MSFS 2020 Flight Planning - Part 1: Weather Forecasting

Excellent all this. I will read your other topics. Thanks!

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That’s an excellent question. Here are 2 or 3 answers:

  1. The two most frequent causes of accidents in general aviation are fuel exhaustion and flying into conditions that you are not trained or equipped for. As VFR virtual pilot I need to have 3miles visibility and to be, in general clear of clouds (these rules change from day to night and depending on what airspace you are - but this is general). So if I’m flying VFR and I find myself below those requirements, I either need to go IFR (file w ATC and be sure you have the equipment) or, which is what a non IFR rated or equipped pilot should do: turn around 180 and go back.

  2. In a light aircraft You should be clear of those storms by at least 20 miles as per FAA regulations. Even if you can fly IFR, because the real danger is severe wind shear and violent turbulence. Fortunately those storms are often not big and you can go around them.

What would I do? Stay clear of any storm when in VFR, if I’m in IFR, either request vectors around or request permission to change the route.

Heavies can in theory fly through most weather, but in real life they often detour to avoid heavy storms because is not pleasant for the passengers.

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@applejack4561,
Thank you very much for taking the time to write this informative post :pray: I plan to book mark it and use it often.
For the subsequent articles, are you planning to continue this thread or create new ones?
Any thoughts on how one might keep all the articles ( 1-6) mentioned in the post together in one place for easy retrieval and reference?
best regards

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In order to get this information, I will click on the right ( LEFT) on “Aviation - Air”. Very good.

Such a fantastic post.

For years and years I used to do the former across all flight sims. Just load the game and fly, regardless of VFR or IFR type. At best I’d use some checklist for the basic procedures and perhaps a STAR chart if I could find it, but that was pretty much it.

Then for several reasons (OnAir, Pilot2ATC, VATSIM, virtual airlines etc) I decided to gradually start calculating cargo and fuel weights, METARs and TAFs, NOTAMs, takeoff speeds and performance charts, taxiways, SIDs, flight plans, airways and vertical profiles, fuel consumption, STARs and approaches, landing speeds and a dozen other things.

Now each 1 or 2-hour flight takes an additional 30-60 minutes to prepare and another 15+ minutes during cruising to plan descent, arrival, rollout etc. Every time I’m about to plan a new flight, I learn something new and the things one can learn are endless.

It’s a 1000x times more fun and I finally understand what I’m doing, rather than just fly in the blind. One caveat is that it takes lots of tools to plan all these things: SimBrief, Little Navmap, Navigraph charts, SimtoolkitPro, VATSIM filing, sometimes SkyVector and so on, not to mention countless sheets of paper I’m using as scratchpads to keep notes and make calculations.

Now when I hear people refer to MSFS as a “game”, I just smirk.

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Skyvector has weather overlays that can be turned on or off. Layers are accessed through the map menu bar. There is a selection for IFR and another for icing. The information isn’t as detailed as Metroblue but can provide the “big picture” for IFR and icing areas.

Wow what an article. Copied pasted into word and saved :smiley:

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hello
Very interesting
It is what I also do before each flight. In meteoBlue there is a lot of information: the most difficult part is to find the good chart!
Thank you for this article and I wait for the next one.

Excellent article, thank you.

I see you are planning a round the world trip. I’ve been toying with doing something similar once I am back up to speed. (I probably haven’t simmed for 15 years or more.) Also using Live Weather.

If you are going to execute a RTW flight in Live Weather, how are you going to handle the time zone changes as you mpve away from wherever your real world life is? That problem suddenly occurred to me a couple of days ago.

This is a great question. I think I will try to accommodate the flights during times that I can fly without being up all night, which will make for nice and interesting night VFR flying!!

Next post on the series is up

Here

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That’s all I could think of. I’m not quite mad enough to be simming at 3a.m.

I thought I’d possibly add some sightseeing flying in “artificial” daytime. It would seem a shame to fly halfway round the world and never see Sydney Harbour, or whatever…

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I just posted Another episode on this series

  1. Preflight Checks Here

Thanks for this series of articles. Lacking a proper manual and, at present, a good book like the old " Microsoft Flight Simulator X For Pilots: Real World Training", there is a real need for serious guides, in particular for those who try to go beyond simple operations and prefer simulating realistic procedures.

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I have written a couple of more guides since this one was written. Follow the links at the end.

Good post. Too bad weather has no influence in MSFS except wind and visibility. I remember doing incredibly realistic flight planning with Active Sky for the real weather. It was really fulfilling to make decisions that actually mattered.

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Great Information and publication. I am New to MSFS and wondering if Sky Vector is a program you recommend. Im looking for a Mapping & Planning Program that I can use to follow along on my flights. Easy would be helpful :slight_smile:

TY

Sky vector is great for basic planning, specially for those that like VFR and general aviation. At least within the US.

It is free. You don’t need to sign in (this site is for real aviation and you can submit your plans - please do not submit simulation plans)

Other great program is ForeFlight, but it will cost you.

However, The best way to learn how to use the charts is to buy the actual real charts of the area you fly in and to read Here / watch material on how to fly them.

If you are new to simulation and aviation in general my biggest advise is to start by reading the FAAs aeronautical handbook Here

Thanks Apple, I certainly will check out the Links you sent me

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