Segmet Related Overcast

[Bluestar]

I was flying from KAUS to SBKP.  During the flight at cruise altitude of FL290 and higher I noticed that the flight was in overcast weather.  I had noticed this earlier when the engine/wing de-ice were always on.  After checking I found the aircraft was in a Segmet area that covered a large portion of North and South America.   

I could not find any information on the Segmet the aircraft was flying through.  When I turned the Segmets off the Overcast went away.  Is this a real Segmet or related to the Planet weather?

The situation file is attached. 

https://www.hoppie.nl/forum/var/2022-08-12_16.46.47_amazon_segmet.situ

[Hardy Heinlin]

First, another general background info ...

When you save a situ file while a real-world WX data download function is enabled, the download function will be promptly enabled when you reload that situ file.

So ...

when loading a situ that has the "Set zones by flight track and downloaded METARs" checkbox selected, the sim will as soon as possible start another METAR download. When it does, the METAR related weather won't be the same as the one when the situ was saved.

Similarly, when loading a situ that has the "Download SIGMETs when downloading METARs" checkbox selected, the sim will as soon as possible start another SIGMET download. When it does, the SIGMET related weather won't be the same as the one when the situ was saved.

Therefore ...

I need to ask you if I'm seeing the same WX data in your situ that you saw when you saved that situ. When I load your situ, I immediately deselect those two checkboxes to avoid further downloads during my WX analysis. But I'm not 100% sure if I deselected them quickly enough. So, my question is:

When I load your situ ...
• SBUA is the focussed local zone with a METAR from 121900Z -- Does this agree with your scenario?
• SIGMET header says DOWNLOADED 19:57:08 - 12 AUG 2022 UTC -- Does this agree with your scenario?

When I load your situ, my aircraft is not in a SIGMET area.
Also, when I load your situ, my aircraft is not in clouds. It is above clouds. And these clouds are not overcast but few.


Secondly ...

In the simplified PSX windshield view, clouds are always represented by an "overcast layer", even if they actually are just broken, scattered, or few.

Are you referring to the PSX windshield or to your external scenery view?


Regards,

|-|ardy

[Bluestar]

When I load your situ ...
• SBUA is the focussed local zone with a METAR from 121900Z -- Does this agree with your scenario?
• SIGMET header says DOWNLOADED 19:57:08 - 12 AUG 2022 UTC -- Does this agree with your scenario?

DOWNLOADED 13:45:18 - 12 AUG 2022 UTC

SBVT is the focus local zone.  At least it is the first shown in the corridor. 

SBVT 110100Z 31007KT CAVOK 25/20 Q1011

I have saved the original Segmet if that will help and can post it.

I went back to the position screen and realized that the large rectangular box that showed the overcast for most of my flight from KAUS-SBKP is to the west of SBKP.  By centering the position map at SBKP and placing the zoom at 0.03125 the box can be seen covering most of North and South America.

I'm trying to get you the correct information and slowly but surely I'll get the drill down.

Bode

[Hardy Heinlin]

SBVT is the focus local zone.  At least it is the first shown in the corridor.

The term "local zone" in PSX refers to the 7 local zones whose weather data can be set on the 7 tabs between the Planet tab and the Corridor tab:

Planet | Zone1 | Zone2 | Zone3 | Zone4 | Zone5 | Zone6 | Zone7 | Corridor | SIGMET

The Corridor doesn't contain any "local zone". The Corridor just contains wind and OAT data.

Clouds are set on the zone tabs and the planet tab (and possibly in cloud related SIGMETs).


|-|ardy

[Hardy Heinlin]

One more tip regarding situ saving ...

If you want to save a situ for later analysis, and your automatic WX download is currently enabled in PSX, it's better to save that situ by pressing the EVENT REC button (above the upper EICAS screen). This will save the situ with the automatic WX download disabled, so that this situ, when it is reloaded later, will not start another download. This will make the analysis easier (as we want to analyse the original WX which was present at the time the situ was saved).

A situ that was saved by the EVENT REC button will have a file name that looks like this, for example:

--Event record 2022-AUG-16 10-23-41.situ


If you save a situ on the Instructor page, the situ will be saved with the respective enabled/disabled status.


|-|ardy