Repeating my tests at a place a little windier, found via the website https://badbadweather.com/
FAPE is currently reporting:
I then ran with Asobo live weather for 120 seconds, ASFS Passive weather for 120 seconds, and finally ASFS preset control weather for 120 seconds. This was the result:
From what I can see, Passive mode has zero effect on wind gusts, or wind in general on the ground. However, when preset control kicks in you can see the change quite clearly. The Asobo baked in gusts are also quite apparent, even in Passive mode.
So it leaves me wondering what exactly Passive mode is able to affect?
On post on their official forums clarifies that Passive mode only affects how the plane reacts to turbulence, and other wind effects, not the weather itself, so that explains why the graph looks like it does.
For me, this makes Passive practically useless, but I’ve yet to run tests on acceleration on all three axes.