Active Sky review

[Alti 68]

Hi, see the ActiveSky Weather engine in Action.
Takeoff from Vienna at thunderstorms,
Approach Thessaloniki at sunset.

ASFS is in "Preset Control". you can see how ASFS the weather changes. Smoothing Rate is 25.
Plane is B738 from PMDG. 

https://youtu.be/WYVxY9QPwP0

[vgbaron 3,727]

Nice video.

[Mace 1,964]

Good weather avoidance dodging those CB's out of Vienna.  P2ATC always yells at me when I do that.

[prolixindec 26]

Flying right now from Sendai to Hong Kong, I climbed out of the overcast and rain into cumulus under a layer of cloud above, and I thought "well, this is that layered effect that I'll miss when I stick with MSFS weather," and then I noticed I had left ASFS in Passive mode.  D'oh! It was MSFS weather. So I switched back and forth for a while, between Active Present Control and regular MSFS depictions. Honestly, it's hard to say which I like better, even on the same flight. With MSFS, I'm in solid IMC at FL370, while with ActiveSky I'm over some soft and very realistic stratus clouds forming an overcast far below. They both look equally good, just in different ways. Nuts.

[Cpt_Piett 4,875]

Hoping for advice from some of the weather experts here. If you land with a tailwind, are you more likely to bounce. I.e. will there be more updraft with a tailwind?

Background: Cleared ILS 35 with Beyond ATC (uses live weather). Used historical weather and wind was 117/7. The turbulence (which seems more realistic with 8888) and tail x-wind made it harder to bring the aircraft down. 

[turbomax 3,332]

24 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

If you land with a tailwind, are you more likely to bounce. 

with a tailwind, you'll fly at higher ground speed to maintain the same airspeed which requires a longer landing distance, and  you might bounce more due to higher ground speed as you touch down. also needs more braking action.

"will there be more updraft with a tailwind?"

no, the opposite. you'd loose lift. you'd more than bounce with a micro burst which can create sudden tailwinds combined with heavy downdrafts, but I doubt they are implemented.

"In most GA aircraft, landing distance is increased by 10% for every 2 knots of tailwind. That means if you have a 10 knot tailwind, you're facing a 50% increase in landing distance."

https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/maneuvers/landing-with-a-tailwind-can-increase-your-risk-of-landing-accident-or-incident/

Edited May 7 by turbomax

[Cpt_Piett 4,875]

@turbomax thanks! Perhaps it was the higher ground speed that made it tricker. 

When can we expect updrafts? Is that with higher wind strength perhaps? Also, would you mind looking at the end of this video, just for the replay? That’s the tailwind landing I’m talking about.

[Adamski_NZ 972]

Thinking of updafts/downdrafts ... has anyone tried ASFS with gliders?

[mmcmah 448]

3 hours ago, turbomax said:

you'd more than bounce with a micro burst which can create sudden tailwinds combined with heavy downdrafts, but I doubt they are implemented.

They do have micro bursts, updrafts, and downdrafts implemented. I'm not sure how effective they are yet, as I haven't flown in weather where I've really felt them.

 

3 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

The turbulence (which seems more realistic with 8888)

Agreed. I think I'm settling on 75 as the overall turbulence setting.

[turbomax 3,332]

7 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

would you mind looking at the end of this video

not at all, the nicest italian ATC I have heard in MSFS. "Alitalia three two ssero, turn right at Golfe" - was that Sophia Loren?

[ha5mvo 261]

5 hours ago, mmcmah said:

Agreed. I think I'm settling on 75 as the overall turbulence setting.

It’s ok overall but doesn’t play well with the pmdg boeings where it makes the plane bank wildly. This seems to be unique to pmdg boeings and doesn’t happen with other planes (or at least not that I have observed so)

[Cpt_Piett 4,875]

30 minutes ago, turbomax said:

not at all, the nicest italian ATC I have heard in MSFS. "Alitalia three two ssero, turn right at Golfe" - was that Sophia Loren?

Haha. Yes some of the accents are great. I meant your professional assessment for how the A320 behaved during the wind conditions though. Both in terms of turbulence and tail wind. Is it realistic? I'm a weather noob, so can't tell 🤷‍♂️

8 hours ago, turbomax said:

"In most GA aircraft, landing distance is increased by 10% for every 2 knots of tailwind. That means if you have a 10 knot tailwind, you're facing a 50% increase in landing distance."

https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/maneuvers/landing-with-a-tailwind-can-increase-your-risk-of-landing-accident-or-incident/

Wow, didn't know that. Either. Btw that's a great website - I've used it a lot. 

5 hours ago, mmcmah said:

They do have micro bursts, updrafts, and downdrafts implemented. I'm not sure how effective they are yet, as I haven't flown in weather where I've really felt them.

I can't say that I've noticed much of that yet either. 

5 hours ago, mmcmah said:

Agreed. I think I'm settling on 75 as the overall turbulence setting.

I haven't changed it. Using realism mode and it's set at 60. It's a tricky balance though as I don't want to have too much turbulence either. 

Edited May 7 by Cpt_Piett

[turbomax 3,332]

1 hour ago, Cpt_Piett said:

I meant your professional assessment for how the A320 behaved during the wind conditions though.

scusi, non lo so. that's why I diverted slightly from the subject. 🤣 I am strictly an un- professional private general aviation pilot only.

Edited May 7 by turbomax

[Cpt_Piett 4,875]

19 minutes ago, turbomax said:

scusi, non lo so. that's why I diverted slightly from the subject. 🤣 I am strictly an un- professional private general aviation pilot only.

Scusi, mi dispiace! 😂 

[Stearmandriver 2,333]

11 hours ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Hoping for advice from some of the weather experts here. If you land with a tailwind, are you more likely to bounce. I.e. will there be more updraft with a tailwind?

Background: Cleared ILS 35 with Beyond ATC (uses live weather). Used historical weather and wind was 117/7. The turbulence (which seems more realistic with 8888) and tail x-wind made it harder to bring the aircraft down. 

A bounce is really no more or less likely with a tailwind; groundspeed doesn't have much to do with it.  A bounce typically means you touched down with too much airspeed, too much energy remaining so that the wing is eager to go flying again.  A touchdown on speed is no more likely to bounce with a tailwind than headwind.  Downbursts and decreasing perf windshear rob you of energy so they'd make a bounce even less likely. 

Turbulence and gusts in MSFS aren't very realistic though; it's entirely possible that the sim gusts caused the wind direction to shear over to an instantaneous headwind near the surface, which would cause a bounce.