivy Bridge first though.

I've posted this a few times already elsewhere, but Low and threatening is my default weather theme. It's the best. Great clouds at every time of the day and the weather is different at various altitudes. When flying a bit low you have clear sight but when you get higher you get some haze. I love it. Don't know why they added 'Low' to the name, but that doesn't matter. It's also not hard to fly (and land) with this weather theme. If I really want something else I use Clear skies for easy flights (can't stand the Fair weather clouds) or Inclement weather for some rain. I don't care too much about the other themes.

This is why REX is the only thing that should be implemented in Flight.

I've posted this a few times already elsewhere, but Low and threatening is my default weather theme. It's the best. Great clouds at every time of the day and the weather is different at various altitudes. When flying a bit low you have clear sight but when you get higher you get some haze. I love it. Don't know why they added 'Low' to the name, but that doesn't matter. It's also not hard to fly (and land) with this weather theme. If I really want something else I use Clear skies for easy flights (can't stand the Fair weather clouds) or Inclement weather for some rain. I don't care too much about the other themes.

 

The winds in Low & Threatening also seem to be fairly typical of Hawaii's trade winds. I like that so I don't have to worry much about looking for windsocks (the HUD stays off). You pretty much always use a north-east pointing runway in Hawaii.

Exactly, Ray, if anything, I think this is one of the more important issues with Flight: incorrect winds: make you land on the wrong runways! :LMAO:

 

Best regards.

Luis

Exactly, Ray, if anything, I think this is one of the more important issues with Flight: incorrect winds: make you land on the wrong runways! :LMAO:

 

Best regards.

Luis

 

Well, you do lose the trades from time to time, and the winds can come from any direction when a storm blows by but, yeah, you really are using the same runway most of the time. Consistent winds in Flight are good for immersion. ;)

 

Look on the map at the airports with just one runway, almost all of them run SW-NE, except the ones in the wind shadows on the leeward (western) sides of the mountains. The bigger airports also tend to have their longest runways facing right into the trade winds.

I was doing research on this issue. Real winds:

 

STATION

BRADSHAW W

HILO SW

HONOLULU ENE

KAHULUI NE

KAILUA-KONA WSW

KANEOHE ENE

KAPOLEI ENE

KAPALUA NE

LANAI NE

LIHUE ENE

MOLOKAI ENE

WHEELER E

 

 

 

 

And then I tried different Weather Themes to see how winds are done in Flight, this was at PHNL:

 

Among the Giants

E 18 kts

Clear Skies

nil

Dense Fog

NW 7 kts

Fair Weather

NW 4 kts

Inclement Weather

W 16 kts

Isolated Thunderstorms

E 18 kts

Low and Threatening

NW 15 kts

Squalls

NE 22 kts

Storm Cells

E 29 kts

Stormy Weather

W 14 kts

 

 

For my part, I think that this is an important issue. For what its worth, I'm using Low and Threatening just about all the time, but that's just personal preference.

 

Best regards.

Luis

Interesting. Looks like MS is just doing regular mid-latitude winds and ignoring tropical trade winds completely.

This is why I so wish for real world weather. Real pilots don't ask themselves, "What kind of clouds/winds do I want at my destination?" Instead they look at the forecast and plan accordingly.

 

- Gary Letona

Sure, Gary, you are absolutely correct, but Flight is not for real pilots. Real pilots fly real planes in the real world. The overwhelming majority of us using flight games will never be real pilots, so the flight games, all of them including previous versions of FS and all others, have multiple limitations that we mostly accept.

 

And Real Weather is not even present in most previous versions of FS or other flight games, and yet we happily played them and imagined we were enjoying the activity.

 

Should Flight have at least the correct winds for each region? Well, I think so, because otherwise... we tend to land on the wrong runway! :LMAO: But, I remember so many comments right here at Avsim from people using FS who were obviously landing on the wrong runway, and therefore clearly not using Real Weather. Perhaps this says a lot about the type of user of flight games.

 

It seems the developers created the Weather Themes so that they covered many different types of situations in the different parts of the world that will be available, and did not consider how essential it is for a flight game to have correct winds in each particular region. Maybe they will revise this in the future (or maybe not! )

 

And I agree wholeheartedly with you that Real Weather would be one of the better solutions.

 

Best regards.

Luis