I often start from my local GA airport, which has no tower. The ATC menu has no option for ATIS. And dialing in the frequency of the nearest ATIS transmission according to SkyVector does nothing (I’m not sure the game actually recognizes frequencies that aren’t already options in the ATC menu). So how am I supposed to set my altimeter? I’ve had this issue at a few small airports. If the ATC menu has no ATIS option, there doesn’t seem to be any way to get the correct current baro pressure.
Of course, with live weather I could look it up online and hope it’s accurate. But I’d feel better having a way to know what the game thinks it is. Same goes for wind speed/direction. Here the game does provide this in the flight plan menu - but if it changes, or you didn’t write it down, there’s no way to get it in-game (without a glass cockpit). In the real world naturally you’d check the windsock, but the windsocks don’t seem to be reliable either in-game, and in any case my local airport’s windsock is missing completely.
There’s the weather options box in the mouse-over menu - seems to me the obvious solution would be to include a ticker at the top of that menu with current conditions. It would be a useful reference and it’s no more “cheating” than being able to magically fill up the gas tank from anywhere.
If its only about the correct pressure set, you can press ‘B’ which will automatically set the Altimeter to the correct pressure.
Another option would be to check the airport elevation from a chart and use it to set the Altimeter.
…that’s what I am doing when departing from an airport. But this does not work for the arrival airport (if flying VFR), as I am already in the air and cannot sync my current altitude with the airport elevation…
…am I missing something? I can only use the knob to set field elevation when I am on the ground?
how does that work in the air?
Let’s say I’m flying at 8’000ft and know the arrival airport elevation is 520ft. How should I know when to stop turning the baro-knob (without knowing the arrival airport pressure)?
Oh! I see what you’re getting at. Yes, arriving makes it more difficult. Here’s what the Air Traffic Procedures Office says to do when flying VFR:
Set the altimeter to a current reported altimeter setting from a station along the route and within 100 NM of the aircraft*, or;
If there is no station within this area, use the current reported altimeter setting of the nearest available station, or;
If the aircraft is not equipped with a radio, set the altimeter to the elevation of the departure airport or use an available appropriate altimeter setting prior to departure.
NOTE-
*Air traffic controllers will furnish this information at least once when enroute or on an instrument flight plan within their controlled airspace.
Always a pleasure!
Yes, using B to sync the altimeter in the sim will update to current conditions as you fly along. In the US, always remember to ensure that your altimeter is calibrated to 2992 when flying at or above FL180. If I remember correctly, pressing B while flying with a glass cockpit will set this correctly as well.
