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Uncontrolable aircraft in thunderstorms

Featured Replies

Hi All

I am running Queen Of The Skies 747-400 v3 In Prepar3d v4 with active sky, using live weather

I have entered a few thunderstorms over Bali Indonesia lately. My aircraft data is telling me I have 9 knots of headwind.

I am at 2000ft, I have encountered turbulence. Then within seconds the aircraft has accelerated to 300 knots plus, and

refuses to de accelerate. We all wonder how this can happen with 9 knots of headwind. Has anyone else encountered these 

issues, and may have a solution. Is It active sky or pmdg?

 

Regards  Paul

That's what T-Storms do...that's why aircraft avoid them.  Strong up and down drafts and microbursts, windshear, etc...

Devin
CYOW

Turn on your weather radar and avoid the red zones!

Guenter Steiner
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Betatester for: A2A, LORBY, FSR-Pillow Tester
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40 minutes ago, paulh1 said:

I have entered a few thunderstorms over Bali Indonesia lately.

 

40 minutes ago, paulh1 said:

Has anyone else encountered these issues, and may have a solution.

Yes -- don't fly in to thunderstorms!

There is a reason why they tell you to avoid CBs by 20NM or more and you have just discovered it :)

Simon Kelsey

sig_FSLBetaTester.jpg

 

  • Commercial Member

The effects on the aircraft will have a lot to do with your turbulence settings. Anything above 30%, IMO, is way too strong.

Ditto Simon; also, be sure to dial the effects sliders in active sky down from the default 100% to something more realistic like 25%.  The full range effects exceed realism by too much for a high fidelity simulation to accommodate.

Dan Downs KCRP

  • Moderator
3 hours ago, Milton Waddams said:

The effects on the aircraft will have a lot to do with your turbulence settings. Anything above 30%, IMO, is way too strong.

Maybe so but it is more realistic. There is a reason they call it SEVERE turbulence. 

Vic

 

RIG#1 - I9 14900K MSI Pro z790 RTX 5070Ti
40" 4K Monitor 3840x2160 

You’re supposed to avoid flying directly through thunderstorms :)

12 minutes ago, vgbaron said:

Maybe so but it is more realistic. There is a reason they call it SEVERE turbulence. 

Vic

Vic, I think this is a debatable point.  I've seen plots of turbulence that go an order of magnitude beyond what one experiences in flight, and while this may play well with the default FDX flight dynamics engine it will not play well with advanced simulations.  A severe turbulence is rating 3 on the scale of 4 and represents an acceleration force in excess of 1 g.  The aerodynamic loads created by the default turbulence settings far exceed even level 4 (extreme) turbulence.

Dan Downs KCRP

  • Commercial Member

Hi,

 

just uncheck the "Realistic thunderstorm up and downdraft rate" and you're done.

I think however that the simming community underestimates (and thus considers "unrealistic") the issues coming up due to the huge amount of energy accompanying thunderstorms. In contrast to the way people feel about them in real life. It's not unusual to get 6-10000feet/ min updrafts/downdrafts when penetrating a thunderstorm (or when the 20miles upwind safety margin is not respected). And that's what ActiveSky attempts to simulate.

Take a look at this: https://www.airlineratings.com/news/thunderstorms-a-must-to-avoid/

 

 

 

 

Kostas Terzides

 

devteam_bannerA.png

  • Moderator

I agree overall Dan but anomalies excepted, the general turbulence scale is pretty close. My comment is more toward those who feel that 20-30% is more accurate. I don't believe that figure is even close on a general basis.

Vic

 

RIG#1 - I9 14900K MSI Pro z790 RTX 5070Ti
40" 4K Monitor 3840x2160 

Can we get a forum manager to reduce this from at least three down to just one topic?  Please?

Frank Patton
Corsair 5000D Airflow Case; MSI B650 Tomahawk MOB; Ryzen 7 7800 X3D CPU; ASUS RTX 4080 Super; 
NZXT 360mm liquid cooler; Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 4800 MHz RAM; RMX850X Gold PSU;; ASUS VG289 4K 27" Display; Honeycomb Alpha & Bravo, Crosswind 3's w/dampener.  
Former USAF meteorologist & ground weather school instructor. AOPA Member #07379126
                       
"I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me." - John Deere

52 minutes ago, kterz said:

Hi,

 

just uncheck the "Realistic thunderstorm up and downdraft rate" and you're done.

I think however that the simming community underestimates (and thus considers "unrealistic") the issues coming up due to the huge amount of energy accompanying thunderstorms. In contrast to the way people feel about them in real life. It's not unusual to get 6-10000feet/ min updrafts/downdrafts when penetrating a thunderstorm (or when the 20miles upwind safety margin is not respected). And that's what ActiveSky attempts to simulate.

Take a look at this: https://www.airlineratings.com/news/thunderstorms-a-must-to-avoid/

 

 

 

 

The problem is FSX’s turbulence mechanism which makes simulated aircraft uncontrollable at Active Skies’ default settings. So the lack of realism is the way FSX flight models react to such disturbances. Hence the recommendations to reduce the settings.

ki9cAAb.jpg

I've encountered some really heavy chop at 50%, probably more than it should be, for "half" the scale.

I had it at 100% for a while, and that was too much for this kid.  Maybe I am a chicken.

Rhett

7800X3D 96 GB G.Skill Flare  Gigabyte 4090  Crucial P5 Plus 2TB

18 hours ago, paulh1 said:

Hi All

I am running Queen Of The Skies 747-400 v3 In Prepar3d v4 with active sky, using live weather

I have entered a few thunderstorms over Bali Indonesia lately. My aircraft data is telling me I have 9 knots of headwind.

I am at 2000ft, I have encountered turbulence. Then within seconds the aircraft has accelerated to 300 knots plus, and

refuses to de accelerate. We all wonder how this can happen with 9 knots of headwind. Has anyone else encountered these 

issues, and may have a solution. Is It active sky or pmdg?

 

Regards  Paul

I certainly would not fly with you in real life  I'm afraid. Rule no.1 you don't go anywhere near a thunderstorm period!

Stay away at least 20nm .

Apart from the the basic common sense rule you would need to adjust your settings to create a bit less turbulence. That said, question yourself why you were flying in such dangerous conditions. Yes it's a sim and you won't kill yourself but nevertheless.............

 

3VlzBGn.jpg?1

Super VC10 into LOWI with PF3 at a cinema near you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298UDyNmgUA

 

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