VATUSA Forums
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Matt Fuoco on September 29, 2009, 08:23:42 PM
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I was curious what everyone's take on PIREPs is. Does anyone try to incorporate real reported PIREPs into any flight advisories for pilots? The NOAA ADDS site has access to all of the PIREPS that are submitted by pilots. While yes I know a lot of pilots within VATSIM may not have adequte weather rendering engines to take advantage of the real world weather..often pilots want to give me a PIREP which is great...but other than write it down for me...it really adds no value to the network as a whole. This kinda got me thinking.
Has any thought been put into a PIREP system for VATSIM? Something that would integrate with the various radar clients I think would increase the level of realism that is provided to the pilots (and controllers).
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I use the .sticky command and put a note over the area that the pirep was reported at
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Has any thought been put into a PIREP system for VATSIM? Something that would integrate with the various radar clients I think would increase the level of realism that is provided to the pilots (and controllers).
I definitely think that would be a good idea.
Because VATSIM weather is delayed compared to that of the real world, I don't give real world PIREPs to virtual pilots. I do, however, give virtual PIREPs to virtual pilots and record them in the standard UA/ etc. form (often posting them in my controller info if there is one or two).
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Will all of the weather clients produce these weather phenomena in the same locations? It seems that THAT would be necessary in order for this to work.
Jason Vodnansky
vZAU ATM
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I typically pass on virtual PIREPs to pilots for about 10 minutes following when I get one from a pilot. Particularly for turbulence, windshear, etc. I once got one for birds in the vicinity -- before the Miracle on the Hudson -- I didn't pass that one on if I recall....
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Will all of the weather clients produce these weather phenomena in the same locations? It seems that THAT would be necessary in order for this to work.
Jason Vodnansky
vZAU ATM
That's what I'm screamin. Those that use Active Sky, and all the different versions of it, are not going to get the same weather as those that use the default FS weather, or any other weather generating client. So I'm thinking it would be difficult for this to work under those circumstances.
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That's what I'm screamin. Those that use Active Sky, and all the different versions of it, are not going to get the same weather as those that use the default FS weather, or any other weather generating client. So I'm thinking it would be difficult for this to work under those circumstances.
In most cases, though, you're going to receive similar symptoms in the relatively same area. If there's a thunderstorm in ZDV's Sector 22, then yeah, most pilots using some sort of weather software are going to get the effects of it, even if the cells of the storm are scattered in different locations in different softwares. PIREPs aren't that critical to VATSIM flying, anyway, so advising pilots of PIREPs has more to do with realistic procedure than anything else. They don't require pilot action and those regarding hazardous conditions serve as precautionary advisories only.
Furthermore, in the real world, weather is moving all of the time. Turbulence, which is probably one of the most reported phenomenon in PIREPs (at least in my experience), can occur everywhere, even in spots with no depicted precipitation. The same principle applies: They don't require pilot action and those regarding hazardous conditions serve as precautionary advisories only. Controllers record the specific location of the PIREP in the report, but generally speaking we pilots assume a range as to the location of where that phenomenon may occur.
If there's a moderate chop PIREP 10 miles west of FNT, then I figure I may encounter turbulence somewhere generally immediately surrounding FNT. Then again, I probably wouldn't be flying in the first place, but you get my point. Either way it's a courteous advisory.
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At ZID we are able to post them into our Information Display System (IDS) where all online controllers are able to view and report them. It comes in handy many times to inform pilots of what pilots prior to them experienced while passing through a particular airspace. Very neat and adds another since of realism for both the controller and pilot.
Credits to Michael Hodge for the Great Site.
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Yes its quite a amazing tool to have, we take great pride in having it. Kudos to Mike aswell!
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Any ARTCC who wants it can have it, just shoot me an email, and i'll gladly provide the source. Although the TRC is my priority right now, I do plan on doing some upgrades and fixes to it. If anyone wants to see it, its at http://www.vzidartcc.org/IDS/ (http://www.vzidartcc.org/IDS/). It is by no means spectacular but it does get the job done.