SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: MS-DOS (or PC-DOS) version 3.2 or later Microsoft Flight Simulator version 4 or 5 3.5-inch high density disk drive 640K memory 1 meg hard drive space CGA, EGA or VGA (VGA is required for certain features) 1200 or 2400 bps modem (faster modems must be capable of running at 2400bps) Optional: Mouse and printer REVIEW EQUIPMENT Version 1.0 of REAL WORLD PILOT was reviewed on a 386DX/25 with 4 meg RAM, VGA, running Microsoft Flight Simulator version 5.
"You can't go up in that mess," she said. "It's snowing six inches an hour in Pottsburg. The wind gusts are 75 miles an hour across the only runway. The visibility is 47 feet. The runway lights were all shot out by rednecks. There's a stuck 707 in the runway. It's fogged in and icing. We're expecting an earthquake. We're out of Colombian coffee! Steele, you can't go!""I've got to, Bambi. That little boy in Hackensack is counting on me to get that donor-spleen to him. Fire up the Cessna, babe. Mother nature will just have to look the other way."
"Oh, Steele. When you're like this, I just want...to...slip out of my dress and do crazy things in the back of the airplane."
"Hmmm, that little boy in Hackensack can wait an hour..."
Real Weather Pilot (RWP) is the first non-scenery add-on for use with the new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator version 5 (FS5). RWP also works with FS4. One of the nice features of FS has always been the ability to program in the weather conditions--clouds, wind speeds and directions, turbulence, etc. In version 2 of FS, this was all done manually by the user. Version 3 introduced Dynamic Weather, which allowed the computer create to random weather patterns. RWP, however, programs in the real- world weather conditions for a given location.
How it does this is fairly simple. RWP uses your computer's modem to call up an on-line service called "Direct User Access Terminal Service" (DUATS) which provides standard aviation weather information in text format. RWP collects the weather information, reads the information it needs (wind speeds and directions at various altitudes, cloud levels, etc) and passes the data to FS for you to fly in. If it's raining in real-world Chicago, it'll be raining in FS's Chicago area too.
RWP runs independently of FS, and it shuts down when you go to FS to fly. Thus you don't have to worry about running out of available RAM while running FS.
Installation was straightfoward and fairly short. I had to tell it which version of FS I wanted to use, and where the files were. I also had to tell it which COM port the modem uses and the bps rate. There is a TEST button that makes RWP check to make sure that it can control the modem and FS properly. Since I have a serial mouse and a modem both taking COM ports, I can never remember which is plugged in where; having the TEST function was very handy. Also, the setup parameters are easily accessed from the main program--you don't have to run a separate setup program if you want to change something.
Time to go to work. First, I had to decide what area I was interested in. Since I live near San Francisco, I went to the scroll box that listed all the airports in the RWP database, and chose SFO (San Francisco International). According to the manual, the airport database includes all the airports in FS5's standard scenery. I have not checked to see if this is true, but there are quite a few airports available.
Since I chose SFO, RWP would retrieve the weather information for that airport. However, I could also get RWP to download up to five additional areas. Thus if I wanted to fly from San Francisco to Los Angeles, I could get the various weather conditions along the route.
For simplicity, I stuck with SFO. I went over to the list of reports that I had the option of downloading, and clicked on the check-boxes for all the reports I wanted. RWP retrieves Area Forcasts (probable weather in a particular area in a certain time period), Terminal Forecasts (probable weather at the airport itself), Surface Weather Reports (hourly weather conditions as reported by observers), Winds Aloft (wind speed and temperature at given altitudes), Radar Reports (graphically shows precipitation over a map of the continental US), PIREPS (pilot observed weather conditions), SIGMETS (hazard warnings), AIRMETS (possible hazard warnings), and Marine and Coastal Reports (weather over the ocean). I decided to download all of them.
Finally, I hit the DIAL DUATS button and went for coffee. RWP dialed the DUATS 1-800 number and downloaded all the reports. RWP, however, doesn't actually show you much of the connect process (a mistake, in my opinion. See below), so there's nothing much to watch. After a few minutes, RWP hung up, processed the data, and waited for my command.
At this point, I hit the briefing button. RWP gave me the data it kept from the DUATS session--allowing me to read the reports for myself (this takes some skill), and then gave me the quick-and-dirty synopsis at the end. SFO was overcast and cold, but still VFR conditions.
I then pressed the GO FLYING button. RWP booted up FS5, programmed in the weather data it had just received from DUATS, and passed control to me. I was now sitting at SFO in the Cessna waiting for clearance. I manually checked the weather conditions--it was the way RWP had said it would be.
I exited out of FS5 and booted RWP again, and downloaded the information for Sacramento Metro Airport. The DUATS reports said (in essence) that it was foggy and IFR conditions. I looked out the window. DUATS was right.
RWP, however, wasn't able to get any data from the report. RWP doesn't appear to read the fog indicators and set the cloud level accordingly (I faked fog by manually setting the cloud bottom to runway level).
RWP allows you to print out the full reports, and doing so was an interesting experience. One of the first things I noticed was that some airports don't offer all the information requested. For instance, I downloaded the reports for John Wayne/Orange County Airport, and got the following messages:
SNA doesn't report FD. Request from ONT.
SNA doesn't report CWA. Request from ZLA.
SNA Doesn't report WA. Request from SFO.
SNA Doesn't report WS. Request from SFO.
Which means I had to get the winds aloft information from Ontario Center, some advisories from ZLA (I still haven't figured out which airport ZLA is), and Sigmets and Airmets (advisories and warnings) from San Francisco International. Other airports gave me similar messages-- depending on what reports they did not offer. RWP can't set winds aloft if it doesn't get a winds aloft report.
RWP shows how far their manuals have improved since their early releases. While it would be nice if it had more information, it does have a good explanation of the weather reports and some information on how to read them yourself. Since RWP isn't foolproof, being able to read the weather reports myself helped me set FS5 to the conditions I thought were accurate.
RWP comes with a collection of airports that are ready to go, but also offers an easy to use editor to add more airports, and thus get more briefings.
One of the nicest things about RWP is that it allows you to easily edit the weather data before it gets fed to FS. If you download the weather conditions for Chicago/O'Hare, for example, you can then view the data in FS5-style format, and adjust them accordingly. This allows you to take the real world data and tweak weather conditions to your liking, or easily create weather conditions as you see fit and let RWP feed the data to FS5 for you.
RWP also manages data files so you can save favorite data collections as scenarios. For instance, say you want to fly in certain wind conditions. With FS, you have to manually set the weather every time you start a session. But with RWP, you can load the save file off your hard drive and jump in.
RWP also offers a "radar" image, and looks a little bit like those big weather maps on local television news broadcasts. The background is an image of the continental US, and there are colored ansi blocks that show where it's raining. The ferocity of the storms is shown by the color of each block. I have no idea what the real value of this image is, unless you like tracking storms in low rez. If you're expecting nifty satellite photos of clouds, forget it.
An interesting feature that RWP offers is the "challenge" portion. You pick a situation (usually an airport location) and determine how difficult the weather ought to be (on a scale of 1 to 12), and RWP supplies it. Want to try battling your way through a thunderstorm over Boston? Challenge does it quickly and easily.
RWP is not without some problems. First, the program is gathering some controversy. Since it calls up DUATS and downloads information for a computer game, a lot of real world pilots are indignant over it. They use DUATS as a necessary tool in their profession, and have to pay subscription rates to use it. DUATS offers basic weather reports free of charge (which is what RWP uses) and the pilots aren't thrilled with the idea. It is possible that DUATS will lock out the free use of its system, and RWP will lose much of its usefulness. While it will still have value as a weather- database and handler, it won't be able to gather the real-world data. But nobody knows what is going to happen yet.
Another interesting (and related) thing occurred regarding the tail number identifier. DUATS requires the user to enter in a the aircraft identification number in order to get the weather briefing. RWP was sending out N9999 as the tail number. Since DUATS only allows a certain number of reports per tail number, N9999 would fill its quota rapidly and a lot of RWP users weren't able to download data. A patch has come out that makes RWP generate a random tail number, and that works around the problem nicely. But some real-world pilots are wondering about the people who have the REAL tail numbers that match the random numbers that RWP generates. What happens when a real-world pilot calls up and finds out he can't get his weather information because computer gamers have used up all his chances for the day?
On another note, one thing that's bothered me about RWP is the airport listing. Airports are noted by their three-letter identifications, but FS5 doesn't list them anywhere. It took me awhile to find the proper identification for John Wayne/Orange County airport (it's SNA), because FS5 doesn't list in it's manual, and RWP doesn't list airports in its manual. I ended up finding it in my Sublogic CALIFORNIA scenery disk listing. RWP has a search utility but it isn't perfect.
My biggest beef with RWP is that it doesn't show the connect session with DUATS. You just look at a blank screen and the flashing modem lights and hope everything works right. RWP has a special way to let you see the connect session so you can troubleshoot problems (like the tail number problem), but it was never meant to be used all the time. I have no idea why Mallard thought looking at a nearly blank screen is better than actually seeing the data roll by (maybe they've been hanging around on Prodigy too much), but future versions of this program would be greatly improved by having a toggle that lets the user decide whether he wants to see the actual session or not.
I like this package. It's simple, it's decently implemented, it offers a variety of FS utilities, and it (mostly) works. This is certainly one of the better add-ons for FS.
"Cessna One-Five! Get out of that plane, Steele! We're shutting down. We're below FAA minimums."
"Too much noise, tower! I can't hear a thing. Hold on, Bambi. We're going for broke."This review is Copyright (C) 1993 by J.A. Ollinger for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.