Hello all,

I have been flying in MSFS 2024 since November and have run into an issue several times this winter (U.S.A).  When I plan a flight I check the METARS and the conditions at the destination might be Marginal VFR or IFR, but when I arrive I can't see the runway until my wheels hit the ground.  I am flying the Flysimware Learjet with Active Sky.  I know in the FSX days that it was a common complaint that the sim couldn't really do IFR conditions, but this seems to be an opposite problem.  Just a few minutes ago, I flew into KMRH which had 5 mile visibility but a ceiling of 1300 feet.  But again, I never saw the runway and just pulled up at the last second based on my altimeter reading.  Or is this just an Active Sky problem?  Would like to know what others are experiencing.  Thanks.

Simple answer is turn active sky off and see if ifr is still as bad for you?

Fair enough but it just changes the nature of the question.  Does Active Sky cause unreasonable visibility conditions?  I have used Active Sky since FSX and don't recall this same situation.  Especially now it just used pre-sets in MSFS.

Well, if you turn it off do you get reasonable IFR conditions? If yes, it's Active Sky. 

I own a SEP PPL license and often redo my actual flights in the sim. My experience is that the weather simulation in 2020 and 2024 is pretty accurate. I do not use additional weather programs in the sims (both 2020 and 2024).

Especially in recent weeks we had a lot of typical weather in the Netherlands with low cloud bases and 100% coverage, as well as sunny weather with inversion layers between 2000-3000ft.  Or choppy approaches down to the runway. This was very well simulated by the sim. However I only tested this with single engine GA planes like I fly myself. In general the simulator GA planes are too sensitive to winds and/or turbulence, at least to my opinion.

Thanks Janc.  I changed the title to specify Active Sky to focus the question more.

1 hour ago, FlyData said:

Hello all,

I have been flying in MSFS 2024 since November and have run into an issue several times this winter (U.S.A).  When I plan a flight I check the METARS and the conditions at the destination might be Marginal VFR or IFR, but when I arrive I can't see the runway until my wheels hit the ground.  I am flying the Flysimware Learjet with Active Sky.  I know in the FSX days that it was a common complaint that the sim couldn't really do IFR conditions, but this seems to be an opposite problem.  Just a few minutes ago, I flew into KMRH which had 5 mile visibility but a ceiling of 1300 feet.  But again, I never saw the runway and just pulled up at the last second based on my altimeter reading.  Or is this just an Active Sky problem?  Would like to know what others are experiencing.  Thanks.

I personally do not use Active Sky or any other add on. METAR only show weather in the vicinity of the airport. It's hard to make a "big picture" weather enroute. MSFS default weather is good enough for me in 2020 and in 2024. 

Regarding sudden transition from VFR to IFR. It's not uncommon in real world when weather quickly change from forecasted. Marine layer would be one of those scenarios! Even within IFR conditions, weather can  quickly change from IFR to low vis IFR causing airplane literally go missed passed decision height. See below

  

Wow, great video!  I felt my blood pressure go up just watching them trying to land at the end, and I'm just sitting at my desk!  My original post was because I had run into the issue 3 times in a row where the conditions should have been OK but had 0 visibility when I go to the destination airport.  Maybe I just had bad luck, or maybe Active Sky makes things worse, not sure.  Or maybe it's hard doing GA flying in the winter!

 

I've had good luck with the AS weather depiction, especially w/r/t visibility.

If you're using live or historical mode wx in AS, remember that the METAR you're checking prior to departure is the wx reported as of the last hourly update...in live or historical mode the wx updates regularly, so the wx on arrival will likely have changed from what it was during preflight planning.  You can see the wx being actively depicted at your present location on the AS conditions page--if that differs markedly from what you're seeing, then there is a problem that needs further troubleshooting.

 

 

@sd_flyer made a great point above, and indeed one detail I really appreciate in MSFS, at least with ASFS ( I use Active Sky now as my weather injector 100% of the time in both FS 2024 and X-Plane 12 ) is the way it renders the effects of heavy rain and the associated impact in terms of visibility.

Even though I haven't my graphics settings maxed to give nice rain effects in the windshield, I can often experience the effect of heavy precipitation, when reported in the METARs, and how much it compromises visibility, sometimes just like in that video above.

Maybe the OP experienced one of those situations.

Even though it might not be relatkrdto the OP’s question, I’ve noticed a few times visibility so bad (fog/haze) that it’s hard to see the taxiway. Not sure if this is realistic or not. 

When I flew into KMRH, the METAR did say "mist" and I had no visibility and I had a hard time even seeing the pulloff on the edge of the runway.  Similar to what @Cpt_Piett described, I could only see the taxi line directly in front of the plane but nothing else.  Other times, when I've had "light snow" with a 3000 foot ceiling it has been a white-out with zero visibility when landing.  So there has been some precipitation each time it has happened, regardless of the ceiling.  Thanks for the feedback, I was just curious if this was in line with what others are experiencing.