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Weather refresh option?


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I use Active Sky Evolution as my weather source for PFPX, and historical weather only, as all my flights are based on real world routes flown in the past using weather conditions that existed at those times. I understand that if I open Active Sky first before PFPX loads, PFPX will base its computations for the required fuel based on weather loaded by ASE. But what about if I want to change the weather? From what I could see, there is no way to refresh the weather in PFPX, one must close PFPX and restart to "refresh" the weather and replan a route and fuel computations.

Is there any way a refresh option could be added? It seems we are locked into using the weather conditions retrieved only once per PFPX session.

For example, if I cancel an OFP, and replan the same flight and hit "compute flight", shouldn't the program retrieve a fresh copy of the weather report from the Active Sky folder? Why is the weather retrieval limited to program startup only?

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I would have assumed that all you needed to do is to configure weather settings as shown on page 41 of the PFPX manual and specify the location of the 2 files :

current_wx_snapshot.txt’ and ‘wx_station_list.txt’

It has been a while since using Activesky but I thought that the Active Sky file current_wx_snapshot.txt is periodically updated with the current weather conditions as per Active Sky...so if you change weather in active sky to clear weather or stormy weather that this would appear in the file current_wx_snapshot.txt. Also assume that Active sky has to be running at same time as PFPX to get the weather updates.

current_wx_snapshot.txt is used in software such as Proatc/x and Fsbuild to pick up current weather from Activesky and i would have assumed that as long as current_wx_snapshot.txt is being updated periodically by ActiveSky that it would update PFPX as well.

Maybe there is an issue when you use historical weather. Have you tried flying with "live" weather to see if that changes.

Update...

From research I found this referring to topcat and assume same goes for PFPX

TOPCAT is able to load its data from the ASA weather, no matter if ASA is showing historical or actual weather; its just the weather which is provided by ASA.
This is possible, because you can choose in TOPCAT the current_wx_snapshot.txt file which contains the actual loaded ASA weather - historical or whatever.

Roy

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Roy,

That is correct. I also always use ASv6 weather from the past just like NGXfanatic. I basically replace the current_weather_snapshot.txt with the weather file about 30-60 minutes before the flight and to the flight planning.

I'm pretty sure what NGXfanatic does will NOT work, because the current_weather_snapshot.txt file is the last snapshot of *online* weather in ASv6. At least in ASv6 you need to tell the program where your archive weather files are and that's where it gets it when you use weather from the past. I assume that hasn't changed in AS Evolution but I can't say as I don't own it. PFPX only wants to current_weather_snapshot.txt which resides in the main directory in ASv6.

NGXfanatic,

I don't think you need to restart to get different weather, but you will need to replace current_weather_snapshot.txt with the weather file you want to use and then recompute the flight. You may have to change the weather to online (or none), replace the file and then switch back to ActiveSky (I'm not home right now, so can't test it).

Andre

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I will have to run some tests to see if I can find a workaround to get what I desire. I know in TOPCAT, it basically reads the same file but at least the weather situation changes when I refresh the weather in TOPCAT. In Active Sky, I have weather updated every 10 minutes.

I believe what I am trying to convey here is that it appears PFPX only loads the weather once, during program startup, and has no refresh option. If you want to update the flightplan for updated conditions, you are forced to restart the program. Am I correct in this assumption? If so, why can't the developers add a simple refresh button or similar functionality as weather is never static.

To be fair, I have no idea how weather programs work in the real world dispatch arena. Maybe weather updates are omitted for the sake of reality? I'm sure the pilots/dispatcher only loads the weather at the time the report is compiled/released, and any amendments are obtained after the release and appended to the dispatch report, I have no idea.

The current_weather_snapshot.txt file is a "living document", lol, to the best of my knowledge. I don't think a replacement and recompute in PFPX is the issue, it's the manner in which PFPX reads that file only once at startup that is the problem.

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NGXfanatic,

I tested it last night and it does NOT only read it at startup. I had my ASv6 weather, then set weather to 'none', replaced current_weather_snapshot.txt with a new weather file, set weather back to ASv6 and bingo!, there was the new weather.

Andre

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Andre, I tried your workaround and that did the trick! Thanks!

However, it would still be a benefit to some users if the developers could add a refresh button or something instead of having to go to the weather options and toggling active sky on and off.

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Andre, I tried your workaround and that did the trick! Thanks!

However, it would still be a benefit to some users if the developers could add a refresh button or something instead of having to go to the weather options and toggling active sky on and off.

You don't need to go to the weather page to log off/on. Just Click on 'WX: ASky' status bar field and re-select 'Active Sky'. PFPX will then reload ActiveSky weather.

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