How to know if there is a turbulence throughout the flight[MSFS]?

Hi everyone,

I wonder if there’s a website or any addon, tool etc. to check whether I’ll be experiencing any turbulence(in europe) throughout my flight in the sim.

Furthermore, for those who have used one of these tools and also using live weather in the sim, do they match with the sim’s weather? Like if the tool says that there will be some turbulence somewhere and does it also occur in the sim?

Any help is appreciated! Thanks :slight_smile:

Try this
AWC - Winds/Temps Data (aviationweather.gov)

1 Like

Thank you so much but any chance that you might know europe based? Maybe I should specifically define that sorry! :slight_smile:

Upper wind and temperature charts |Riigi Ilmateenistuse lennumeteoroloogiline informatsioon (lennuilm.ee)

google does wonders!

1 Like

Just don’t be surprised when those external weather sources won’t fit to what you experience in the sim as the sim among other weather bugs doesn’t currently model turbulence correctly. Meaning not even close to what you would have experience in real life. Many threads on that already here in the forum.

8 Likes

I’m old enough to remember how people were complaining here how the planes were “on the rails”, so now we are complaining that turbulence is all wrong? I have to say I am quite impressed how many here are true experts and know exactly how these phenomenon should be modeled. Well, at least how they should not be modeled.

2 Likes

No true. Check your facts.

The forums are a big waste of time. There are millions of users who are have a good time. PS There is turbulence. Its a sim remember?

1 Like

Much rethoric no facts.

Plenty of IRL experience here and evidence in this forum. I know you two guys are known not to be convinced when it comes to criticism of MSFS no matter what IRL pilots or aviation experts say. So I am not even trying.

For all others see here especially the comparison vids btw real life and sim. Or find the separate thread on thermals. Or see how the sim lets you fly through Hurricanes in GA planes. And no it was not fixed yesterday the bug log was opened.

7 Likes

Thank you so much for all the detailed and informative answers. One more question, how one should read these numbers? I mean how do I understand if there is a turbulence by looking at the map?

SkyVector is pretty accurate for me

1 Like

As far as I know, the only type of turbulence modeled in the sim right now is mechanical turbulence. So anytime you’re overflying mountains or flying close to larger objects with higher environmental wind speeds, you’ll experience turbulence.
Clear air turbulence, thermal turbulence, convective turbulence, wake turbulence etc. are not modeled in the sim yet.
That means there’s no point in looking at significant weather prognostic charts.

If you have a jet stream sitting near Alps for the example, you’ll jump like crazy… that’s the one situation where you could look at the winds aloft and expect some bumps.

6 Likes

Thank you!

I’m really surprised at the replies to your first post as it was spot-on (as is this one).

I agree that lots of folks can have fun with the sim in its current state… no doubt about that at all.

But the OP was specifically asking about turbulence. And you gave a very accurate reply regarding turbulence. I had to re-read the thread to see if I’d missed something. Clearly I didn’t.

Thanks again.

6 Likes

My motion platform tells me if theres turbulence. I get chucked about quite nocitably on some flights.

Interesting. Which motion platform are you using? I have a NLR v3 and with the exception of a hint of ‘quivering’ around hills, I’ve experienced no turbulence with it using the default driver profile.

The jolt you get when you encounter a sudden step change in pressure has woken me up on a couple of occasions…

1 Like

Thanks a lot!

So currently the sim has only the turbulences over mountains etc.

I see, and do you know how one can interpret the wind map that I shared an example of it above?

How do I determine if there is a turbulence by looking at that image?

Also, plane shakes :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

1 Like

Just looking at the wind map does not tell you where and how much turbulence there is because very strong winds at altitude can be laminar eg jet stream, mountain waves.

Next to GA planes I often fly gliders in Foehn / Mistral conditions and once you get from the very turbulent rotor into the wave all goes quiet. So when I slowed down the plane enough I was able to go backwards over ground in the over 100kmh headwind.

Turbulence maps give more insight at altitude eg

https://www.turbulenceforecast.com/

At low level winds above 15kts can shake up a Cessna quite well. As these winds are disturbed by trees, buildings, hills etc. See the real life vids which Perry posted in the thread I linked above.

5 Likes

Thank you for the explanation and providing the link.

From this I can understand a bit how the wind speed having an effect over an aircraft like Cessna.

You’re welcome. The 15kts are more meant as a ballpark figure just to give an idea how little wind already can be quite challenging for pilots of small aircraft in critical phases of flight eg landings.

Everyone perceives turbulence differently and every aircraft reacts differently of course.

1 Like