Which runway to use for take off and landing, and departure and arrival route? I want it to match up with the live traffic, and have the hardest time of all with that part in my flight planning.
Any advice? Thanks in advance all - have a good one. 
1 Like
Several ways, but for larger airports you would want to check the ATIS. You can do this by tuning in the frequency listed on the charts if you are within range. But for comparing to live traffic, best bet is to use an app such as “ATIS App” if in the US. Or could also listen to a live ATIS broadcast at https://www.liveatc.net/ Or could also check a website such as FlightAware and see where all the arriving traffic is going on the map. Obviously if winds are strong they will be landing into the wind.
The problem with that is the sim ATC, controlling AI traffic, many times will use opposite or different runways than the prevailing winds - regardless of weather source. The sims ATC and Weather engine both need to be fixed.
2 Likes
Wasn’t aware of that, as I stopped using ATC. But could see where that would be problematic!
In my world map flight plan I usually just set my departure gate/parking and my arrival gate/parking.
Then looking at the departure airport, you should see a line from your departure gate to the active runway for take off.
For the arrival, after picking the arriving gate/parking, I use the dropdown menu under the arrival airport and pick the exact same gate/parking from the dropdown menu. This will reset the flight plan which will assign the approach and the runway without removing the destination gate. This is your active runway for landing.
Unfortunately, winds, AI traffic and proper runway usage has been a long standing issue in all the previous versions of MSFS. The ATC/AI system in this version has been adapted from that code base, and is no different - actually worse - because I am sure the dev’s had to adapt the old system to the current version and strip out some code.
To the OPs issue though.
The wind direction that is loaded into the sim when you start your flight from the home screen, is a large catalyst (based on previous sim behavior) in determining the airport’s active runway usage. Working around the limitations of the current sim weather engine, what I do at large airports is load my flight with the default clear wx preset, then once flight is loaded, I immediately use the Unreal Wx mod to load in current metar.
This should now get the sims ATC/AI traffic engine on the same page . You may get a few flights landing opposite initially, but eventually the AI traffic will obey the prevailing winds once the current, LIVE weather metar, which you can verify from an outside source, is loaded into the sim. Then the traffic/ ATC system catches up.
If you’re wondering: Why not just use the Unreal Weather mod when you launch your flight, because then the sim’s AI traffic/ATC engine will now know the current, accurate wind direction and will activate the appropriate runways at an airport? Because doing so has been known to CTD the sim.
Maybe if the dev’s opened up current constraints on the sim’s weather side a touch, or better yet, release an aviation simulator with an effective weather engine, it would, at minimum, help mitigate these types of problems for users regarding the dynamics of the AI Traffic/Weather/Airport system.
In real life, you will want to face the wind as much as possible while taking off or landing, because it provides more lift to your wings. The ATC is supposed to give you the good runway to use. However, as the pilot in command, it’s your own decision to use the one you want; you can ask the ATC to use another runway. However, if you lack of lift at takeoff and crash because of that or if you go farther than the end of the runway while landing, you’ll have to “explain” your decision to the authorities 
For example, if the winds blow 200 degrees at 10 knots and you have a 06/24 runway, you will prefer to land on the runway 24.
When the winds are calm (3 knots or less if I remember well), you can choose the runway you want.
This site seems to be good to give the winds : https://www.icao.int/safety/iStars/Pages/Weather-Conditions.aspx
Do you find strange using the runway 24 (240 degrees) when the winds blow at 200 degrees, like if you were flying in the same direction (refer to what I’ve just said)? The reason is that your aircraft will be really flying at 240 degrees, but the winds at 200 is not where it blow TO to but where if blows FROM! 
Hope it helps
1 Like
Specific to the sim, each airport object can have defined “preferred” runway(s) which may be in use regardless of prevailing wind direction and speed.
Using an external planner like Little Nav Map grants you access to all the sim’s airfield characteristics, including COM frequencies. VHF range (which may be further exacerbated by enabling VHF degradation setting) limits how close you are before you can receive anything from the destination field’s ATIS. Otherwise if it’s a smaller field, you may find they only have ASOS or AWOS. Between the readings of the latter and any field plates, you can determine pattern and likely runway in use.
I would suggest that you become a member of VATSIM/IVAO and start flying.
Either you will have ATC online to guide you or you will not where in such case you can determine the active runway based on winds and enjoy your flight while you announce your intentions on unicom (where there is no ATC online).
Even if you are intimidated at first to jump in busy airspaces with a lot of pilots and ATC online, you can start learning the correct way how to make your flight as real as you want on remote areas.
My advice stands valid if you are among the people who want to invest on simming rather than just gaming with MSFS.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.