Wind in-game

[MasserME262]

Hello, 

 

I was wondering if wind direction affects the climb rate in the game. I couldn't find about this in the forums, and I cant test it now, so im curious. From what I read about planes, is preferable to take off(and to land too) with the wind coming from the face/front, because of the TAS being higher, thus increasing the lift the wings produce. So, if its modeled in game, we could take advantage of this.

 

Thanks in regards.

[Talon_]

Wind is modeled, you can take advantage. ?

[6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann]

We start into the Headwind to shorten the Take-Off and Landing Roll and have more Control at Low Speeds. 

 

But how do you expect the Wind to affect you in the Air? You have no Ties to the Ground so the Wind has no Influence at all on Airspeed. Aircraft aren't Kites. 

 

You can of course use Wind to Climb using Updrafts on Mounains, Dunes and Hills, but other than that all the Wind is to you is the moving Mass of Air you are flying around in, and it doesn't matter what Heading you choose, your Rate of Climb at Top Airspeed will remain exactly the same. 

 

And with the Speeds we are traveling at ingame, the improvement you get in Angle of Climb is negligible. 

[MasserME262]

thanks, and yes I was wrong, my bad, as you said, wind is taken in account during take off and landing to shorten them, thanks!

[unreasonable]

No need to apologize for asking a question - now you have better information!

 

The other thing about the wind in the game is the effect on navigation.  You typically get given a wind at ground level in a mission briefing, but you should be aware that generally the wind speed is roughly double at 500m, triple at 1,000m and four times at 2,000m and over. (It also changes direction a few degrees).  Given that 1m/s = 3.6 kph, you can see that a good wind at ground level - say 8 m/s - will have a significant effect when you are at altitude, potentially both over your speed over the ground and your track over the ground relative to your compass heading, all depending on your desired course relative to the wind direction.  So on long missions with a strong ground wind you need to take this into account, especially if there is cloud cover, or risk getting lost.

 

This website writes it up with nice diagrams.

 

 https://www.recreationalflying.com/tutorials/navigation/wind.html

 

I do not know if the currently popular MP servers put much wind in to their scenarios, but it is there in SP career and also quick mission if you want it. 

[Finkeren]

One more effect of wind which is often overlooked compared to the effect on navigation, level bombing and during take off and landing is the effect of side wind when attacking ground targets with direct fire. In the air we are used to being able to shoot directly at other planes without accounting for wind, because yout target is caught inside the same ‘block’ of moving air as you are, making wind pretty much a non-factor - not so for ground targets. 

 

If you are attacking ground targets in a strong side wind, not only will you find your gunsight constantly travelling off the target making aiming difficult, but you will find that your shots are landing off target, because the wind carries them sideways as they fly towards the target. This is particularly noticable, when firing the slower rockets, but even your MG and cannon fire is carried off by the wind. If you attack with a side wind of 10 m/s and fire your, let’s say MG 151 cannons, directly at the target in your crosshairs at 300m, your shots will land almost 5m off target to the side, more than enough to miss a target like a truck or tank.

 

Even for a very experienced pilot, compensating for this effect can be near impossible. It is better to simply keep awareness of the wind direction (in the career, there will often be plumes of smoke nearby, which you can use to gauge the direction) and attack as much into the wind or away from it as possible.

[Herne]

9 hours ago, 6./ZG26_Klaus_Mann said:

We start into the Headwind to shorten the Take-Off and Landing Roll and have more Control at Low Speeds. 

 

But how do you expect the Wind to affect you in the Air? You have no Ties to the Ground so the Wind has no Influence at all on Airspeed. Aircraft aren't Kites. 

 

You can of course use Wind to Climb using Updrafts on Mounains, Dunes and Hills, but other than that all the Wind is to you is the moving Mass of Air you are flying around in, and it doesn't matter what Heading you choose, your Rate of Climb at Top Airspeed will remain exactly the same. 

 

And with the Speeds we are traveling at ingame, the improvement you get in Angle of Climb is negligible. 

 

well I suppose if you want to get your stuka with 1800kg bomb up to 3k while climbing toward target, you might stand a better chance if your target heading was directly in to a very strong head wind lol.

[MasserME262]

10 hours ago, Finkeren said:

One more effect of wind which is often overlooked compared to the effect on navigation, level bombing and during take off and landing is the effect of side wind when attacking ground targets with direct fire. In the air we are used to being able to shoot directly at other planes without accounting for wind, because yout target is caught inside the same ‘block’ of moving air as you are, making wind pretty much a non-factor - not so for ground targets. 

 

If you are attacking ground targets in a strong side wind, not only will you find your gunsight constantly travelling off the target making aiming difficult, but you will find that your shots are landing off target, because the wind carries them sideways as they fly towards the target. This is particularly noticable, when firing the slower rockets, but even your MG and cannon fire is carried off by the wind. If you attack with a side wind of 10 m/s and fire your, let’s say MG 151 cannons, directly at the target in your crosshairs at 300m, your shots will land almost 5m off target to the side, more than enough to miss a target like a truck or tank.

 

Even for a very experienced pilot, compensating for this effect can be near impossible. It is better to simply keep awareness of the wind direction (in the career, there will often be plumes of smoke nearby, which you can use to gauge the direction) and attack as much into the wind or away from it as possible.

Yes, im aware of this. However, never do bombing, and rarely do ground attack (when I want to fly the Hs129, which is not so often). 

Maybe someday I do a "full-bombing" mission where I have to plan the path to reach the target and such, I know many people enjoy that so much but idk, I prefer fighters or, if we had the condor, I would love to fly as civil ? (I enjoy flying it from time to time in 1946 modded version, where the FW200 becomes flyable, but would be happy to see it in BoX... sames goes for the fieseler storch, only god knows how much I want those 2 planes to be added someday).

 

Cheers

Edited August 22, 2018 by ME-BFMasserME262

[MasserME262]

12 hours ago, unreasonable said:

This website writes it up with nice diagrams.

 

 https://www.recreationalflying.com/tutorials/navigation/wind.html

Thanks for the link, gonna be useful for PPL training ?

[Trooper117]

No one has mentioned the effects of wind in the cockpit yet!...   

[RedKestrel]

23 hours ago, Trooper117 said:

No one has mentioned the effects of wind in the cockpit yet!...   

On occasion, it violates the geneva convention against the use of chemical weapons.