Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'snow'.
Found 13 results
-
/images/notams/notams22/snow0522.jpgMSFS Snowy Roads is a mod to allow roads located in snowy regions to be visible when snow is activated in MSFS. Works with live weather or with custom weather settings in MSFS weather panel. No extra app or program download required. The mod is intended to be used in snowy winter condition only; with live weather set on or off. Roads change snow accumulation according to live weather data received by the simulator; roads might become more or less covered with snow. It is a snowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winter regions and actually see the roads with different levels of accumulations. Roads class coverage: motorways; primary, secondary, trunk. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Roads Italy MSFS See other Taburet scenery for MSFS 2020
-
/images/notams/notams22/cana0511.jpgMSFS Snowy Roads is a mod to allow roads located in snowy regions to bevisible when snow is activated in MSFS. It works with live weather or withcustom weather settings in the MSFS weather panel. No extra app or programdownload required. The mod is intended to be used in snowy winter conditions only; with liveweather set on; roads change snow accumulation according to live weather datareceived by the simulator. Roads might become more or less covered withsnow. It is a snowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winter regions andactually see the roads with different levels of accumulations. Roads classcoverage: motorways; primary, secondary, trunk. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Roads Canada MSFS See other Taburet scenery for MSFS 2020
-
/images/notams/notams22/tabu0509.jpgMSFS Snowy Runways is a mod to allow airports located in snowy regions tobe visible when snow is activated in MSFS. It works with live weather or withcustom weather settings in MSFS weather panel. No extra app or programdownload required. The mod is intended to be used in snowy winter conditionsonly. It is a snowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winter airports andactually see the runways after snow clearance to allow flights. The mod iscustomized for each airport included in the package. Purchase Taburet – Snowy Runways Vienna Frankfurt MSFS See other Taburet scenery for MSFS 2020
-
/images/notams/notams22/snow0501.jpgMSFS Snowy Roads is a mod to allow roads located in snowy regions to bevisible when snow is activated in MSFS. Works with live weather or withcustom weather settings in MSFS weather panel. No extra app or programdownload required. The mod is intended to be used in snowy winter conditiononly, with live weather set on. Roads change snow accumulation according tolive weather data received by the simulator; roads might become more or lesscovered with snow. It is a snowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winterregions and actually see the roads with different levels ofaccumulations. Roads class coverage: motorways; primary, secondary,trunk. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Roads UK and Ireland MSFS See other Taburet scenery for MSFS 2020
-
/images/notams/notams22/snow0422.jpgMSFS snowy roads is a mod to allow roads located in snowy regions to bevisible when snow is activated in MSFS. Works with Live Weather or withcustom weather settings in the MSFS weather panel. No extra app or programdownload required. The mod is intended to be used in snowy winter condition only; with liveweather set on. Roads change snow accumulation according to live weather datareceived by the simulator; roads might become more or less covered withsnow. It is a snowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winter regions andactually see the roads with different levels of accumulations. Roads classcoverage: motorways, primary, secondary, trunk. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Roads Germany MSFS See other Taburet scenery for MSFS 2020
-
/images/notams/notams22/snow0413.jpgMSFS Snowy Roads is a mod to allow roads located in snowy regionsto be visible when snow is activated in MSFS. Works with Live Weatheror with custom weather settings in MSFS weather panel. No extra app orprogram download required. The mod is intended to be used in snowywinter condition only; with live weather set on. Roads change snowaccumulation according to live weather data received by thesimulator. Roads might become more or less covered with snow. It is asnowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winter regions and actuallysee the roads with different levels of accumulations. Roads classcoverage: motorways; primary, secondary, trunk. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Roads Norway/Sweden For MSFS See other Taburet scenery for MSFS 2020
-
/images/notams/notams22/swit0409.jpgMSFS Snowy Roads is a mod to allow roads located in snowy regionsto be visible when snow is activated in MSFS. Works with Live Weatheror with custom weather settings in MSFS weather panel. No extra app orprogram download required. The mod is intended to be used in snowywinter condition only; with live weather set on. Roads change snowaccumulation according to live weather data received by thesimulator. Roads might become more or less covered with snow. It is asnowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winter regions and actuallysee the roads with different levels of accumulations. Roads classcoverage: motorways; primary, secondary, trunk. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Roads Switzerland Austria MSFS See other Taburet scenery for MSFS 2020
-
/images/notams/notams22/gene0407.jpgMSFS Snowy Runways is a mod to allow airports located in snowyregions to be visible when snow is activated in MSFS 2020. It workswith Live Weather or with Custom weather settings in the MSFS weatherpanel. No extra app or program download required. The mod is intendedto be used in snowy winter conditions only. It is a snowy mod forthose who like to fly to snowy winter airports and actually see therunways after snow clearance to allow flights. The mod is customisedfor each airport included in the package. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Runways Geneva Zurich MSFS
-
/images/notams/notams22/alas0407.jpgMSFS Snowy Roads is a mod to allow roads located in snowy regionsto be visible when snow is activated in MSFS. Works with Live Weatheror with custom weather settings in MSFS weather panel. No extra app orprogram download required. The mod is intended to be used in snowywinter condition only; with live weather set on. Roads change snowaccumulation according to live weather data received by thesimulator. Roads might become more or less covered with snow. It is asnowy mod for those who like to fly snowy winter regions and actuallysee the roads with different levels of accumulations. Roads classcoverage: motorways; primary, secondary, trunk, residentials. Purchase Taburet - Snowy Roads Alaska MSFS
-
My 6th attempt and still not good enough:mad: -
/images/notams/notams19/xamb1030/snow-1.jpgAmbience is an extremely powerful application that will enhanceX-Plane visual environment. A while back a new version 1.1 was announcedwith some nice new features. Today some examples of new snow effects aredemonstrated by some pictures. New in v1.1: New 10 cloud presets with new high defenition rendering technology based on real photosNew 10 sky colors with new rendering Cloud passing effect [beta]New thunderstorms renderingNew system of sky renderNew texture reference systemFixed seasons logic, added new logic for extra render seasons on low pcNew sound system with new manipulators Full horizon clouds coverage [beta]More cloud types /images/notams/notams19/xamb1030/snow-2.jpg /images/notams/notams19/xamb1030/snow-3.jpgThe snow is now able to settle on aircraft. The developer furtherreports "We have some ideas on how to make dynamic snow. I will try to talk with a engineer, and if it works out we will make a complete snow cover of the earth in the same way as we did on an airplane." Source
-
Let It Snow By Tony Vallillo (29 January 2015) That song begins..."When the weather outside is frightful, the fire is so delightful..." Although I have no fireplace in my office these days, it is nonetheless comfy and delightful as I watch on the Weather Channel web site as the Blizzard of '15, aka Winter Storm Juno, lashes New England with just about every manifestation of Arctic nastiness that Mother Nature, perhaps angered by someone rash enough to substitute margarine for butter, can whip up! New York apparently escaped the worst of the snow, but from Connecticut to Maine it piled up in near record amounts, propelled by winds that in some areas reached gale force. Naturally, the weather snarled all forms of transportation, particularly air travel, over a wide area. I well remember days like this in winters past; for in the course of my career I have encountered a number of winter storms such as Juno, and just looking at the video of planes being de-iced and flights being cancelled en-masse brings back many memories of my own struggles with Old Man Winter. Snow, and its handmaiden ice, wreak havoc on airplanes in a number of ways. Snow or ice adhering to an airplane, particularly the wings, can completely alter the shape and streamlining, reducing lift and increasing drag - often exponentially. The weight of snow or ice on an airplane also degrades its performance. The engines are affected, sometimes starved of air as intakes are choked off by accumulating snow or ice, occasionally to the point of failure. Runways can be piled high with snow to the point that they completely disappear, even the lights! Even when plowed, enough snow remains (and usually more is falling) to create significant additional drag during the takeoff roll, just when you don't want it. And, God forbid, if you need to abort the takeoff, the snow becomes slippery and the brakes are less effective even with anti-skid. Visibilities can be reduced to nil in really heavy snow. All in all, snow and ice bring nothing good to aviation. The military and the airlines have learned over the years to deal with winter weather, at least to some extent. Indeed, we can now fly in conditions that would have been impossible in years gone by. But extreme caution is still the watchword, and there will usually come a time when the towel gets thrown in and flight operations cease. But not all operations, since some things like snow clearance keep on going even after the decision is made to stop flying. A pilot has several areas of concern when flight is contemplated in the midst of snow and ice. The first concern is the weather itself - the visibilities, winds, and temperatures. Visibility, of course, is a factor all of the time, and it really makes no difference whether the 600RVR is due to fog or snow. Snow tends to be a bit more distracting, since it is composed of millions of individual elements that each reflects whatever light there is. Snow also creates a vortex effect when you move through it a high speed, not unlike going very fast through a tunnel that is lined with tiny reflectors. In my experience this creates more visual sensation, and thus distraction, than mere fog, which is why we often make the takeoff with the landing lights off. The second consideration is the airport, specifically the taxiways and runways. There are strict limits on the depth of snow, slush or ice allowed on runways and taxiways for flight operations, but this is always a moving target since snow is usually falling heavily during the worst part of a storm. Airports publish frequent snowtams about field conditions, and the larger airports have a duty officer on the field in a car or truck constantly keeping track of the conditions and the progress of snow removal. Finally, the pilot must concern him or herself with the condition of the airplane itself. It must be free of contamination by snow or ice, and certain systems like anti-skid brakes must be operational, as well as reverse thrust. Several reminiscences may serve to illustrate these points, and give you a glimpse into the processes that drive risk reduction in winter operations. I shall work backward on that list I just gave you, starting with the condition of the airplane. It was long ago permissible to accept a certain amount of contamination on an airplane, particularly on the wings of propeller driven airliners, on the theory that the prop blast would clear the snow from the wings very early in the takeoff roll. This approach was discredited in the middle 1950's when a DC-6 attempted to take off from runway 04 at LGA with snow on the wings, in anticipation of it being "removed" by the airflow and propwash. Things did not go according to plan, and the airplane rolled sharply left shortly after lifting off, crashing on Rikers Island after the Captain was, miraculously, able to roll the wings level just prior to touching down. De-icing of airplanes had been around even then, but it was left pretty much up to the Captain whether or not to utilize it, and when. Things had still not been completely codified in 1982 when Air Florida flight 90 attempted a takeoff in a snowstorm at DCA and crashed into the Potomac. In the aftermath of that tragedy, new and much more specific rules were promulgated, and eventually new methods of de-icing and anti-icing airplanes were introduced. The newest type of deicing fluids, type IV, was introduced when I was a chief pilot at JFK, and I brought a beaker full of it to a pilot meeting that winter. The stuff had the consistency of Karo syrup, which served to keep it on the airplane much longer, even with snow or rain falling on it. It somehow chemically "grabbed onto" the water molecules and then, around 50 knots or so on the takeoff roll, gave up its hold on the wing and slid off, taking the snow, slush or ice with it. It had a great ability to absorb water, and thus the concept of "holdover time" was introduced - the time that could elapse in rain or snow while this fluid still had the capacity to absorb more. We are sitting in the cockpit awaiting engine start on one of "those" days. Not a day like Juno, for nowadays the airlines cancel all flights well in advance of an event like that, but rather a garden variety snow storm, say 4-6 inches in the New York area. The FB has done the walk around, in conditions of stinging snow and sleet that I remember well from my flight engineer days, and has reported, to no one's surprise, that a goodly amount of the white stuff has made its home on the wings and tail of the ship. At one time I would have called ramp control and ordered up a deicing crew, but nowadays the drill is to schedule everyone for deicing, since the need for it is both obvious and regulatory. At the appropriate time we start engines, turning on the engine anti-ice after each engine is started, followed by pushback, which is sometimes a delicate affair in the slippery conditions that exist on the ramp on days like this. In the latter part of my career, my airline had established certain deicing locations at JFK, to which we would either be towed or taxi after engine start. This was implemented, in part, because deicing at the gate makes a slippery gooey mess of the ramp area, and creates hazards for the ground crewmen who must labor there. Then too, the deicing fluid is recaptured, especially at an airport like JFK that lies right next to a body of water that contains wildlife, and this is easier to do in a dedicated location that confines the overspray to a much smaller area than the entire ramp. Upon arrival at the deicing location, we make radio contact with the deicing coordinator who will be our point of contact. According to a precise litany, he calls for the airplane to be configured for the spritz. This involves turning off the air conditioning system, since the air for the cabin comes from the engine fan stage compressors and glycol has an annoying propensity to create smoke when subjected to the high temperatures that exist in the pneumatic system, smoke that would fill the cabin in short order and create havoc among the passengers. Once we have the airplane configured, engines running but air conditioning packs and APU off, we then just sit and wait while the guys (and gals) in the cherry pickers do their work. At some point, they hit the cockpit, and it is interesting to sit there and watch the stuff cover the windshields! Deicing is often a two step process; first deicing, followed by anti-icing if there is a need for it. Anti-icing is done with that new type IV fluid, and would be needed if there is still frozen precipitation falling and the estimated time from deicing to takeoff would exceed the relatively short "holdover time" of the type II deicing fluid, which is much less viscous and is applied under pressure and hot, to melt and blast away any ice or show that may be present. If the second step is needed, it adds to the total time required, and it is not unusual for a widebody to be 20-30 minutes in the overall process. The holdover time, the amount of time that the particular fluid (in whatever concentration it is applied) can keep ice or snow from accumulating, starts at the beginning of the applicable phase of the process - that is to say that an application of type IV is good for X number of minutes from the start of the type IV application. The X in the equation is extracted from tables that we carry in our manuals, and is related to the type and intensity of the falling precipitation, being longest in light snow (close to an hour) and shortest in freezing rain (5-10 minutes at best). Nonetheless, this is a big improvement over previous protocols, since in the old days of just using glycol no one really knew how long it would protect an airplane. These newer figures are the product of actual research. Once we are deiced and anti-iced, we gingerly turn the air conditioning system back on after a brief wait. There is usually a small amount of smoke and odor, but I warn the passengers about it ahead of time so there is no alarm. Then comes the taxi out to the runway. The runways are usually kept fairly well plowed, but in a moderate or greater snowstorm this takes enough effort that less attention is paid to the taxiways, and these are often an order of magnitude more slippery than the runway itself. This can be a problem when compounded with high winds, which often accompany such weather here in the northeast USA. One night when, as chief pilot, I was at the airport all night monitoring weather conditions, one of our flights almost slid off a taxiway. The Captain was, understandably, reluctant to continue in those conditions and decided that the better part of valor that night was to call for a tow back to the terminal! When I went out onto the field with the Port Authority duty officer, conditions were so bad that after I returned and made a report over the radio to our flights awaiting departure from the terminal, our pilots decided to call it a night. JFK had freezing rain falling onto runways and taxiways already covered with around an inch of clear ice. Braking action was about nil, and the ability to reject a takeoff and remain within the confines of the airport was non-existent. Tonight things are not as bad, but the 5 inches or so of snow that has fallen has been compacted into near ice by the weight of the 60 or 70 jets that have taxied on it, and I must keep our speed down to a literal walk on anything but a long straight stretch. No matter, for the conga line is sufficiently long that I could put on no more speed even if I wanted to! The taxi out will take around 30 minutes, and it is fortunate indeed that we have the 45 minute holdover time of the type IV to protect us. In circumstances where the delays are longer, it is not unusual for a flight to exceed its holdover time. This necessitates an inspection of the wings by a crewmember, from inside the airplane. I myself don't do this inspection these days, since I must be at the tiller for taxiing, but I well remember doing it when I was a flight engineer. At night it is difficult, and the trick is to hold your flashlight at one window and look out of another, to be able to see anything on the wing itself. If there is any snow or slush accumulating, it is time to head off for another spritz. Some airports have a place set aside for this supplemental deicing, near or astride the conga line itself, so that it can be done without the torturous process of getting an airplane out of the line and turned around. Nothing is more aggravating to ATC than to have to deal with an airplane that needs to return from the middle of a 90 airplane line! At some airports, particularly in Europe, the entire deicing operation is conducted on the field, often close to the takeoff runway itself. This is the best of all possible worlds, since holdover time becomes a non-issue. Tonight we are number one to go long before holdover becomes an issue. Now, just prior to takeoff, the issue is the condition of the runway itself. In a continuing snowfall, this changes by the minute, and I listen carefully to the condition reports that tower solicits from departing flights. The regulations are actually simple - no more than 1/2 inch of water, wet snow or slush, or no more than 2 inches of the dry powder that skiers crave, may be on the runway for takeoff. There is a weight penalty that must be taken when the depth of contaminant becomes measureable and the penalty is horrendous beyond a depth of 1/4 inch. Tens of thousands of pounds is subtracted from the max allowable runway limited weight, which would preclude a flight like JFK-Rome on the short runway 22L. Fortunately 22L is usually a landing runway, and 22R is several thousand feet longer. Even so, a thirty thousand pound penalty is a stiff one indeed, so the airlines keep the pressure on the airport authority to keep the takeoff runway plowed to no more than 1/4 inch. This they try to do; but in really heavy snow they would have to be making a plowing run every 10 minutes or so, and this is why an airport will probably shut down after a few hours in a heavy storm - they just can't keep ahead of the snowfall. Interestingly, this is just about the only time when an airport will be legally shut down. In almost all other circumstances, including hurricanes, the airport is technically open, but is below weather minimums. Only snow, ice, or flooding on runways will generally close an airport. The Port Authority has been doing a good job tonight, and the penalty for snow on the runway is a mere 10 thousand pounds, which we can absorb without a problem. These penalties reflect the dual reality of operations on slippery or otherwise contaminated runways. On the one hand, anything like wet snow, slush, standing water or more than 2 inches of powder snow will create enough drag to retard the acceleration on the takeoff roll. Exactly how much retardation has been determined during the flight test process during the airplane's certification. It has all been tabulated and we have a book, called the airport analysis, with which we can determine just how much weight we can lift from any runway in our system under conditions from dry to heavily contaminated. So much for taking off against the drag of contaminants; but what if we need to abort the takeoff? By law, each takeoff must be planned so that it can be discontinued at any time prior to V1. The drag of contaminants would work in your favor here, but there is more at issue. A maximum performance stop requires excellent friction between the tires and the pavement, and anything that gets in the way of that contact makes the stopping distance longer, just as it would in a car. (Reverse thrust is not considered in the accelerate-stop portion of the takeoff problem since one of the main reasons we would abort a takeoff in the first place would be the failure of an engine). Stopping distances on slippery runways are obviously much greater, even with anti-skid, so a portion of the penalty we take is due to the reduced braking action. Having satisfied all of the legalities, and convinced that actual runway conditions are indeed as advertised in the latest snowtam, I taxi onto the runway and line up carefully. We want to start the takeoff right on centerline when things are slick, the better to have some room to correct. Nose wheel steering can become ineffective on snow or ice and the rudder does not come into play until around 40-50 knots, so I am careful to set power symmetrically. Another reason to stick close to centerline is that runways are often only plowed around 50-60 feet on either side of the center. There may also be snow berms off the edge of the runway, depending upon how much snow has been plowed. I steer carefully while we accelerate and in due course rotation speed is upon us and off we go. After liftoff, things become pretty much standard, with the exception of monitoring the need for wing anti-ice. This is usually signaled by a buildup of ice on the windshield wiper post, conveniently located right in front of me (the FO has another one on his side). We don't need it tonight for we are climbing rapidly in these cold temperatures, perhaps the only benefit of winter on operations! Winter weather can wreak havoc on arrivals as well; although the way the airlines operate today has changed things a bit. In the past, but well into my own career, the objective seemed to be to try to get every flight in that they possibly could, with the last few having to divert as more and more time was spent plowing the active runway until finally Old Man Winter won and the airport closed. Today, though, the airlines plan strategically, and start cancelling flights up to a day prior to the worst of things. This results in far fewer flights having to attempt landings in really marginal conditions, to say nothing of fewer passengers stranded at the snowed in airports. Instead, passengers tend to be stranded at the hubs where the inbounds originated, and where weather is not a factor. Many can actually stay home rather than go out to the airport at all. I recall a trip when I was flying the A-300 in the Caribbean. We departed JFK on a flight to SJU, that had a short layover there followed by an early morning departure back to JFK the next day. A storm worse than Juno was approaching, and we got quite a ride as we flew through it on the way to SJU. I actually queried dispatch, on the way down, as to their plan for the morrow, and was told that they were going to try to get us into JFK in the morning. Or so the forecast had led them to believe, at any rate. Bright and early at sunrise I awakened at the hotel at SJU and turned on the Weather Channel. It looked like it was going to be a real horse race between us and the storm (un-named, as they all were back then). I called dispatch from the hotel, and offered my two cent opinion, which was that we might just as well provide our passengers with another day of holiday in the sun rather than end up diverting when JFK closed, which I figured that it probably would before we got there. Dispatch was insistent - they thought we could get in before things closed down. Although I could have put my foot down and refused the flight, the purely economic aspects of airline flights are handled by dispatch, which has the "big picture" and is aware of things like where they want the airplane and passengers in the overall scheme of things. I have generally accommodated their desires in my flying when it was safe to do so, and when I had no special insights into the future! Flying the trip would present no hazards, provided we kept the back door open with several excellent alternates and the fuel to get there, which we had. And so we set off and thus began the race of the century, for the storm in question was the infamous Superstorm of March 1993, a true Storm of the Century! I flew the trip north at a relatively high speed, the better to improve our handicap. We were able to keep up with things by listening to the HF radio and eavesdropping on radio calls to various airline dispatch centers, to say nothing of listening to WCBS as we got beyond the halfway point. The snow began at JFK around the time we were abeam Bermuda. All the way up to Champ intersection we were still neck and neck with the storm, and the Port Authority was just barely keeping up with the increasing snowfall. Finally, when we got to Champ and were handed off to domestic controllers, we got the news - JFK had just closed down. Superstorm, by a nose! Our alternate was Montreal, far to the north and out of the way of the projected path of the storm. But it seemed to me that Boston might be a good bet - they had not yet been hit as hard by the snow as New York had been, and our passengers would at least be a little closer to home, and perhaps able to actually get to NY that day on Amtrak. I called dispatch and discussed this notion with them, and they agreed that Boston would be a good bet, so we called for clearance and within a minute or two were on our way to Bean Town. It only took around 45 minutes or so to get to Boston amidst increasing but still manageable snowfall (snow amounts for landing are somewhat higher than those for takeoff - one inch of wet snow or slush if memory serves, and three inches of dry snow. But the problem of stopping on the slippery runway is still to be considered and we have another set of tables that tell us what the maximum weight that can be brought to a halt on a given runway under given conditions might be). An approach and landing in heavy snowfall is challenging but not dangerous if the wind is down the runway. BOS has enough runways that the wind is almost always right down one of them, and that day was no exception - right down runway 04. I flew the ILS approach to 04R, and we spotted the approach lights at 500 feet. The runway had been plowed to around 50 feet either side of the centerline, beyond which was a white expanse that extended all the way to the bay on one side and the terminal on the other! The runway lights outlined the hidden edge of the pavement. After touchdown I went to full reverse quickly, and let the engines slow us down to around 60 knots, after which it was time to test the wheel brakes. Braking action was good, and the landing turned out to be normal, but it is always a good idea to be on your toes in conditions like that. Although we don't normally use reverse thrust below around 60 knots, if the braking action would have been nil I would not have hesitated to use full reverse until the airplane started backing up! Once parked at the gate, a small group of harried agents set about arranging accommodations for our nearly full load of passengers (close to 250 on the Airbus). The crew hung around as well, since our own accommodations were being negotiated by the hotel desk down at dispatch. It took around an hour to get the hotel and limo set up, by which time BOS had also shut down as the snow built up to major blizzard proportions. We barely made it to the hotel, so bad were the roads. Amtrak, I learned later, also shut down operations on its Northeast Corridor shortly after BOS closed, so there would be no chance of anyone getting out of town that day. The storm was a record breaker everywhere, and Boston got several feet of snow. It was not until the third day that the airports got cleaned up enough to deadhead home on a smaller turboprop. It was one of the more interesting trips I flew in my career, and it pointed up the rapidly changing nature of things when large fast moving storms interfere with air travel. One needs to be constantly abreast of the very latest information, which is not terribly difficult to do these days, with ACARS and SATCOM, to say nothing of WCBS! There is just one thing to remember: always make sure that your ace-in-the-hole is firmly ensconced in your back pocket at all times. Happy Landings! Tony Vallillo -
View full article
