Stormy Weather video.

[Keith]

I was flying the Cessna 182RG (from Carenado) back from Hammond LA to New Orleans at dusk. The weather turned on me in a flash so I took that chance to make this video. ;D

New Orleans is basically an island (sitting an average of 3 feet below sea level) between Lake Pontchartrain (a shallow lake about 25 miles wide by 30 miles long) and the Gulf of Mexico, both having very warm water. The Mississippi river runs from north to south just west of us then makes a sharp turn to the east then south… basically running directly through the city cutting it in half. The river has much cooler water being drained from the northern states. When we get any sort of weather system passing over the clash in temperature from all these different sources cause what we call “popcorn” thunderstorms. Not much warning comes with these and they are on you in a flash.

This video shows my approach and landing in a 36+ knot crosswind. Wind sheer and microbursts are common. Although in the real world I doubt I would have been cleared to land a 182 in these conditions (although I have had to do it many times in the 2004 King Air B200) it made for a great FS video. Hope the head bobbing does not bother you.

The video is about 3 minutes long. Hope you enjoy it. No music in this one... just all action. ;D

VIEW VIDEO HERE - (7.8MB - 320x240)

[Dan]

Great crosswind video Keith! I have watched it three times already and will probably watch it somemore. May even set up some stormy weather and try it myself. I'm going to have to check on this real weather program - assume you were using it - and see what the specs are - not sure my system could handle it. It is stormy - popcorn thunderstorms - in Atlanta right now - would be fun and challenging to navigate around them as it is actually occuring!

Dan

[Keith]

Dan,

Yes I use real weather (Active Sky) almost all the time FS is running so all the weather is about as real as it can get. Sometimes I save the weather file and create a "weather theme" using the microsoft weather theme sdk but I didn't save this one. We get these a few times a month here so no real reason to save it. We get rain almost everyday in the summer but only the type that produces severe winds/microbursts etc. 2 or 3 times a month. In all honesty it makes flying in the real world sort of hair raising because you never know what to expect, and unlike FS you only get one change at a good landing.