Was flying around this past weekend in France/Spain doing career missions, and spent a lot of time in 20-30kt winds and had a few weird moments where I wasn't sure if the sim was bugging out or if the wind effects are producing accurate situations, looking for advice/feedback

Most of the time Cruising into a headwind on autopilot isn't an issue, AP handles all the trim and keeps the plane on course and at altitude. I felt confident stepping away on longer flights and letting the AP do its thing, until this past weekend, when I had 36kt headwinds, in the Vision Jet, and I guess the AP had a moment where it seemed unable to keep up. I was lucky I was sitting there when it happened, but a huge gust blew my pitch straight up, I climbed very quickly and lost a lot of airspeed, then the AP pitched down sharply to correct, and almost immediately sent me into overspeed on the steep downward pitch. Cruising at 220 when it happened, and if I hadn't been there to throttle down and manually level out, it could have been a lot worse (yes autothrottle should have been set as well, still learning). I had previously seen a youtube video where "Extreme Turbulence" can cause rapid altitude changes, but this was the first time something like that happened to me in about 100 hours now. 

Later that same day, same weather, was in the Vision Jet on approach/final when I got rocked by a sudden downward gust - nearly crashed, had to go around and try again. I assume this is normal for high headwinds while landing. I was lucky I had flaps up due to the headwind or I feel like I would have been unable to climb out. I probably did more go-arounds this past weekend than my first 80 hours of 2020/2024.

So my question is - flaps on headwind landings, keep them up? Is there a rule of thumb or anything for that? I found that I was much less stable with flaps down landing into that strong headwind, and for both stability coming in, and in the event of a sudden need to go around, flaps up worked better for me. I wonder too how much of this is the Vision Jet, I didn't seem to have as much problem with the 172 and 208, but both of those land around 65kts and are high wing. The Vision Jet strikes me as a light plane that's heavier than you think - light enough to get blown around in the wind, but heavy enough that you still need to be doing a good clip to land (95kts I believe).

Unfortunately, ASOBOs' turbulence responses are still far from desirable. Setting it to "LOW" in the assistance settings will prevent unrealistic reactions. During strong winds, gusts, and turbulence, we don't use full flaps for landing unless landing performance requirements are a concern. With full flaps during those approaches, hand-flying can lead to overcontrol and destabilization of your approach.

For cruise, due to wx engine limitations and some aircraft's poor FDE settings, expect all the issues you described. In real life, those aerobatics you mention do not occur unless there is extreme turbulence.

As a preference, my settings are set to "LOW." If you want something like a rollercoaster ride, anything above will just do that, unrealistic reactions.

For clarification on how we report turbulence, see the FAA/ICAO guidelines

 

Turbulence Reporting & Intensity Definitions

• Light Turbulence: Momentary, slight erratic changes in altitude or attitude; slight strain against seat belts.
• Moderate Turbulence: Rapid changes in altitude/attitude, but aircraft remains in positive control; definite strain against seat belts.
• Severe Turbulence: Large, abrupt changes in altitude/attitude; aircraft may be momentarily out of control; occupants forced violently against seat belts.
• Extreme Turbulence: Aircraft is violently tossed about, practically impossible to control, and may cause structural damage.
• Reporting (PIREPS): Pilots are required to report intensity, duration (intermittent/continuous), altitude, and location. 

Thanks for clarifying - I have it set to Medium, not Realistic, as I was warned about that being a thing with Realistic. I'll try Low as you recommend.

 

Glad that it wasn't just my inexperience. Doubly glad that I had enough experience to say to myself "no flaps here" and manage those landings according to the conditions. Certainly learning that there's no shame in a go around (even if you have an impatient VIP charter client lol) or two.

1 hour ago, LRBS said:

• Severe Turbulence: Large, abrupt changes in altitude/attitude; aircraft may be momentarily out of control; occupants forced violently against seat belts.
• Extreme Turbulence: Aircraft is violently tossed about, practically impossible to control, and may cause structural damage.

This provides context to the video I mentioned, as the pilots were hesitant to declare Extreme Turbulence, despite ATC calling them out for not maintaining altitude. ATC then asked if they had any injuries after they finally admitted it was Extreme and not just severe (suggesting they had been tossed about the cabin). I assumed, and the comments assumed, they just didn't want the extra paperwork.

11 minutes ago, Kristofski said:

there's no shame in a go around 

 

Absolutely, go around it's a VFR or IFR procedure. Better safe than sorry!