Descending through clouds

[john82088]

First, let me say I have read the manual and if this is covered, I obviously missed it then.

 

Here is my situation, whenever descending through the clouds in cold weather, I am losing my speed very quickly.  Right now, there is some very bad weather I have been flying in the US.  I have made sure that my throttle is at full and I still am experiencing it.  All the settings are where they should be also (torque, etc).  I have put ice protection on to prevent the ice from building on the wings but my speed basically disappears if I stay in the clouds too much.  I was recently flying at 5,000 in the clouds for a bit and I had to drop down to 2,000 out of the clouds to prevent my plane from stalling.  Once I got out of the clouds, my speed increased!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

 

John 

 

 

[Japo32]

Pitot heat?

[cruster]

Icing?

[cessna729]

First, let me say I have read the manual and if this is covered, I obviously missed it then.

Your too hard on yourself, sound like you did everything right!

 

Here is my situation, whenever descending through the clouds in cold weather, I am losing my speed very quickly.  Right now, there is some very bad weather I have been flying in the US.  I have made sure that my throttle is at full and I still am experiencing it.  All the settings are where they should be also (torque, etc).  I have put ice protection on to prevent the ice from building on the wings but my speed basically disappears if I stay in the clouds too much.  

IMHO, Javiers JS-32 does a fantatistic job of simulating how the "real" aircraft would respond to the "simulated weather conditions" that X-Plane is "inventing"!! And that is the problem, because X-Plane is to say the least "exaggerating" the reported "real world Wx" (that it's downloaded from the net and stored in METAR.rwx).

 

For example recently the METAR's within 100nm of KCLM, where I was flying the JS-32, reported "SLIGHT ICING" in the immediate area and "SLIGHT/MODERATE TURBULENCE" at 2 weather stations some 90nm away, and winds at KCLM of only 270/20kts. But the X-Plane weather model was working overtime, it had the "envoronment" showing SOLID RED for the whole 100nm x 100nm, almost continouse thunder and lightning, snow/sleet/hail, with winds almost storm force, and turbulence almost "off the scale". The main problem is the ICE accretion rate and Weight increase, "invented" by X-Plane is way to high for the given "real METAR data".

 

I was recently flying at 5,000 in the clouds for a bit and I had to drop down to 2,000 out of the clouds to prevent my plane from stalling.  Once I got out of the clouds, my speed increased!

That bit X-Plane has got pretty well, you need visible moisture.

 

The following is take from a Jetstream manual:

Icing conditions start when the Indicated Outside Ait Temperature (IOAT) is 5 deg C of less, with visible moisture in the atmosphere (e.g. in cloud, fog, rain, sleet or ice crystals) or as (surface snow, ice, standing water or slush) on ramps, taxiways or runways.

Icing conditions end when the ablve conditions no longer prevail and the temperature is 10 deg C or more. Do not operate the airframe ice protection untill approximately a quater to half and inch of ice collects on the wing or tail boots. This is to prevent bridging of ice over the airframe de-icing system boots while they are in operation.

Engine ANTI-ICE protection must be set to ON before icing conditions are entered.

The propeller anti-icing should be set to SHORT-CYCLE when the temperature is -5 deg C or above and to LONG CYCLE when below -5 deg C.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Keep the "blue side Up", and limit your time in X-Plane's clouds! (untill they improve the Wx modelling)

Oh! yes, and as Javier (Japo32) said: Don't forget "pitot heat".

cessna729.

Edited January 1, 2013 by cessna729

[john82088]

Thanks guys for taking your time to respond - it is greatly appreciated!

John

Happy New Year!

[cessna729]

Thanks guys for taking your time to respond - it is greatly appreciated! John Happy New Year!

And the same to you John!

If you want to see the current Real World AIRMET and SIGMET reports Live for the USA, try

NOAA's National Weather Service, Aviation Weather Center, Aviation Digital Data Service (ADDS)

You can access it's data from their web site above that gives you text or graphics, or the new G-AIRMET

or through Skyvectors "Layers" Option.

 

HAPPY New Year!! :lol: