Important: These forums are for discussions between SkyDemon users. They are not routinely monitored by SkyDemon staff so any urgent issues should be sent directly to our Customer Support.

Feature request: permanently disable wind predictions for route planning (plus explain the wind...


Author
Message
joanna
joanna
Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 10, Visits: 34
Hello,

It would be helpful if there was an option in the Setup menu to permanently disable the automatic wind predictions for route planning (so to assume a zero-wind conditions). Especially useful when planning a route a few days ahead.

BTW, it's not clear to me how does Sky Demon come up with the wind forecasts? The documentation [1] says vaguely:

"SkyDemon knows what the wind is forecast to be doing anywhere on the globe, at all common VFR altitudes and up to 24 hours ahead."

Is it taken from GAMET forecasts, some numeric global weather model (e.g. GFS), or perhaps worked out from METARs/TAFs by using some heuristics? Can the developers please elaborate more on this?

adhawkins
adhawkins
Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)Too Much Forum (28K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 274, Visits: 2.5K
Out of interest, why do you want to do this?

From memory, if you plan a route far enough in advance to not have any forecasts, SkyDemon will tell you, and plan the route based on nil wind.

Andy
stevelup
stevelup
Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)Too Much Forum (70K reputation)
Group: Moderators
Posts: 593, Visits: 4.9K
Pretty sure it uses the GFS model.

If you want to disable it:-

Weather > Tools > Enroute Wind Conditions and enter '0/0' in the All Legs box.
Tim Dawson
Tim Dawson
SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 7.8K, Visits: 8.4K
There is no way to permanently disable the integration of forecast winds aloft. This is one of the core SkyDemon features, and we have no plans to introduce a feature which disables it. You can specify your own manual wind values, but this is not persistent when you save and reload the route.
joanna
joanna
Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)Too Much Forum (1.6K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 10, Visits: 34
The reason to disable wind forecasts is to make the planning deterministic and ensure no magic-things-happening-behind-my-back-without-my-full-understanding-or-consent.

Tim, can you please confirm how does the SD compute the wind forecasts? Can you please update the online documentation to make this clear?

I surely understand that this might be a cool feature and that most users might appreciate it, but why not provide a switch to disable this feature for those who have a different opinion? Like you do for many other features that could be disabled per user wish? The necessity to click several times and set 0/0 manually each time I plan a route is much inconvenient.

Thanks,
joanna.
Tim Dawson
Tim Dawson
SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 7.8K, Visits: 8.4K
SkyDemon doesn't compute forecasts or conjure them out of METAR or TAF data. We use an established forecast model (the Global Forecast System). It has been used for aviation purposes since its inception, indeed I believe that was one of the reasons it was started. It's what is used by aviation across the globe as a source of the most reliable predictions of wind vectors aloft.

If there were a lot of people who didn't want SkyDemon to automatically use these wind forecasts, we'd probably have an option to turn them off.
guille
guille
Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)Too Much Forum (18K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 149, Visits: 2.4K
What I do if I plan a route in advance, is just to inverse it ... and the time average will be, in principle, the same as the one with wind 0...
Joseph
Joseph
Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)Too Much Forum (2.2K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 18, Visits: 553
'The necessity to click several times and set 0/0 manually each time I plan a route is much inconvenient.'

On PC it is enough to set zero wind once for the whole route, all legs will change to that (Weather.. Enroute conditions..).
Other possible trick: set exact DEP time but date.
The suggested feature I think is useful but no pain if stays...

Joseph
ckurz7000
ckurz7000
Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)Too Much Forum (63K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 538, Visits: 2.2K
guille (12/06/2014)
What I do if I plan a route in advance, is just to inverse it ... and the time average will be, in principle, the same as the one with wind 0...


Unfortunately not. If you have a significant crosswind component the averaged times will NOT reflect the time achieved with no wind.

However that may be, personally, I don't need this option.

-- Chris.
Tim Dawson
Tim Dawson
SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)SkyDemon Team (616K reputation)
Group: Forum Members
Posts: 7.8K, Visits: 8.4K
On all SkyDemon platforms you can set an "override wind" for all legs of 0/0 at the same time. There should be no need to go through doing it for each leg.
GO

Merge Selected

Merge into selected topic...



Merge into merge target...



Merge into a specific topic ID...




Reading This Topic

Login

Explore
Messages
Mentions
Search