See video below. Was flying between Tokyo and Nagasaki just now and ran into the most severe turbulence I’ve ever seen in the game. The A320NX almost crashed at crusing altitude and the autopilot disconnected multiple times. Almost Was competely rolled over too. Was a significant headwind but it seems like there need to be a ton of work on updrafts from mountains.
I’ve noticed the wind speed data is incorrect. Clouds race around 100kts everywhere. It makes turbulence fly overboard and landings are more difficult than usual.
Sounds like a bug to me.
In my view Japan is turbulence galore since release of MSFS. I never had a really smooth flight there.
This has been occurring since the days of FSX.
It is very seldom I have been able to fly over Japan without the winds going nuts.
It seems whatever causes this was also carried over to MSFS.
I can’t help but wonder if it might have something to do with the 150 knot winds funnelling over southern Japan at 30000 ft?
Japan has some extremely strong mid altitude jetstream winds that pilots need to be aware of. Some of the worst turbulence encountered at altitude is caused by the rotor effect from transition layers above, below and beside those extreme winds. IRL, the shear turbulence you encountered would have been avoided for the very reasons you mentioned.
Go to You-Tube and search extreme turbulence. You will learn that when the conditions are right, people get hurt. You will also learn that many Asian routes are notorious.
Thanks so much.
I wasn’t aware of that. That could be what’s happening.
I do look up actual current flights on “Flight Aware” to get their cruise altitudes when planning my flights to avoid turbulence though.
Even when flying at those altitudes I still get extreme turbulence over Japan
It could be the sim doesn’t replicate that effect well.
Note the current winds over Japan. Also note the transition areas. When flight planning, it is important to consider the shortest route in and out of the extreme flow. Flights travelling east in this case can gain quite an advantage by riding the stream but will use caution when entering and exiting. Ideally you want to make the transition where the wind change is relatively gradual. Also consider your maneuvering speeds, so as not to overstress the airframe in the more violent areas.
Don’t forget to turn on the seatbelt signs.
That’s what I love about this hobby.
You learn something new constantly.
Thanks again!!!
I feel that you’re being misled slightly. What you experienced in that video is very unlikely to be due to the high windspeeds. Plenty of aircraft flying those exact same routes IRL today and I can guarantee you their experience will be very non-eventful in comparison.
Unfortunately flying over “rough” terrain in this sim (no matter how high you are above it), coupled with high winds occasionally makes things go pretty crazy. It’s a bug that has been reported on since day 1.
Agreed, this must be a bug somehow, lots of planes IRL flying the same route, at same altitude, over japan with heavy headwind, and they are perfectly fine. But when I flew the A32NX I got crazy turbulence so violent it disconnect the AP multiple times and almost tear the plane in pieces, something must not be right…
Yeah, you can compare it based on the terrain below you. When you are above water like near Osaka everything is fine but at the moment you are above mountains the luggage starts flying.
Why? That was just about when lunch was being served on the airplane. So that’s absolutely normal and expected.
I’m almost certain that the coding in the sim applies the wind at your flight level to the entire atmosphere which causes this craziness. I think this is true because the ocean looks crazy wavy below when you are flying in 100 kt upper level winds. When it’s calm at 38000 ft there are no waves. Might be wrong but that’s just my intuition.
Also the turbulance isn’t as bad as my video if you fly low to any mountains in Japan where the wind generally is around 20-40 knots.
