Enjoying flying in today's SNOWSTORM!

[spilok 1,132]

Hi all, Big storm in Pa. and surrounding states. Using the new Airbus 380 and appropriate panel (found in Avsim Library under Yesterday's Hot Files), and Active Sky 2004, I've enjoyed flying from Allentown to Cleveland and on to KORD in Chicago. Hardly any visiblity at 10,000ft. and below right down to the runway. Perfect weather for practicing ILS landings, and what a feeling of accomplishment when you shoot that glideslope and the descend to the runway RIGHT IN FRONT of your nose. You better be using your AP correctly. The snow is incredible today, and the winds are more than a simple challenge.What a great hobby!

[brucek 38]

Hi Stan,What time (local or Zulu) is the wx that you encountered? I assume you had the TAF option enabled, so this could be forecast from an earlier AS2004 wx file?Thanks, Bruce.

[spilok 1,132]

Bruce,Flew today from about 11:00AM through about 3:30PM. Eastern Standard time. It's still snowing here in Pa. and I flew real time earlier. Just did some snowblowing on my driveway and cleared about 7" deep snow. It's supposed to keep snowing until mid-morning tomorrow (Sunday)and I'll do it again tomorrow. I plan a few flights now (about 6:45PM) and I'll fly West to see where the storm has subsided.I just love taking advantage of real weather with FS. It's as good as it gets.

[brucek 38]

Thanks Stan.

[Geofa 108]

About a foot of snow in Se Michigan today-still going strong....http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

[Guest macman4]

Geofa, what part of SE MI are ya from? I'm in Plymouth and we had about 10-12 inches. My #### snow blower broke today, spent half the day in the garage fixing it so I didn't fly today(

[Geofa 108]

I'm in Clarkston-and my blower broke today too! How wierd...Leaving now to shovel some more...http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

[Guest BOPrey]

We are going to get hit with at least 18 inches on Long Island New York. Just flew from Farmingdale cross the sound to BridgePort CT. It was pitch black. I use Active Sky, and it was that good. The only problem is, FS9 is not able to simulator dynamic snow covered runways and roads. Either way, it was very enjoyable.

[bobbyjoh 11]

I flew into Philadelphia just before the airport closed today. Using the PMDG 737-800 it was a real blast to make the approach in 0/0 conditions. Did not see the runway until I touched the runway using autoland. Then I could not see the taxiways for the fog and and snow. One of the things that I hope MS will add to MSFS is the affect of snow and rain accumulation on the runway. I can just imagine what it must of looked like from the cabin windows when the thrust reversers threw all that snow up. It even had my heart pumping as I made the approach almost blind :-).I was flying a real world United Airlines route and flight from KDEN to KPHL. The RW flight was held up for an hour and diverted to INDY where it is right now. I really don't know if I had been flying in the RW I would have made this landing today, really too much snow and no vis. However I am parked nice and safe at gate D6 in Philly :-)BobKDEN

[spilok 1,132]

Great story...On which runway did you land at KPHL?

[swj737 0]

Stan - Fun ain't it! I waited until it was snowing hard in NJ then took the PMDG Beech 1900D to Allentown VFR from Newark, no problems getting into Allentown, so I took a ride up to Albany - Zero vis on approach (1500' on down), at about 100 feet I saw the top of the terminal building - oops! - climbed out and headed to Newark, switched to a heavier plane in flight (PMDG 737) and when I was close enough asked Newark for a full stop - They said "No" - I was flying VFR and they would only handle IFR. So I quickly filed IFR and started down. At 1500' I got 0/0. I was on the numbers and the only thing I could see was the landing lights reflecting off something (the runway it turns out). Autoland is a marvelous thing! I could not even see enough to taxi around.The only problem was that when I'm above 1500 feet it's a beautiful day. I'm using default FS9 weather (download real weather). It sounds like Active Sky can simulate weather better at altitude. I would like to get away from the 'nice' days at altitude if another system is better, do you recommend Active Sky?SteveDell 8250P4 2.5 - 800 FSB1 GB RAMWXP HomeUltimate Traffic 75%PMDG 737-allPMDG Beech 1900DCS 707DF 727

[spilok 1,132]

ACTIVE SKY is a MUST! Although I loved flying with Microsoft's Real Weather for many years, the new Active Sky 2004 works so well and so accurately with FS9. I usually start FS9 at my default airport (KABE), and go back to my desktop using the Windows symbol key (the one next to the left CTL key), start up Active Sky with my desttop icon, and once it loads the Metar, I downsize it to the taskbar. I then click on the Microsoft Flight Simulator command on the taskbar and I'm back to my start point....but with very accurate weather. This is my technique, and I love using the program. It seems to simulate the weather correctly based on the current news on TV's Weather Channel. Stan

[JSkorna 137]

Hi Stan,Thanks for posting all of this!Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/as2004proudsupporter.jpg

[spilok 1,132]

Jim,My pleasure AND my compliments!

[Guest bobsk8]

Without Active Sky, FS isn't even the same program anymore, as far as I am concerned. It is an must to fly with.