Bill Casey

Peter OK, I've done the same 747X flight, Oslo-Glasgow. I'll have to do it again because I'd not updated the DLL to 4231 so this was still 4224 :oops: BUT, when it completely lost the heading and headed off into the wild blue yonder (c90 degs off course then suddenly swing back to c90 degs off course the other way) it was as I was decending through a layer showing "Turb" at 2 in Weatherset2. No gusts were showing for that layer. Remember, my only setting change from Default was to enable wind smoothing, nothing else was altered and I hadn't changed pressure or temp smoothing in the INI file. I'll do the flight again later with 4224 and report back. Over the w/e I'll do it again with the gust and turbulance suppression on. Then I suppose another one with pressure smoothing applied since I don't want to confuse matters by changing everything at once! While I'm here, points of note during the flight anyway. On some occasions in the cruise (FL340) the a/c displays were showing rapidly switching wind from 327 degs to 023 degs (with windspeed fairly constant at about 28kts)but it wasn't violently knocking the aircraft around. These shifts weren't showing in Weatherset and no gusts or turbulence there either. The TATs varied all the time from -23C to -35C with consequent power surges/drops to correct the Mach speed. During some stages of the flight the QNH column in weatherset varied from 992mb to 1018mb although for about 60% of the flight it showed 1013mb. When the QNH moved the altitude leapt or dropped down causing more engine thrashing to correct it. I'll get back when I've done it with the latest version! EDIT: Btw, bizarre temperature on the ground at Oslo. +65C?!

OK sir, I'll try that later. Just one muppet question, presumably WeatherSet2 is the FSX weather settings pages which should be reporting what I'm getting? If not then yell at me! I'll be trying this out sometime this afternoon and will repeat the exact same flight, same settings to start with (new weather obviously)! I'll also save a situation file at the point it careers off heading, if pos get some screenies too. I'll then try the same again with the other settings below.

Sorry Pete - I didn't mean to dishearten you sir! As I said, you DO seem to have fixed the wind swings by 90/180 degrees. That is a major achievement IMO! FYI, on this 747X flight I hadn't touched any of the default settings (incl pressure & temp) other than turning on the wind smoothing. I was specifically trying to test the wind smoothing element. My reference to "the heading bug" was admittedly poorly phrased, apologies, I meant that since putting this version on my system the 747X does seem to lose it's headings on both LNAV and HDG SEL at some points in the flight. This doesn't seem linked to any sudden wind changes unless there is some battle going on between FSX and FSUIPC as to what the weather is actually going to do to the a/c. I hope that clarifies what I said a bit. You're certainly getting there with the wind smoothing, no doubt at all. I am however beginning to share your opinion that maybe FSX should be sidelined and hope that FS11 is the finished article!

I tested the PMDG 747X tonight with v4224 and I'm afraid it wasn't pretty. OK, it was a windy night flying across to Glasgow from Norway so I wasn't expecting a smooth ride. This was with FSX download weather, 15 minute update. Wind gusts were very good, consistent wind direction +/-10 degrees, spot on, and none of those 90 or 180 degree shifts. BUT, and this is a big but, the a/c keeps just losing direction without any apparent wind disruption. Midway between SOTIR and ZOL on UP600 at FL340 it just went into a massive turn left followed by a massive right (90 degs off course both ways). I got it back on track via completely recycling the autopilot and LNAV/VNAV when even HDG SEL wasn't getting it back on track. It then settled down all the way to AberDeeN on UP600 but again, between ADN and PTH it lost it again. More recycling of systems and eventually back on track. Leaving STIRA on a heading from Vatsim ATC and decending FL70 it just didn't even get close to the heading, wild oscillations both sides of it up to 90 degs. I had to hand-fly down from FL70 having switched all the autos off (and disconnnecting from Vatsim!). Settings in v4224 - default plus Wind Smoothing. After the ZOL incident I switched wind smoothing off but no noticeable difference in gusts or direction, just a very good emulation of a windy night until the heading just went haywire again after ADN. Net result, IMO, wind swinging around is fixed but the heading bug is severely nasty and certainly makes online flying big bad news. Fully updated PMDG 747X, Windows XP SP2, FSUIPC v4224, downloaded FSX weather. Using FSInn but with weather OFF.

Thanks Pete - I tend to agree that temperature isn't perhaps so crucial unless you're getting massive changes in TAT at higher flight levels since that'd muck up Mach numbers. At present any temp changes aren't nearly significant enough to get worried about. I'll try the latest version tonight in something exotic like a LevelD and see what happens. I'll try the pressure tweaks next time I'm flying in lower airspace since that's where it can be more of a menace. Things are certainly heading hugely in the right direction (no pun intended) with the winds though :D

Lorenzo, yes exactly the same effect with the "nervous" speed shifts on climb out. Aircraft being knocked around on the ground with heavy wind gusts is very realistic, look at that tail sticking up there, it's a like a big sail! Real world I was once sitting on the tarmac in a 737 at Port Elizabeth (S Africa) as a violent storm cell passed overhead. Our aircraft was shaking incredibly in the wind that was with it. The pilot said "we're not moving until the storm has" but another a/c did depart and our Captain said "I hope God is with those guys today". A wind gusting to 60kts will batter anything quite badly in the real world and many catering trucks (for example) wouldn't be safe to operate in that wind. Also the meximum crosswind component for many airlines/aircraft is only about 25kts so 60kts is downright dangerous!

As it happens Lorenzo, I too did a test flight out of Keflavik on Sunday! It's not a fair test at all since on departure I had winds of 230 @ 45G60! I can't imagining anything smoothing that kind of weather :shock: However the excellent news is that once climbing out and into the cruise I only had one major wind shift all the way to Stansted. Also no sudden pressure changes and altogether the smoothest cruise I've ever had on FSX :D This was using FSX download weather (15 minute update), flying online with FSInn (weather off), v4.219 of FSUIPC with smoothing on and flying the Level D 767X. Excellent result! One point to note, I did see the rapidly fluctuating airspeed (+/- 2-3kts) on the initial climb but with no change of wind direction. OK it was gusting heavily at Keflavik but a later flight elsewhere showed the same effect in quieter conditions. It doesn't disrupt anything in a heavy except making me constantly watch it and wonder what's happening! Altogether I'd say this smoothing enhancement is one huge leap forwards :D

Oooh yes, I never miss an ASX update! It is extremely good but seems to present problems for online flying with getting winds that match the ATC with the ASX wind smoothing enabled which can and does change the wind direction from that in the Metars. I have to fly online with that feature of ASX switched off. That obviously means I get the mega windshifts at altitude and hence my following your progress very closely Sir Pete. Oh I absolutely agree with you. Online flying adds a whole different dimension to the issue! Might be :wink:

Hi Pete, Ref barometric pressure jumps - yes it does jump around in FSX. Since all my flying is on Vatsim I tend to notice this more because obviously there are 'real' ATC and aircraft around and keeping altitude is rather important. The extent of the jumps varies on what you have running: with ASX running the jumps can be frequent and very large (sometimes even 20+mb!) and I've seen altitude jumps of 1,000ft before now. With FSX online weather it does still jump but not quite so severely, having said that altitude movements of 2-400ft whilst cruising on 1013mb are really quite common (in smooth air). Using FSInn weather the pressure seem to be vastly more stable in all phases of flight (although in FSX you can't use FSInn weather above cFL240 thanks to a simconnect problem with TATs). In terminal areas we quite often have to use "B" or we will find ourselves at hopelessly the wrong altitude on the ATC screen if we use the controller's QNH, bizarre but true. Somehow, somewhere MS made some complete boo-boos with the wind and pressure didn't they? Like you I am starting to wonder of FSXI will be the finished article and that FSX was little more than a beta for some of the weather "features"!