How does one.........?

[ilovetofly 1]

I'm flying in Australia with the new addons from VOZ and quite a number of small airports throughout the country. Problem is, and this also applies to any other portion of the world, most of these airports don't have ATIS information nor a tower. So when approaching and using ATC (default) I'm required to announce which runway I will be using. But I don't know the wind direction. I seem to always choose the wrong one and end up landing with the wind instead of into the wind. I've looked for weather and wind aloft sites in Au but can't find any. Does anyone have a method to determine wind direction before making an intended landing? Also, any sites to give wind direction at given altitudes? Planned a flight to last 1:25, put in what I felt was sufficient fuel and had headwinds that caused the flight to last almost 2 hrs. and I landed with 2% fuel left. Whew!!!!Any help is greatly appreciated. Does Active Sky provide such info for flight planning?

[Guest Yak Yak]

for the US, i use the NOAA site to pull all the weather info before i make my flights (real ones in this case).this site gives you everything from METARS/TAFs, to pilot reports, to wind speeds at certain altitudes(see link below). http://aviationweather.gov/products/nws/wi...&fint=06&lvl=loYou can also call the free wx 800 number to get a weather briefing between your arrival and destination points (but this is US only i believe).As far as getting the wind direction for remote airports, i use several methods: - First one is mentioned above....just get the info before you leave. - Second, you can tune into the nearest airport w/ ATIS, and listen to their winds...which hopefully is similar to your location. - Third, which i use a lot in the RW, is tune into CTAF, and listen to which rwy other pilots are using (but confirm with the method below). - Fourth, fly over the remote runway, either in a standard traffic pattern, or above its airspace at a 45 degree, and check out the wind sock....then you'll know for sure.there are other methods such as looking at trees in the wind, but this is not simulated in fs9...maybe in fsx?-fz

[ilovetofly 1]

Thanks and those are good suggestions esp. for the US.But I'm doing Australia and many of the airports don't have a windsock and they seem impossible to see if there is one. Also the nearest ATIS airport may be so far away that the info isn't received on the radio. I did locate a site for AU and it gave me the wind for detination airport of 36008knts but when I arrived FS9 showed 14008 knts. I'll keep working on it though.

[barryward12345 0]

This is what I do (here in Oz) . I download real weather - then before I take off, I go into the weather settings and the real weather to the setting that allows me to set my own weather. By clicking on the weather stations along my route and at the destination airport, I get a good feel for what the weather conditions will be . The I change back to real weather. Works OK for me.Barry

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,Yes, Active Sky does provide this data and a whole bunch more!This is in response to a specific question,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6...development.jpg http://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6-banner-proud.jpg

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[ilovetofly 1]

Thanks for the replys. I will probably purchase AS soon. Also I just located this site for Australia's aviation weather. Gives winds and everything according to zones. http://www.pilotfriend.com/av_weather/new%...20weather.htmks

[Guest Speed]

In the meantime you can fly low and slow over the airfield and look at which way the windsock is pointing (land from the direction it is pointing). This is a valid thing to do in real life as well as in the sim. I often do this as I like to resist the urge to look at gps or weather instruments and usually have a funner time for it.Cheers,Speed

[N562Z 4]

How abaout just Shift + Z to pull up your airspeed, wind info and lat / long location? Not "real world", but it works.http://www.graphics-free.com/animations/tr...ges/plane_6.gifAlex ChristoffN562ZBaltimore, MD

[ilovetofly 1]

Yes, that does give you that information, but if you watch it carefully, you'll see that wind direction "changes" with your altitude. So if you're at 5,000 ft AGL and announce an intended landing based on that info, you'll find that by the time you get to final, and 1000' AGL the wind direction will be completly diffent. This due to winds at different elevations go in different directions and at different speeds. You can do a search for "winds aloft" for more information.

[Guest Jimbofly]

Windsocks I hear are pretty good!j/k, I know sometimes in FS they're hard to find and some fields don't have them.I use Shift+Z, but then again I'm lazy.James

[N562Z 4]

I use FS Meteo for winds aloft to help with altitude planning, and to get an idea of what is waiting for me at my destination. If the winds at cruising altitude are unfavorable, I ask ATC for a different altitude.http://www.graphics-free.com/animations/tr...ges/plane_6.gifAlex ChristoffN562ZBaltimore, MD