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constantin_w
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Group: Forum Members
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Hi guys,
I just returned from a rather scary flight home. I made a mistake and mixed MSL for AGL when it came to the cloud base. Consequently, when flying through higher terrain, I could have gotten in serious trouble. I couldn't uncover my mistake this moment because when turning on the flyable tab, everything looks fine. By the same time, the vertical tab shows the necessary information.
Is there a way how to show flight limitations and set limits for "cloud base over ground"? If not, I would humbly ask for it's implementation.
BR Constantin
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grahamb
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 565,
Visits: 27K
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+xHi guys,
I just returned from a rather scary flight home. I made a mistake and mixed MSL for AGL when it came to the cloud base. Consequently, when flying through higher terrain, I could have gotten in serious trouble. I couldn't uncover my mistake this moment because when turning on the flyable tab, everything looks fine. By the same time, the vertical tab shows the necessary information.
Is there a way how to show flight limitations and set limits for "cloud base over ground"? If not, I would humbly ask for it's implementation.
BR Constantin How would that work in an area of rapidly undulating terrain?
I rarely use the 'Flyable' tab, but if I do it's only to grab a general view if I can't get access to much better weather tools.
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constantin_w
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 17,
Visits: 16
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+x+xHi guys,
I just returned from a rather scary flight home. I made a mistake and mixed MSL for AGL when it came to the cloud base. Consequently, when flying through higher terrain, I could have gotten in serious trouble. I couldn't uncover my mistake this moment because when turning on the flyable tab, everything looks fine. By the same time, the vertical tab shows the necessary information.
Is there a way how to show flight limitations and set limits for "cloud base over ground"? If not, I would humbly ask for it's implementation.
BR Constantin How would that work in an area of rapidly undulating terrain?
I rarely use the 'Flyable' tab, but if I do it's only to grab a general view if I can't get access to much better weather tools.
It would basically be similar to terrain warnings when you are on a specific height. Except that it now compares the cloud base to the underground and warns if the delta is smaller than a specific value.
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Boeingboy
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Group: Forum Members
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Constantin. With respect, your post is asking SD to make up for a fundamental mistake in your airmanship. The only cloud referenced to ground is to be found in METARs and TAF's. Everything else is AMSL.
It would be totally impractical for SD to source accurate data on cloud bases away from airports and interpret them in relation to undulating terrain in your vicinity. Given your ground speed how would that work? I know of no other program either for professional use or for GA that could supply that information dynamically.
The 'Flyable' tab is only to show areas that 'might comply' with the selected criteria of viz and (AMSL) cloud base. It's not a guarantee that the conditions will be that good.
We improve as pilots by making mistakes and learning from them. I doubt you'll make the same one again.
Good luck.
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constantin_w
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Group: Forum Members
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+xConstantin. With respect, your post is asking SD to make up for a fundamental mistake in your airmanship. The only cloud referenced to ground is to be found in METARs and TAF's. Everything else is AMSL. It would be totally impractical for SD to source accurate data on cloud bases away from airports and interpret them in relation to undulating terrain in your vicinity. Given your ground speed how would that work? I know of no other program either for professional use or for GA that could supply that information dynamically. The 'Flyable' tab is only to show areas that 'might comply' with the selected criteria of viz and (AMSL) cloud base. It's not a guarantee that the conditions will be that good. We improve as pilots by making mistakes and learning from them. I doubt you'll make the same one again. Good luck. Well, first of all I am aware of my mistake and openly published it. The condescending undertone is displaced. Anyways, all support we use is in the end a helper to avoid mistakes we make or to help deal with potential consequences from these mistakes to minimize harm to ourselves. That is what I am looking for, not more and not less and surely not for absolution.
SF does already provide the cloud base. And it is also shown in the vertical display. The landscape height is also shown and known. Hence all required information is already there. Basically the function I am looking for is similar to the terrain warning.
Why do I think it makes sense to have this in the flyable section? Aside from planning the flight, when in the mess you want to get out and therefore, the distance between ground and cloud base (even if not 100% accurate) would allow an indication which direction to take.
BR Constantin
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Tim Dawson
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The ceiling for our flyable conditions tool is always given AGL. If there's a place in the software you think this should be clearer, we will consider it. That's really the whole point of the feature, as it's a personalised forecast where you tell us how close to the ground you're comfortable flying, and we do the rest.
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Boeingboy
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+x Sorry Constantin. In view of Tim's post it would appear I owe you an apology. It would appear it's me that's mistaken regarding the forecast bases shown in the flyable tab. Producing a live dynamic display however would be very difficult. I doubt there's anything that could do that.
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constantin_w
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Group: Forum Members
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Hi,
no hard feelings towards anyone. My thought is rather simple. I see the terrain warning which e.g. Garmin provides:
Now, Skydemon has the terrain height in detail and it also has the information of the cloud base. My idea would be to have a similar view as in terrain where the color is defined by the height between ground and cloud base. The picture would look very similar to the upper part of the picture (since the maintain areas are generally the ones closest to the cloud base). The idea is that in case of a deep cloud base and especially in mountainous area, one would have the option to see which path is most likely to get you out of the mess or in the worst case also show that there isn't a real good way out and that a landing is needed. I think, such a functionality is currently not present but only an overview over the cloud base alone. The combination of the information would be awesome.
BR
Constantin
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PaulSS
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I don't understand the issue here. The flyable weather is just for planning guidance. It is not a weather radar and if you based your decision on continuing or diverting elsewhere on what SkyDemon said then you need your bumps feeling. The data is already out-of-date before it even reaches your tablet and, even if you're using Internet in flight, it is still based on a forecast.
You're not going to be flying anything in the high Mach numbers at low level, so look out of the window instead of staring at a TV and hoping that will make the decision for you.
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grahamb
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Well said, Paul. You’ve captured my thoughts perfectly.
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