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axelb9

FSMETAR question

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I know that a few here - thinking about Vololiberista mainly - use FsMETAR for weather generation. I am intrigued about trying it as I have always been interested in more control about weather depiction. What i truly like about AS6.5 though is the historic weather function that allows to recreate real flights happened in the past using the real weather that was happening at the time. I imagine you could not really achieve that using FSMETAR as in my reading it seems like a strictly real time tool. Can someone please confirm this or the opposite?Thx,Alex

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I know that a few here - thinking about Vololiberista mainly - use FsMETAR for weather generation. I am intrigued about trying it as I have always been interested in more control about weather depiction. What i truly like about AS6.5 though is the historic weather function that allows to recreate real flights happened in the past using the real weather that was happening at the time. I imagine you could not really achieve that using FSMETAR as in my reading it seems like a strictly real time tool. Can someone please confirm this or the opposite?Thx,Alex
There is a feature in FSMetar where you can save a Metar file. I have used it when flying on dial up where I couldn't be continuously connected. I presumed I was thereby flying on the weather at that moment. If you save the metar and loaded that file when flying unconnected with the server, the weather would be historical wouldn't it?

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Can someone please confirm this or the opposite?Thx,Alex
Alex, FSMetar is a great little program, and yes, if you really want to fly in weather from the past, you can do it. That said, it requires some work on your part to achieve this.1. You need to find wx metars from the past. I use this web site: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airpor...alue=1&MR=12. Copy and past the wx metars relevant to your flight path into a simple text file (I use notepad). You do not need to down load wx for the whole world for a 2-4 hour flight, only wx metars for the wx stns you fly over. Once you have your wx metars in a text file, open it with FSMetar and away you go.Here is an example of a wx file I used for a flight from CYYZ-CYHZCYYZ 300100Z 27016KT 15SM BKN040 OVC050 02/M04 A3005 RMK SC6SC2 SLP181CYKZ 300100Z 27016KT 15SM BKN040 OVC050 02/M04 A3005 RMK SC6SC2 SLP181CYPQ 300100Z 30006KT 9SM OVC020 OVC040 OVC047 01/M04 A3002 RMK SLP174CYTR 300100Z 26006KT 15SM BKN057 03/M00 A3002 RMK SC6 SLP168CYGK 300100Z 29006KT 15SM OVC060 04/00 A3001 RMK SC8 SLP166KMSS 300053Z 24010G17KT 10SM FEW013 SCT018 OVC035 06/04 A2995 RMK AO2 SLP142 T00560039KPLB 300153Z 24007KT 10SM OVC041 08/02 A2996 RMK AO2 SLP145 T00780017 TSNOKMVL 300154Z 22004KT 7SM -RA OVC033 07/06 A2997 RMK AO2 SLP155 P0003 T00670056KHIE 300152Z 00000KT 10SM -RA OVC026 09/09 A2990 RMK AO2 SLP128 P0004 T00890089KWVL 300215Z 00000KT 3/4SM OVC001 11/10 A2985 RMK AO1KBGR 300253Z 15005KT 1/2SM FG BKN001 BKN022 OVC034 10/10 A2988 RMK AO2 RAE38 SLP117KOLD 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186KEPO 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186CYSJ 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186CYZK 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186CWAH 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186CWUR 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186CYAW 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186CWBV 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186CYHZ 300300Z 20018G26KT 1/2SM OVC001 08/07 A3007 RMK FG4SF4 SLP186Note: I use FS9 only for IFR.Note: the GMT (Zulu) times in each metar above. Say I plan to depart CYYZ at 01:00. I then download all 0100z wx metars for the wx stns along my flight path up until the next hour which would be 0200z. I then download the next hour of wx metars for the next leg of my trip and so on. Because I only fly IFR and could care less if the wx changes for every station I fly over, I force the wx (120 miles out) to the destination wx my making all the wx stns I fly over to the same wx as the destination. By doing this, you will always be given the correct runway to land on, based on wind direction of your destination airport.RJ

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Note: the GMT (Zulu) times in each metar above. Say I plan to depart CYYZ at 01:00. I then download all 0100z wx metars for the wx stns along my flight path up until the next hour which would be 0200z. I then download the next hour of wx metars for the next leg of my trip and so on. Because I only fly IFR and could care less if the wx changes for every station I fly over, I force the wx (120 miles out) to the destination wx my making all the wx stns I fly over to the same wx as the destination. By doing this, you will always be given the correct runway to land on, based on wind direction of your destination airport.RJ
That's a pretty good idea, I've been playing with FSMetar a little myself lately, I'm gonna try that. Thx :( Jim

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Alex, FSMetar is a great little program, and yes, if you really want to fly in weather from the past, you can do it. That said, it requires some work on your part to achieve this.1. You need to find wx metars from the past. I use this web site: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airpor...alue=1&MR=12. Copy and past the wx metars relevant to your flight path into a simple text file (I use notepad). You do not need to down load wx for the whole world for a 2-4 hour flight, only wx metars for the wx stns you fly over. Once you have your wx metars in a text file, open it with FSMetar and away you go.RJ
Sounds really good - however how do you find out the list of weather stations you would fly over? Is there some convenient way to do this so that I do not miss any?Also which FS METAR version do you use and I think you definitely need a registered FSUIPC for the software am I right?Thanks again - I really appreciate your effort helping me!Cheers,Alex

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Sounds really good - however how do you find out the list of weather stations you would fly over? Is there some convenient way to do this so that I do not miss any?Also which FS METAR version do you use and I think you definitely need a registered FSUIPC for the software am I right?Thanks again - I really appreciate your effort helping me!Cheers,Alex
I use verstion 1.5.5 Beta found here: http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/fs...etar155Beta.zipTo locate which weather stations you need you can do this;A) Create a flight plan using the FS planner.B ) After the flight plan has been created, on the "Create A Flight" screen click on "Selected weather" - "Change".C) Click on "User-Defined weather" and then the "Customize weather..." button.D) What is shown, is your flight plan, and all the weather stations that FS will use. Hover over a red mark and you'll see the weather station name. Write down the name of the weather stations you need, and then grab the metar off the weather link provided above. You don't need all the weather stations, just the ones that are closest to your flight plan. One thing, I don't find realistic, is if every weather station has different weather and the weather in FS9 is "always" changing. When I fly IFR, I only need a few changes during my flight, but most important, is the destination weather being correct. RJ

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These are excellent information. It was a little difficult to find the raw metars in Wunderground but I am on my way now. A quick question thought that popped in my mind: does FSMETAR support winds aloft or process them in any way? If yes where does it get the information for them? Or are there no winds aloft in FSMETAR generated weather? Do you use exactly the same FSUIPC settings that are detailed in the user manual or have you streamlined them for yourself. Thanks for the great tips,Alex

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These are excellent information. It was a little difficult to find the raw metars in Wunderground but I am on my way now. A quick question thought that popped in my mind: does FSMETAR support winds aloft or process them in any way? If yes where does it get the information for them? Or are there no winds aloft in FSMETAR generated weather? Do you use exactly the same FSUIPC settings that are detailed in the user manual or have you streamlined them for yourself. Thanks for the great tips,Alex
May I bumb this up in case some user knows the answer to my question above?

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These are excellent information. It was a little difficult to find the raw metars in Wunderground but I am on my way now. A quick question thought that popped in my mind: does FSMETAR support winds aloft or process them in any way? If yes where does it get the information for them? Or are there no winds aloft in FSMETAR generated weather? Do you use exactly the same FSUIPC settings that are detailed in the user manual or have you streamlined them for yourself. Thanks for the great tips,Alex
FSMetar uses the wind direction/speed from the reported metars. The wind direction (winds aloft) will be the same as the reported weather station, and the wind speed will be increased the higher you fly. So, yes FSMetar has winds aloft, is it accurate? No. RJ

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Just an FYI in response to the original question re: historical weather for FSMetar, I have set up a script on my site that is currently archiving a cycle per hour from the NOAA site. I've just got it working over the weekend and so far the archive is complete beginning with the 15Z cycle on 02-11-10 up through the 20Z cycle of 02-13-10 (which will be automatically added in about 5 minutes).I've thrown up a rudimentary download system for now, you can visit it here:Metar ArchiveCurrently there are no checks in place or any routine that prevents the user from selecting a metar outside of the date/cycle range described above so if you search for a metar that's not there you'll simply see a dead link as a result. I'm working on that as well as some other bugs. I realize a couple days of metars doesn't constitute an archive so this won't be much use to anyone right away, but the script is adding 24 cycles a day and by the end of 2010 there will be over 7000 archived cycles to choose from. I've got the "terrabyte package" with my hosting company so it'll be like 400 years before I run out of server space :( .Jim

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