In 2020 and before, I would fly anywhere regardless of real world weather/conditions and never deviate because of weather because it had no real impact on the plane. Its fine to fly through a dangerous storm.

So I switched to 2024 a few weeks ago and I am flying into Kuala Lumpar in the PMDG 737. As I am turning towards final approach I see a big dark cloud in front with lightning and heavy rain coming out of it. Cool. I turn on the weather radar and it shows a blotch of red between my plane and the runway. Cool, weather radar works but its a gimmick because storm intensity never matters.

As usual I'll just go right through the red spot since it won't have any real impact. 

When I enter the "red" my normal 700fpm descent turned into a 200fpm climb. What i have come to realise is called "cloud suck". My speed also increased 14kts. 

I had to do a missed approach because I could not stay on the glidescope or near it.

Now what? I guess I'll wait for the storm cell to pass the final approach course but now I am very low on fuel. I only put in just enough for the destination because I never needed an alternative and have everything set up for the approach I am on. 

I ended up doing a very short final to avoid the cell. First time in 20 years of FS I've had to alter my plan because of weather.

Edited January 5Jan 5 by sanh

47 minutes ago, sanh said:

In 2020 and before, I would fly anywhere regardless of real world weather/conditions and never deviate because of weather because it had no real impact on the plane. Its fine to fly through a dangerous storm.

So I switched to 2024 a few weeks ago and I am flying into Kuala Lumpar in the PMDG 737. As I am turning towards final approach I see a big dark cloud in front with lightning and heavy rain coming out of it. Cool. I turn on the weather radar and it shows a blotch of red between my plane and the runway. Cool, weather radar works but its a gimmick because storm intensity never matters.

As usual I'll just go right through the red spot since it won't have any real impact. 

When I enter the "red" my normal 700fpm descent turned into a 200fpm climb. What i have come to realise is called "cloud suck". My speed also increased 14kts. 

I had to do a missed approach because I could not stay on the glidescope or near it.

Now what? I guess I'll wait for the storm cell to pass the final approach course but now I am very low on fuel. I only put in just enough for the destination because I never needed an alternative and have everything set up for the approach I am on. 

I ended up doing a very short final to avoid the cell. First time in 20 years of FS I've had to alter my plan because of weather.

Interesting, we all know that wx in MSFS needs lots of work.

A few points, before T.O., we turn the radar on, and it stays on for the entire flight.

I'm afraid that ASOBOS wx effects need lots of improvement and are very sporadic with unrealistic results. People have grown accustomed to these wx issues and have largely ignored them, resulting in a highly unrealistic representation of many meteorological phenomena. 

But in your case, apparently, going through a cell gave you the correct reaction. 

About fuel, that's another story. Correct preflight and proper fuel requirements might help, even without an alternate.

 

I can concur! I flew to pink area on radar in BS Baron and found myself in the steep bank over 60 degrees with autopilot disconnected 

I flew in a 172 on a clear day with no gust and ended up in a left 45 degree bank because of a thermal 200 feet above the runway. To give you an example. I flew my real world sundowner the day prior with gust up to 25 and didn’t have that happen at all the entire flight.

So yeah. MSFS weather leaves a lot to be desired d 

13 hours ago, spearmint_flyer said:

So yeah. MSFS weather leaves a lot to be desired d 

or the aircraft's flight model does.

18 hours ago, sanh said:

When I enter the "red" my normal 700fpm descent turned into a 200fpm climb. What i have come to realise is called "cloud suck". My speed also increased 14kts. 

Sounds like a normal MSFS updraft thermal TBH... having this many times regardless of weather 

17 hours ago, spearmint_flyer said:

I flew in a 172 on a clear day with no gust and ended up in a left 45 degree bank because of a thermal 200 feet above the runway. To give you an example. I flew my real world sundowner the day prior with gust up to 25 and didn’t have that happen at all the entire flight.

So yeah. MSFS weather leaves a lot to be desired d 

Do you realize that sim can't simulate bumps you experience in real life and vs versa? There is difference between thermals and mechanical turbulence! If you were flying in mountains  area with 25 knots guts you would be rocked while in plane fields it could be nothing. Wing drop is only one of many type of turbulence effects we may experience IRL. There are many factors including high wing low wing, gross weight and etc that plays role on how turbulence affect aircraft. Did you heard a joke about PIREP when Cessna 172 reports  severe turbulence, while 737 passing one minutes later over the same spot reports "light chop"?    

 

 

22 hours ago, sanh said:

In 2020 and before, I would fly anywhere regardless of real world weather/conditions and never deviate because of weather because it had no real impact on the plane. Its fine to fly through a dangerous storm.

So I switched to 2024 a few weeks ago and I am flying into Kuala Lumpar in the PMDG 737. As I am turning towards final approach I see a big dark cloud in front with lightning and heavy rain coming out of it. Cool. I turn on the weather radar and it shows a blotch of red between my plane and the runway. Cool, weather radar works but its a gimmick because storm intensity never matters.

As usual I'll just go right through the red spot since it won't have any real impact. 

When I enter the "red" my normal 700fpm descent turned into a 200fpm climb. What i have come to realise is called "cloud suck". My speed also increased 14kts. 

I had to do a missed approach because I could not stay on the glidescope or near it.

Now what? I guess I'll wait for the storm cell to pass the final approach course but now I am very low on fuel. I only put in just enough for the destination because I never needed an alternative and have everything set up for the approach I am on. 

I ended up doing a very short final to avoid the cell. First time in 20 years of FS I've had to alter my plan because of weather.

I think this chap had a similar problem 😉 or more like 🙃:

 

 

Does active sky improve the weather at all?

26 minutes ago, simsuper80 said:

Does active sky improve the weather at all?

Short answer: Active Sky can be adjusted to provide a more plausible experience. There are settings you can use to tone down certain unrealistic effects in MSFS2020/2024. Even multimillion-dollar simulators used in the military or civilian world can't replicate 100% "real weather." And even among professional pilots, you will find different opinions as to how to categorize turbulence reporting, even though there are clear definitions as to how to categorize it. 

19 hours ago, simsuper80 said:

Does active sky improve the weather at all?

I’m going to buy it and run it in passive mode. Want to get cloud turbulence back. 

On 1/6/2026 at 2:05 PM, sd_flyer said:

Do you realize that sim can't simulate bumps you experience in real life and vs versa? There is difference between thermals and mechanical turbulence! If you were flying in mountains  area with 25 knots guts you would be rocked while in plane fields it could be nothing. Wing drop is only one of many type of turbulence effects we may experience IRL. There are many factors including high wing low wing, gross weight and etc that plays role on how turbulence affect aircraft. Did you heard a joke about PIREP when Cessna 172 reports  severe turbulence, while 737 passing one minutes later over the same spot reports "light chop"?    

 

 

I’ve had wing drops before IRL. I'm simply saying that the effect of the thermals were too aggressive when it was similar conditions at the came airport IRL vs Sim.
 

I’ve had gust where the yoke was slapped into my chest IRL because I had low level wind shear. I know that the simulator and IRL can both be aggressive. The difference was that on that IRL day winds were 28015G23

Where the SIM with 170/06 and no convective activity insight was uncontrollable. 

On 1/6/2026 at 10:03 AM, Tuskin38 said:

or the aircraft's flight model does.

That is true. Sadly they say the C172 G1000 is the one they test all of their flight model and CFD with. So what does that say about everything they are developing. 

20 minutes ago, spearmint_flyer said:

I’ve had wing drops before IRL. I'm simply saying that the effect of the thermals were too aggressive when it was similar conditions at the came airport IRL vs Sim.
 

I’ve had gust where the yoke was slapped into my chest IRL because I had low level wind shear. I know that the simulator and IRL can both be aggressive. The difference was that on that IRL day winds were 28015G23

Where the SIM with 170/06 and no convective activity insight was uncontrollable. 

There are lot of turbulence other than thermal when wing drop. I must admit I have never had yoke slapped in my chest and I rode through a lot of downdrafts.

Where do you fly anyway? Hope you didn't find many thermals in the winter (northern hemisphere )LOL

 

This was in 84R, east of Austin, TX.