MSFS Active runway

[Wrightt 6]

This drives me to distraction. MSFS totally hoses the active runway - with active  weather enabled, I checked the current ATIS at KBOS. Arrivals are assigned rwy 4R and 4L, with 33R approved for turnoffs. Departures use rwy 9.

MSFS, using whatever algorithm it uses, has departures using 33R, a 2500 foot runway!  It kind of destroys whatever immersion we are trying to achieve when we see that level of simulation.

I know I can use whatever runway I want for my flight, but I have experienced, when using RL ATIS for either takeoff or landing, AI traffic using the opposite end.

It would be nice to be able to designate, when setting up the flight - or during a flight - what the active arrival and departure runways are for both departure and destination airports according to the latest ATIS.

If MSFS won’t do it, I am willing to do set those parameters.

[G550flyer 1,014]

Yeah, I don't think that MSFS looks at the active runways in the ATIS. It appears to choose runways based on winds and what ever parameters. Even in the real world, active runways are not just based on winds. At times, you will find tailwinds due to traffic flow, pattern flow, terrain, etc. I used to hate arriving/departing military training bases and I'm sure they hated when I showed up. They will have a very busy pattern with students and let tailwinds get to the extreme before changing runways. I could hear the pain in their voice when I would request a specific runway. One departure, they were doing 10kt tailwinds and I was very heavy. They actually asked WHY I needed to depart in the opposite direction of their traffic flow. I told them I was 590,000 pounds and would exceed the confines of the runway if I took 150% of that tailwind. They made me wait a while as they deconstructed the pattern and broke out the students. After an incident, the FAA will not allow opposite departures anymore. MSFS just needs to take it from the ATIS if it's available and result to the basic winds if not.

[Wrightt 6]

If they can’t pick up ATIS- and I acknowledge that it would be a PITA to program - we can. I always check ATIS before a flight and before arrival anyway. It shouldn’t be a big deal to give us a screen where we can enter that info - including closed runways, which I have also seen being used in MSFS. For me, it would go a long way toward realism.

[G550flyer 1,014]

15 minutes ago, Wrightt said:

For me, it would go a long way toward realism.

Yes Sir, nothing spoils the moment worst than getting ready to go and MSFS is doing the opposite of what your plans were.

[Noel 4,503]

1 hour ago, Wrightt said:

It would be nice to be able to designate, when setting up the flight - or during a flight - what the active arrival and departure runways are for both departure and destination airports according to the latest ATIS.

If you use the WM planner, then you can choose which runway for departure.  If you use SimBrief, and you wish to use MSFS ATC for route guidance, then you can simply alter SB's initial runway assignments to match MSFS, and enter the ones MSFS will use into SimBrief.  Also, and this is cryptic:  if you want to know which runways (dep and arr) MSFS will be using first input the airport into the WM planner--and REPEAT this for both departure and arrival airports.   So right now I'm doing KATL to KDCA , and I enter KATL into the search field, click on it, then repeat this and this will tell you which runway MSFS ATC will be directing you to.  But as I say, you can choose the runway and ATC will then use those runways.

[Wrightt 6]

I know that I can designate the runway I will use, or even be directed to, and I realize that I can find out what runway MSFS is using. What I am trying to accomplish is making the MSFS active runway(s) conform to the current RL ATIS for ALL departing and arriving aircraft. 

It is frustrating to go through all the immersive steps - metars, TAFs, ATIS  - to set up a flight and find that MSFS is doing something completely different, sometimes even completely unrealistic, as in my earlier example of using the 2557 ft rwy 33R for 737 and A320 departures, or arrivals and departures on KMSP closed rwy 4/22.

As long as we (and Asobo and MS) are striving to make FS ‘as real as it gets’, this seems to me a reasonable step. Perhaps some third-party developer will come up with something.

[threexgreen 3,139]

48 minutes ago, Noel said:

If you use the WM planner, then you can choose which runway for departure.  If you use SimBrief, and you wish to use MSFS ATC for route guidance, then you can simply alter SB's initial runway assignments to match MSFS, and enter the ones MSFS will use into SimBrief.  Also, and this is cryptic:  if you want to know which runways (dep and arr) MSFS will be using first input the airport into the WM planner--and REPEAT this for both departure and arrival airports.   So right now I'm doing KATL to KDCA , and I enter KATL into the search field, click on it, then repeat this and this will tell you which runway MSFS ATC will be directing you to.  But as I say, you can choose the runway and ATC will then use those runways.

That's beside the point. MSFS does weird things when it comes to runways that are completely unrealistic at times and I wouldn't want to adjust myself to something unrealistic.

For example, at KLAS the active runway is 26L most of the time and almost all AI traffic goes to that runway instead of 26R, which doesn't make any sense. Today AI traffic was departing 34R at KDEN while landing the opposite way, 16R...

[Noel 4,503]

53 minutes ago, Wrightt said:

What I am trying to accomplish is making the MSFS active runway(s) conform to the current RL ATIS for ALL departing and arriving aircraft. 

I see what you're saying.  But quite frankly if I just stay within sim per se (IOW, don't look at RL ATIS) it all works out 90+% of the time, insofar as having MSFS ATC align with in and outgoing traffic and for me that's what really matters.  

[Wrightt 6]

I understand that, and it’s been true for the 40-some years I’ve been simming. What we have now is so far beyond where we were at the start, it boggles the mind. 

At the same time,  to be this close….  (and I still can’t abide KBOS rwy 33R)

Edited March 22, 2023 by Wrightt

[Noel 4,503]

Why does it matter if you already know what the departure and arrival airports will be, and since AI traffic is in-sync with this?  Why does matching RL ATIS matter?  With how I use the sim I'm never put on a runway that is too short for the plane and loads I'm at.  That being said, it definitely seems like a good goal so there are multiple sources of data to be able to access.  But as I say, at least it works for how I use the sim.

[Fiorentoni 4,234]

3 hours ago, Wrightt said:

If they can’t pick up ATIS- and I acknowledge that it would be a PITA to program - we can. I always check ATIS before a flight and before arrival anyway. It shouldn’t be a big deal to give us a screen where we can enter that info - including closed runways, which I have also seen being used in MSFS. For me, it would go a long way toward realism.

This would only work for the US, since there are no internet ATIS available for the rest of the world. Also this would lead to situations where the real-life METAR has changed drastically (like from a headwind to a heavy tailwind), but the real-life ATIS hasn't changed yet. This would lead to aircraft taking off and landing in absurd conditions way beyond their limitations. In real life this would lead to quick change of runways with specific procedures to switch approaches for incoming aircraft on their way.

[G550flyer 1,014]

6 minutes ago, Noel said:

Why does it matter if you already know what the departure and arrival airports will be, and since AI traffic is in-sync with this?  Why does matching RL ATIS matter?  With how I use the sim I'm never put on a runway that is too short for the plane and loads I'm at.  That being said, it definitely seems like a good goal so there are multiple sources of data to be able to access.  But as I say, at least it works for how I use the sim.

I totally get what the OP is saying and it depends on the person doing the flying. I plan and fly just as I do real world. I check the weather, look at the departures and plan my flights based on the real world data. Once the flight plan is complete, I import it and load into the sim just as I would Dlink the flight plan and load it in the real world jet. My FMS is loaded, perf'd and winded before I request clearance or PDC. The problem arise when MSFS is doing something different. Now I have to decide to stick with my plan and depart opposite direction with my planned flight. Or just re plan and follow what MSFS is doing. In MSFS, to re flow it, I would have to re plan the departure and re-download the flight plan using what MSFS uses. Time consuming since I would have to return to the main menu to import the plan using MSFS ATC. At least in the real world, I just reload the departure and use the amended points that they pass while getting the clearance. It's not like MSFS ATC can amend my plan on the fly when attaining clearance.

[Wrightt 6]

All I have said is that I would like to have the option to designate the active arrival and departure runways at my departure and destination airports. That’s all. I would use RL ATIS to make that determination, but it would be an OPTION. If you are satisfied with the MSFS default, that’s fine. If you are flying somewhere where there is no ATIS, that’s fine - just leave it as is. It would only be one option.

Why does it matter? If I am using RL traffic and RL weather in my sim experience, why is it unreasonable to also use RL runway assignments - if that’s how I would like to use the sim? Again - an OPTION.

BTW - in my years as a RL traffic controller, I never experienced a scenario where the ATIS didn’t reasonably keep up with drastic weather changes, but even if that were the case, since I am monitoring METARs (as is the tower), I would again have the OPTION of changing the active runways to meet that situation.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Wrightt

[G550flyer 1,014]

8 minutes ago, Wrightt said:

BTW - in my years as an air traffic controller, I never experienced a scenario where the ATIS didn’t reasonably keep up with drastic weather changes, but even if that were the case, since I am monitoring METARs (as is the tower), I would again have the OPTION of changing the active runways to meet that situation.

I have never seen that case either. Usually if it's something significant, they make the change quickly. I have also had them announce that the runway would be changing as a heads up. I've even had the runway change on me while being vectored for the approach. Now, I've been into some places where there wasn't any fancy smancy ATIS or a tower for that matter🤣. I always get a kick out of calling my positions as you enter the pattern in a Gulfstream 5/550. It wouldn't be the first time I have wet my thumb and held it in the air to decide which runway I'm departing🤣. Thank God for aspirated TAT probes. 

[Wrightt 6]

1 hour ago, Fiorentoni said:

This would only work for the US, since there are no internet ATIS available for the rest of the world.

But if you were interested in knowing how MSFS assignments compared with real world without access to something like ATIS, you could find out by going to flightaware.com, where I just checked the comings and goings at EDDF.  

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by Wrightt