ATC Assigning Incorrect Runway vs Weather

Bug Reporting Hub ATC, Traffic & NAVAIDs
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1

Are you using Developer Mode or made changes in it?

No.

Have you disabled/removed all your mods and addons? If the issue still occurs with no mods and add-ons, please continue to report your issue. If not, please move this post to the User Support Hub.

No.

Brief description of the issue:

Approximately 50% of the time I am assigned an incorrect runway to land versus weather conditions as reported by ATIS, in-sim METAR in Fenix, and SimBrief weather upon departure (which appears to all align).

Example: Just completed KIAH-KDEN. Upon departure, my plan called for arriving ILS 35R, forecast in KDEN was winds 310/10. During flight, approaching descent I rechecked the METAR in Fenix EFB and got 340/7. I had my arrival and runways planned accordingly (35R). On descent, ATC came on and directed me to 17R. I reentered arrival and followed the correct route to ILS 17R. As I’m landing, the in-sim winds are still indicated as being from the north (now pushing me).

Provide Screenshot(s)/video(s) of the issue encountered:

N/A

Detailed steps to reproduce the issue encountered:

  1. Pre-file an IFR flight plan with SimBrief using an airliner that provides in-flight winds on the MFD. Ensure you are set to NOT force the sim to keep the runway according to plan (use live traffic [I use FSLTL]). 2. Note the forecast runway and winds. 3. Complete the flight using in-sim ATC and note the runway it assigns on arrival. 4. In approximately 50% of the flights you make, you will be landing with the wind at your back.

PC specs and/or peripheral set up if relevant:

N/A

Build Version # when you first started experiencing this issue:

Most current with all world/sim updates applied.

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Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

1 Like
4

I noticed that too recently. I was landing at Dublin yesterday and ATC cleared me for runway 10 with 15kts tail wind! At the same time AI was departing from RW28!
A few days earlier the same happened when landing at YANG / WLP.

I have “enforce flight plan” option turned off and I had RW28 selected in the flight plan.

5

So, I took off from Dublin today and ATC was sending all aircraft to depart from 28R while landing planes were using ILS RW10L. ATIS was saying ILS 10L in use and 28 is for landing and departing. The wind was 012 at 14kts so why AI was landing at 10L?

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Video showing me departing from 28R, AI landing on the same runway from other direction and ATC in the background sending departing planes to 28R. One big mess.

6

It is off for me. I’m allowing MSFS to control the runway I use. I’m NOT forcing it to use my flight plan runway. In most cases, it changes it anyway and I’m OK with a change that makes sense per the weather, but when the wind is clearly from the south, it shouldn’t move me to a runway with winds at my back, etc. I usually have my backup plan be the opposite in anticipation if the winds look like they might shift.

1 Like
7

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

Description of the issue:
At this moment, the ATIS given for EDTY is contradictory. The wind is announced as 136 by 5, but the active runways are 28 and 28R instead of the expected 10 and 10R. Wind cone also shows wind from east to southeast, so wind info is right and runway is wrong.

Did you experience this issue before you joined the Beta?
Don’t know.

Provide specific location or coordinates:
EDTY

Provide time and date of the observed weather issue:
02/02/2025 1430Z

[PC Only] Did you remove all your community mods/add-ons? If yes, are you still experiencing the issue?
No, but none are affecting weather (only SPAD, Navigraph, GSX and FSLTL installed)

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

How often does this occur for you (Example: Just once, every time on sim load, intermittently)?
Just once

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Please list clear steps you took in order to help our test team reproduce the same issue:

  1. Set date and time to 02/02/2025 1430Z with live weather
  2. Start free flight at EDTY
  3. Get ATIS (133.880)

YOUR SETTINGS

If the issue still occurs with no mods and add-ons, please continue to report your issue. If not, please move this post to the User Support Hub.

What peripherals are you using, if relevant:

[PC Only] Are you using Developer Mode or have you made any changes to it?
No

[PC Only] Many issues may be due to an outdated graphics card. Please state your Graphics Card Driver Manufacturer (NVIDIA, Intel, AMD) and Version:

[PC Only] What other relevant PC specs can you share?

MEDIA

Please add a screenshot or video of the issue occurring.

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[END OF FIRST USER REPORT]

:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
•

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

8

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
• yes

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• Using EDTY as in @TGAPMerlin report, Live Weather
Wind 130, 5kts: ATC incorrectly selected departure RWY 28, that is why it also comes incorrect in the ATIS
If you check the EFB, recommended runway is the correct one: 10
See below screenshots

Doing an additional test, manually setting up the wind from 100, if wind is less or same than 10kts RWY 28 is selected by ATC, if wind is same or more than 11kts, RWY 10 is selected by ATC. Maybe an incorrect wind algorithm calculation is used in order to determine the correct runway.
Should ATC use the same wind algorithm calculation than the EFB to determine the departure/landing runway ?

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

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9

Hmm… Runways are designated with a primary/base and secondary (reciprocal) end in the SDK. Perhaps the runway end designated as primary in the SDK is the default unless the wind reaches a certain threshold and then switches to the secondary? Would be worth testing. As far as I know, there’s no “calm wind” or other runway preference flags.

1 Like
10

In FS2020, there was a “preferred runway” factor - although I’m not sure where that’s documented in the SDK, and sometimes the circumstances would force this runway as Active even though prevailing wind said this wasn’t a good idea.

In FS2024, unfortunately the only way to minimize (not prevent - nothing is guaranteed) a Live WX mismatch is to check the METAR from an external source prior to finalizing the plan in the EFB and sending it to ATC. And that is a toss-up when the wind says the usual active (i.e., out of four runways only one has an IAP which means it’s usually the IFR one) is NOT the most optimal.

In that regard FS2020 did provide the correct runway under Live WX more times so far than FS2024.

11

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. Maybe it wasn’t activated for the world hub.

12

I don’t know if this also belongs here, maybe it’s its own bug or linked to this bug: In today’s session I wanted to use historical weather, so I set the time marker to around noon. The ATIS did seem to match what was reported in reality for that time (wind 05705 vs 06005, CAVOK, QNH 1026, temperature 02/M02 (even though it was reported as 02/02 but I read somewhere that the “minus” is omitted - which is another bug…)), but the time for the in-sim ATIS was reported as 1800Z (which was around IRL time for the flight) instead of the selected 1130Z. EFB also showed correct in-sim time.

In-sim time:
METAR EDGS 031120Z 06005KT CAVOK 01/M02 Q1026
METAR EDGS 031150Z 06005KT CAVOK 02/M02 Q1026

IRL time:
METAR EDGS 031750Z AUTO 20005KT 9999 // NCD M01/M03 Q1025

Wind before and after 1130Z is quite different, so I think the report matches the real world.

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13

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?

yes

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

another example at YMML, Live Weather
Wind 300 7kts
World Map automatically selects RWY 16 (incorrect)
EFB recommends RWY 27 (correct)

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

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14

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

Description of the issue: plane always lines up on runway 9r regardless of wind at kptk; think I’ve seen this at other airports as well.

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Did you experience this issue before you joined the Beta? yes, has been present since rollout of game and for sure in su2

Provide specific location or coordinates: kptk

Provide time and date of the observed weather issue: seen with live weather as per image

[PC Only] Did you remove all your community mods/add-ons? If yes, are you still experiencing the issue?

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

How often does this occur for you (Example: Just once, every time on sim load, intermittently)?
Every time

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Please list clear steps you took in order to help our test team reproduce the same issue:

YOUR SETTINGS

If the issue still occurs with no mods and add-ons, please continue to report your issue. If not, please move this post to the User Support Hub.

What peripherals are you using, if relevant:

[PC Only] Are you using Developer Mode or have you made any changes to it?

[PC Only] Many issues may be due to an outdated graphics card. Please state your Graphics Card Driver Manufacturer (NVIDIA, Intel, AMD) and Version:

[PC Only] What other relevant PC specs can you share?

MEDIA

Please add a screenshot or video of the issue occurring.

[END OF FIRST USER REPORT]

:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
•

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

15

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
• yes

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
• when selecting KPTK, Live Weather, sim automatically setup RWY 9R
Wind is 280 15kts, runway should be the 27
EFB recommended runway is the correct one: 27R

Workaround (not sure if it always works):
Use the “Delete Departure” functionality
Use the “Set as Departure” functionality
Correct runway is selected
See below screenshots

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

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Workaround

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16

Sounds like a recurrence of an older bug that was apparently fixed in FS2020 SU14. ATC Assigns Wrong Runways with Wind Direction - #979 by PilotJennyD

17

I think the error is completely independent of weather, ATC, or anything else.
I’ve had the same error since SU2.

When I select a free flight and then choose a departure airport, MSFS suggests a runway. If I start the flight from that airport, everything is fine. If I change the runway, my flight still starts on the runway MSFS suggested at the beginning.

This also happens without live weather, without live traffic. It also happens when I set the wind to 0 knots. I’m still a beginner; I’m not interested in anything related to ATC.

It happens at generic airports, at Microsoft-handmade-airports and at add-on-airports. It happens at small VFR-airports, it happens at big international airports. Always if you choose another runway than the suggested one.

The same thing happens when I plan a flight in EFB:

[I would have loved to illustrate this with screenshots, but I am not allowed to]

(user-defined weather: small clouds, no wind - no live traffic - no ai-traffic)

18

Come on Asobo, fix this already…

Just now, why would I bother tuning in to the ATIS station to hear which runway is in use at my destination airport, only to be told by control tower to land on the opposite runway, with a tailwind?

FS2020 here

19

Make sure to have the “ATC Enforce Flight Plan” option enabled so that ATC will respect your runway choice independently of the wind direction.

The issue reported in that topic is different: in some occasions, ATC is proposing an incorrect runway for landing or departing based on the wind direction.

20

Sounds like it’s another instance of the bug reported here: Changing Aircraft or Livery After Choosing a Parking Spot for C&D Changes the Departure Point to the Default Runway