Source of wind data

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Source of wind data

Author	Message
smithgd	smithgd posted 4/20/2012 6:55:24 PM Topic Details Share Topic
Group: Forum Members Posts: 7, Visits: 35	On the iPad app clicking on the wind icons reveals the wind direction, speed and level.... Only 2000ft winds are show, is there any way to get higher ones? I've tried increasing cruise level! Where does the wind data come from? Is it the same as that which is available via the usual Met office forms? Cheers Graham
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Flylogical	Flylogical posted 4/20/2012 8:01:39 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 14, Visits: 43	smithgd (20/04/2012) On the iPad app clicking on the wind icons reveals the wind direction, speed and level.... Only 2000ft winds are show, is there any way to get higher ones? I've tried increasing cruise level! Where does the wind data come from? Is it the same as that which is available via the usual Met office forms? Cheers Graham Hi Not sure where SkyDemon gets its wind data, but there are free sources available on the internet such as US Gov NOAA web-server ( http://weather.aero/ ). This is where my web app gets its met data (incl winds aloft forecasts via the NOAA GFS model). See this link for info on exporting SkyDemon route(s) to the web app. Then you can play with setting different altitudes, and looking at winds reported (on the generated PLOG). As I recall, the NOAA GFS data is available from surface to (approx) 10,000ft... Let me know via @Flylogical on Twitter how you get on or if you get stuck using the tool
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pink leader	pink leader posted 4/21/2012 7:49:14 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 518, Visits: 2K	I do not play with this function much. But I have definitely noticed that if you change cruise height and departure times then the wind dispaly on the map changes. So I do not think its static at 2000 feet. Of course you need a day when the winds are forecast to vary at different heights and times!! D
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aeroecho	aeroecho posted 4/21/2012 2:55:00 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 13, Visits: 152	I am also interested in knowing the source of wind data used by SD. I noticed yesterday a difference of 10° and 10 knots of the winds data between SkyDemon and Jeppesen Flitestar on the same trip / same time. Does anybody knows which of the two softwares has the most accurate wind data ? Thanks, Julien
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pink leader	pink leader posted 4/22/2012 8:20:50 AM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 518, Visits: 2K	My suspicion is that "accuracy" is a pretty difficult concept here. All the met guys use highly complex algorithms and models to compute their forecasts. 3 or 4 different models will produce somewhat different answers and the magnitude of the difference will vary day by day. One of the reasons I maintain my PFMS subscription is the reliability of its weather data .. esp cloudbase. They use a Swiss source that is specific to aviation forecasting. I think we are, for the moment at least, still down to No 1 eyeball in flight - with forecasts as a good initial indicator on go/nogo for a flight. FWIW D
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Flylogical	Flylogical posted 4/22/2012 7:13:06 PM Post Details Share Post
Group: Forum Members Posts: 14, Visits: 43	pink leader (22/04/2012) I think we are, for the moment at least, still down to No 1 eyeball in flight - with forecasts as a good initial indicator on go/nogo for a flight. FWIW D ...yes, and nothing beats phoning some airfields/flying-clubs along your planned route before you go and asking "is anyone flying today ?". If the answer is "no", that's a good signal to put the kettle on and leave the aircraft in the hangar -- multiple Mk1 eyeballs along the route being better than one pair in one spot... ...But that's about weather in general. On the topic of winds aloft specifically, I would suggest that these days, proper wind planning is about fuel endurance mostly (correcting for wind during inflight nav is effectively trivial as long as the GPS is working and you can "follow the pink line" you shouldn't drift off too far). But poor wind planning can cause you to run out of fuel. I've posted a recent article about this if interested... So, it would certainly be helpful to know where SkyDemon sources it's wind forecasts, and in any case, always check against others sources (and use the highest values in your endurance planning)-- especially if you are about to set off in an underpowered aircraft with low fuel state in a stong(ish) wind.
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