I'm back on runway assignments again...Tonight I flew into KDCA. The RW wind was 170 at 16 knots with gusts to 25.ATIS says landing and departing runway 1. I received landing clearance for RW 1. I checked AFCAD and the RW 19 LDA's are installed although I question the placement. Why doesn't ATC give me 19???I then set up the wind to favor the other runways. One at a time. No matter what the wind was, Runway 1 was all that they would do. At one point, I had the wind from 330 at 50 knots. Still gave me Runway 1 but I won't mention what that wind did with the airplane...I was VFR so an approach assignment wasn't available. Without completely disregarding ATC, all I could do was land with a 16 knot tailwind.What am I doing wrong???BobL

Whatever you're doing wrong, so am I. ATC seems to pay no attention to wind direction when assigning runways. Didn't have this problem with FS2002.Mike

MS changed the way weather affects the runway selection in FS2004. FS2002 would follow the weather as the winds changed. This would cause aircraft already assigned to a runway (e.g., 36) to continue using that runway for takeoffs/landings, even though the winds had changed. Aircraft not already assigned a runway when the winds changed would be assigned the now correct runway (e.g., 18). This resulted in aircraft landing and taking off on opposing ends of the runway until the first aircraft were cleared from the system.FS2004 uses whatever wind direction is loaded when the flight simulation is started, as the wind direction for the duration of use. There are several exceptions. One, no AI are loaded or have asked for landing/taxi/clearance/takeoff instructions. Two, the user aircraft cannot be flying or ask for landing/taxi/clearance/takeoff instructions.The best way to avoid the problem is to load the weather prior to pressing Fly Now. This will, of course, not fix all situations when you are flying to a airport of some distance and the winds change.A simple test is to start the flight simulator, select weather, user defined weather, set the wind direction/speed, OK, and press Fly Now. Don't ask for taxi/clearance/takeoff. Use the ATIS, Traffic ToolBox or the CTRL-Q/CTRL-W to watch where the AI are landing. Once a pattern is established, select Options, Settings, Traffic, and move the traffic percentage to zero, OK. Next select World, Weather, User Defined Weather, and reverse the wind direction 180degrees, OK, and return to the simulation. Listen to ATIS to see that the change was made. Select Options, Settings, Traffic, and move the traffic percentage to your normal setting. Observe the AI traffic and the direction given for takeoffs/landings. W. Sieffert

Looks to me like the fix is worse than the original problem.Mike

I don't think this helps when you're inbound...That's what happened to me in the original post. I was inbound to KDCA from about a 100 miles out. Since I was operating VFR, I didn't go through the approach selection..it wasn't available anyway.ATIS said wind (From FS Meteo) was favoring 19, 15 knots. Good I said,...I'll get to fly that dog-legged approach...Then they assigned RW 1. Landed with a 15 knot tailwind..So how can we force the correct runway assignment..BobL

Yes.. I looked at the weather and based on that observation I expected to land on 27.. so I set up my approach for that. Then at 24nm out at 8k I was cleared for 8, on DOWNWIND approach. And setting up approach in pmdg 737 is not a 2-click task :(

I don't like the change either but I didn't build the flight simulator.You might try my test case about 100-150 miles from the destination airport. Since you are not under its influence yet, set the traffic to 0%, OK. Then ensure you have the latest weather for that airport (world) loaded, and put the traffic back to your normal percentage.I don't know if that will work or not. Remember the AI flies a 90-100 mile circle around the user aircraft.W. Sieffert

I wanted to come back and post the results of my test this weekend and so far, MS is batting 1000 in giving me the wrong runway...or batting 0000 for giving me the right runway...I spent a relaxing weekend with the sim...you can do that when your single...Flew from a small airport in South Georgia, USA to Boise, ID. Made three stops along the way...Salina, KS (for gas and lunch); Rawlins, WY (because I just had to go) and then Boise. Went through some horrendous weather enroute between origin and Salina, but VFR on both ends so I cancelled IFR about 150 miles east. The Salina to Rawlins leg was VFR all the way, didn't even file. I listened to KCYS for a time as I passed by.At three difference locations, I used the technique described here. Turned traffic off, used FS Meteo to refresh the weather, listened to the ATIS and then turned traffic back-on. In three different places, Salina, KS, Cheyenne, WY and Boise, ID had you landing with a tailwind. So the technique didn't work for me.Any other ideas??Thanks for your help.BobL

You were already flying, which is part of the problem. You had to request, taxi, takeoff. When this happens, the original ATC direction will not change even if the winds change.As I indicated above, I didn't like the change but MS decided it was appropiate. If you want changes in the future, email [email protected] .W. Sieffert

If you happen to have a direct internet connection, you can fly online for free and meet the great people doing live ATC, and assigning the right runway assignments for the current weather...I also guarantee you won't be handed off to ten controllers in the span of two minutes...But then again, I'm biased... The built-in ATC in MS has quirks, but it's really not that bad. You can also get RadarContact or similar products that will provide you with a much more realistic ATC experience off-line and use the current weather. The problem is that AI traffic may still do what it wants to do.Regards,