Hey eveyone, I got a two part question for you real pilots out there. I am flying the smaller planes in FS9 and I noticed on one of my flights over the ocean I was flying into some low clouds, i was flying about 6,000, and I got alot of chop and I noticed it was a storm, so was wondering on small planes the proper way to handle storm clouds? Do you fly above them or do you try to fly through depending on the strength of your plane or storm or do you try to fly around the storm? The second part is the same question but for the larger jets like passenger jets?thanks for the helpPaul

Hey,All planes should fly around a storm. If its a mild storm, airlines will most likely just fly through it. But its a good thing to say that for every 1 knot of wind in the storm(when I say 1 knot in the storm, I mean 1 knot of sustained wind... microbursts can be over 100+ miles an hour), you should be 1 mile away from it. As for climbing over a storm, its not to be advised, if its a mature storm, tops will be around 30,000+ MSL. Therefore even if you fly over it by 4,000 feet, you could still experience severe turbulence and possibly hail.If flying between a line of storms, 40 miles on each side is a good rule of thumb.http://www.kthxdone.com/images/kw_ft.jpgKen Weik [link:maam.org|MAAM-SIM][link:library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=kenneth+weik&Sort=Added&ScanMode=0&Go=Change+View]My AFCADs

thanks for the reply Ken and thanks for the answers and it leads me to another how do you determine the characteristics of a storm if your in mid flight? Do you use the radio to tune into the nearest airport's ATIC(i think thats the weather information)? thanksPaul

Pilots use the forcasts for their route in planning the flight. If there are storms forcast, the crew will use their weather radar to view the sky in front of them. If your aircraft doesn't have weather radar, the chances of flying into a storm increase and will, at the very least, give you a very bumpy ride and at the worst, break up your aircraft. Weather radar is your friend.Cheers,JohnBoeing 727/737 & Lockheed C-130/L-100 Mechanichttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpg

you should not fly if thers a chance of storms...

thanks John is there an add on or is this a built in feature of FS9?thanksPaul

Hi Paul,With Active Sky V you get real time weather, a planner that will show weather at your waypoints and a weather radar, along with all the environmental textures in Active Environment.http://www.hifisim.com/Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Sales and Supporthttp://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_dev_team.jpg http://www.hifisim.com/images/asv_proud_supporter.jpg

cool thanks Jim that is exactly what i am looking for.Paul

This brings to mind a take off with a T7 I had last year.It seems the storm we went through was really bad as we could see lightnings through the windows and even hear the thunders. The worst part was that the aircraft seemed to be taking off every minute as we had upwards winds blowing pretty fast and we sunk in our seats constantly. The good part is that the PTVs showed the altitude and speed and at all times both kept increasing. It took us easily 20 min to clear the storm.Leo

Isaac, If light plane pilots in the Northeast United States did that you would fly very little. Most GA planes cannot fly over storms. Thunderstorms can hit altitudes of 20,000 to 40,000ft. You go around them. Ten miles is the minimum, twenty miles is better. Don't fly under the anvil, unless you like seeing what hail can do to your paint job. Also, you are going to get bounced flying into a cloud. By nature clouds are formed by columns of rising air. All those puffy white clouds you see on spring and summer days are really potholes in the sky.

>Pilots use the forcasts for their route in planning the>flight. If there are storms forcast, the crew will use their>weather radar to view the sky in front of them. If your>aircraft doesn't have weather radar, the chances of flying>into a storm increase and will, at the very least, give you a>very bumpy ride and at the worst, break up your aircraft.>Weather radar is your friend.>These days, XM Satellite weather is available for small aircraft (subscription service $30-50 monthly) using weather map overlays on a moving map GPS screen. You can see weather for hundreds of miles around your airplane, as well as in route forecast's, forecast's at the desination, and other data such as temporary flight restrictions (TFR's). L.Adamson

>>Pilots use the forcasts for their route in planning the>>flight. If there are storms forcast, the crew will use their>>weather radar to view the sky in front of them. If your>>aircraft doesn't have weather radar, the chances of flying>>into a storm increase and will, at the very least, give you>a>>very bumpy ride and at the worst, break up your aircraft.>>Weather radar is your friend.>>>>These days, XM Satellite weather is available for small>aircraft (subscription service $30-50 monthly) using weather>map overlays on a moving map GPS screen. You can see weather>for hundreds of miles around your airplane, as well as in>route forecast's, forecast's at the desination, and other data>such as temporary flight restrictions (TFR's). >>L.AdamsonAgree that this system is far more useful in seeing what lies beyond. Using radar especially the smaller units fitted to light twins is a skill in itself and open to interpretation hence no guarantee that you wont run into something nasty.You also need to use your eyes looking at the shape of the clouds below and above as well as darker and lighter areas. Learn to identify warning signs as in the movement of air and the unique turbulence.navigating through weather is a skill using a number of aids as well as a good dollop of experience.CheersPeter

UK VFR rules vary with class of airspace but require that the aircraft must be clear of cloud, or be 1500m horizontally and 1000 ft vertically from cloud.

In real life I try to stay at least 20 miles away from a storm. For reasons already stated by others, and also it is a huge pain to set VORs or COMMS when you are bouncing all over the place. I usually use FSS or HIWAS in order to get info about storms in the general area of flight.David

The best combination is a strikefinder, radar and realtime weather nextrads that are downloaded to you in the plane. One of the worst things to do is to rely on an atc controller. I am not knocking ATC controllers, but they do not have the equipment nor the training to entrust your life to.