Surface Wind Limits and ATIS reporting

[MichaelMcE]

I enabled the limit surface wind option in AS2004 and set the upper limit to 1 knot. This results in Radar Contact ATIS reporting winds as calm regardless of the actual wind conditions and gusts are not reported at all.

If I enable max surface wind in FSUIPC with the wind limit set to 1 the Radar Contact ATIS reports winds as 0 knots and reports the gust as the difference in Actual Wind Gust and Steady Wind Speed.

Setting the max surface wind option in FSUIPC w/AS1 and FS2k2 did not result in the wrong ATIS report - and of course, there was no such feature in AS1 as there is in AS2004.

I am cross-posting this in the AS2004 forum.

-michael

[Pete Dowson]

I am cross-posting this in the AS2004 forum.

Post it in the Radar Contact forum too. Are you using the latest Beta, or only the current released version of Radar Contact 3? I think there's been quite a few changes.

BTW I thought generally as far as ATIS and METARs are concerned, a 1 knot wind is likely to be regarded as calm.

Pete

[MichaelMcE]

Post it in the Radar Contact forum too. Are you using the latest Beta, or only the current released version of Radar Contact 3? I think there's been quite a few changes.

BTW I thought generally as far as ATIS and METARs are concerned, a 1 knot wind is likely to be regarded as calm.

Pete

Peter,

I will post this to the RC Beta Group as I'm running with RC4 Beta.

In regards to the 1 knot being reported as calm - yes that is correct.

The question is why is ATIS affected? This did not happen in FS2K2 with the FSUIPC limit surface wind option enabled (I flew in that mode by default). ATIS always reported the actual wind conditions and through FSUIPC "magic" :-) the effects were gradually dialed in and out for takeoff and landing.

Many of us enabled the FSUIPC max surface wind option to alleviate the extreme weather-vaning of aircraft in FS2k2. I had been flying with the option off and just recently enabled it - only to find that ATIS is then not reported accurately.

-michael

[Pete Dowson]

The question is why is ATIS affected? This did not happen in FS2K2 with the FSUIPC limit surface wind option enabled

... ATIS always reported the actual wind conditions and through FSUIPC "magic" :-) the effects were gradually dialed in and out for takeoff and landing.

Ah, NOW I understand! You are confusing the setting to limit the surface wind with the FS2000/FS2002 "Taxi Wind" facility, which was entirely different. That operated by directly changing the wind experienced at the aircraft, without changing the weather, as such. The surface wind you are limiting is the lowest wind layer, i.e. the whole layer.

There is no taxi wind facility in FSUIPC for FS2004 because I couldn't find any way to get to the wind actually imposed. If I could, I would be able to smooth it too! I'd love to do this, but in many many hours or hacking through FS code I haven't managed, and there are other things needing doing.

Please check through the FSUIPC User Guide some time. It does actually mention all these things. You certainly were NOT using the same option in FS2002.

Many of us enabled the FSUIPC max surface wind option to alleviate the extreme weather-vaning of aircraft in FS2k2. I had been flying with the option off and just recently enabled it - only to find that ATIS is then not reported accurately.

Well, two points there:

(1) The option doing that in FS2002 was the Taxi Wind facility. You are not using the option you used in FS2002. You are limiting the surface wind layer's speed actually being set.

(2) Because the wind being set IS limited to 1 knot, that IS the wind, there is no other, so that is what ATIS correctly reports.

Regards,

Pete

[MichaelMcE]

Ah, NOW I understand! You are confusing the setting to limit the surface wind with the FS2000/FS2002 "Taxi Wind" facility, which was entirely different. That operated by directly changing the wind experienced at the aircraft, without changing the weather, as such. The surface wind you are limiting is the lowest wind layer, i.e. the whole layer.

There is no taxi wind facility in FSUIPC for FS2004 because I couldn't find any way to get to the wind actually imposed. If I could, I would be able to smooth it too! I'd love to do this, but in many many hours or hacking through FS code I haven't managed, and there are other things needing doing.

Please check through the FSUIPC User Guide some time. It does actually mention all these things. You certainly were NOT using the same option in FS2002.

Many of us enabled the FSUIPC max surface wind option to alleviate the extreme weather-vaning of aircraft in FS2k2. I had been flying with the option off and just recently enabled it - only to find that ATIS is then not reported accurately.

Well, two points there:

(1) The option doing that in FS2002 was the Taxi Wind facility. You are not using the option you used in FS2002. You are limiting the surface wind layer's speed actually being set.

(2) Because the wind being set IS limited to 1 knot, that IS the wind, there is no other, so that is what ATIS correctly reports.

Regards,

Pete

Peter,

Yes, you are correct. I confused the two very different capabilities. And I must admit - I switched from FS2k2 with AS1 to FS2004 and AS2004 overnight - never took the time to read up on the FSUIPC differences.

Thanks for the clarification!

-michael