Windsocks VFR Pilot

[Accolade 12]

Please Mister ASOBO, I am mainly a VFR pilot, can you install bigger "Windsocks"  

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

Bigger is not my issue. The problem I have is they often point the wrong way altogether.

You can even get two windsocks next to each other pointing totally different ways.

[Dominique_K 10,133]

when they are not hidden in trees 😋...

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

11 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

when they are not hidden in trees 😋...

well that is sort of realistic

[Dominique_K 10,133]

Just now, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

well that is sort of realistic

hmmm...

[Accolade 12]

Sometimes there is none at all

[Dominique_K 10,133]

The good side of it is that searching it from 1000 feet AGL , turning around the field, is a good exercise to keep altitude and speed 😉.

[SAS443 1,712]

1 hour ago, Dominique_K said:

The good side of it is that searching it from 1000 feet AGL , turning around the field, is a good exercise to keep altitude and speed 😉.

Hmm.. not the best idea to search for windsocks at traffic pattern altitude (1000ft AGL usually).  It's one of those "exercises" that can lead to nasty near misses or even collisions. 🤐

Add at least 500ft cushion and try finding the even more miniscule socks.😂

 

[sd_flyer 6,025]

Find a wind sock on photo below! IRW best alternative for  windsock is ATIS/ ASOS or magic words "wind check". Other than take off it's very hard to see windsock even on short final. Frankly pilot will sooner figure out  drift by a flight path than by searching wind sock on the ground!

[reheat 1]

I agree the windsock could either be visible a little further back and/or slightly bigger. The picture posted above is not a good example.

[precog 98]

Not everyone lands at a large airport with ATIS.  Pretty standard for my local airport is to overfly the airport 500ft above pattern altitude and look at the windsock. Very hard to do that in MSFS.

Edited August 19, 2021 by precog

[Dominique_K 10,133]

8 hours ago, sd_flyer said:

Find a wind sock on photo below! IRW best alternative for  windsock is ATIS/ ASOS or magic words "wind check". Other than take off it's very hard to see windsock even on short final. Frankly pilot will sooner figure out  drift by a flight path than by searching wind sock on the ground!

 

Hey SD, lets talk MFS here, not real life, because this is what we « fly ».

ATIS ? I most often land where there is none and anyway it is unreliable.

Wind check ? Again often no tower where I fly.

Drift from flight path ? Genuine question : can you feel it in the sim for a wind less than say 6/8 knots and how far from deciding your pattern entry point ?

Additional remark : the best thing in the Cub  G3X is the wind indicator.

8 hours ago, SAS443 said:

Hmm.. not the best idea to search for windsocks at traffic pattern altitude (1000ft AGL usually).  It's one of those "exercises" that can lead to nasty near misses or even collisions. 🤐

Add at least 500ft cushion and try finding the even more miniscule socks.😂

 

Good point ! What I actually do when in doubt is a very low pass to check the sock to the acclamation of the virtual spotters who offer me a virtual beer out of their virtual ice box after my landing. 

 

[Accolade 12]

 

We all know that in real VFR life that it is imperative, even essential, to make a vertical terrain 500 pf minimum above the runway turn on an uncontrolled airport. The main reason is to control the direction of the windsock. A high wind does not necessarily have the same direction on the ground on the runway. In an airplane simulator, this requirement must be consistent with reality for the proper training of young pilots.

[SAS443 1,712]

While on the subject.

This how I typically arrive at an uncontrolled field (there are many ways of doing it). 500ft above pattern altitude. On this day the windsock was very hard to interpret, thus the extra 360 overhead before NE winds were concluded and descent into pattern altitude.
Image from my Garmin logbook.

Edited August 19, 2021 by SAS443

[Accolade 12]