Where to fly today? New service to help you out

[Daniel Lange 1352906]

How often do you wonder "Where should I fly today?" 🤔 
What about something that helped you answer this question? 💡 I've created a new free of charge service to help you find airports you want to fly to, with top lists based on weather and coverage, or your own advanced filter search.

Check it out and feedback is very welcome 🙂
https://where2fly.today/

 

[BadKarmaPT]

Thank you so much for creating something like this.

"Where should I fly today?" is a question that pops into my head every time I start MSFS. 

This page will help a lot!

[Daniel Lange 1352906]

Hello again, I just wanted to mention that new functionality is now out:

• Suggestions for random departure aerodromes that suit your filters
• Enabled possibility to see more arrival suggestions, from 10 to 20 results.
• Tons of fixes and tweaks

The first point has been the most requested so far, and I'm happy to finally offer you this as well 🙂 Happy flying!

[Zylx]

Very cool website and very helpful for looking for interesting weather I'm looking for in my flight. Thank you so much @Daniel Lange 1352906.

Question, I always wanted to have a site like similar to this to help me find locations where the weather is currently good for gliding in sailplanes.  Would you ever consider implementing such features?

I've searched all over the web and cannot find anything like that.  It would make finding a place for flying sailplanes much easier.

[Daniel Lange 1352906]

3 hours ago, Zylx said:

Very cool website and very helpful for looking for interesting weather I'm looking for in my flight. Thank you so much @Daniel Lange 1352906.

Question, I always wanted to have a site like similar to this to help me find locations where the weather is currently good for gliding in sailplanes.  Would you ever consider implementing such features?

I've searched all over the web and cannot find anything like that.  It would make finding a place for flying sailplanes much easier.

Thank you. I'm not that familiar with gliders, could you elaborate a bit more on what defines a good location for gliding? I suppose you're after some kind of weather data?

[Zylx]

1 hour ago, Daniel Lange 1352906 said:

Thank you. I'm not that familiar with gliders, could you elaborate a bit more on what defines a good location for gliding? I suppose you're after some kind of weather data?

I'm still trying to figure that out myself lol.  I recently found an awesome website that has a whole bunch of free gliders for P3D (the sim I use most) and I'm having a lot of fun with them.  I also fly them in X-Plane and MSFS sometimes too.  I asked the Microsoft Co Pilot AI and this is what it said about best conditions in general for sailplane gliding and this seems to agree with similar things I've read on the web about picking a place.

"For sailplane gliding, the best weather conditions include:

Thermals: These are rising columns of warm air, which are crucial for gaining altitude. Thermals are typically generated by rapid temperature increases, often found over sunlit fields, rocky areas, or urban environments1.

High Barometric Pressure: Stable weather conditions indicated by high barometric pressure are ideal for gliding. This stability helps in maintaining consistent flight paths1.

Wind: Moderate winds are beneficial, especially when they create ridge lift by blowing against hills or mountains. However, strong winds or wind shear can make gliding challenging.

Cloud Cover: Cumulus clouds are a good sign as they often mark the tops of thermals. Clear skies can also be good, but it might be harder to locate thermals without visual cues.

Low Humidity: While some humidity is necessary to form cumulus clouds, very high humidity can lead to poor visibility and potential icing issues."

So basically, places where thermals are likely to form, high barometric pressure, moderate but not too strong winds, low humidity and Cumulus clouds.  I'm sure theirs more to it but this seems to be the basics.

In the flights I've done so far, light to medium amount of Cumulus clouds seems to be the best and it's good to have clouds that are more scattered around, not just a few clumped in one place.  Also warm sunny days with no overcast is much better.

Edited August 3, 2024 by Zylx

[Daniel Lange 1352906]

41 minutes ago, Zylx said:

I'm still trying to figure that out myself lol.  I recently found an awesome website that has a whole bunch of free gliders for P3D (the sim I use most) and I'm having a lot of fun with them.  I also fly them in X-Plane and MSFS sometimes too.  I asked the Microsoft Co Pilot AI and this is what it said about best conditions in general for sailplane gliding and this seems to agree with similar things I've read on the web about picking a place.

"For sailplane gliding, the best weather conditions include:

Thermals: These are rising columns of warm air, which are crucial for gaining altitude. Thermals are typically generated by rapid temperature increases, often found over sunlit fields, rocky areas, or urban environments1.

High Barometric Pressure: Stable weather conditions indicated by high barometric pressure are ideal for gliding. This stability helps in maintaining consistent flight paths1.

Wind: Moderate winds are beneficial, especially when they create ridge lift by blowing against hills or mountains. However, strong winds or wind shear can make gliding challenging.

Cloud Cover: Cumulus clouds are a good sign as they often mark the tops of thermals. Clear skies can also be good, but it might be harder to locate thermals without visual cues.

Low Humidity: While some humidity is necessary to form cumulus clouds, very high humidity can lead to poor visibility and potential icing issues."

So basically, places where thermals are likely to form, high barometric pressure, moderate but not too strong winds, low humidity and Cumulus clouds.  I'm sure theirs more to it but this seems to be the basics.

In the flights I've done so far, light to medium amount of Cumulus clouds seems to be the best and it's good to have clouds that are more scattered around, not just a few clumped in one place.  Also warm sunny days with no overcast is much better.

I understand. I unfortunately only have METAR's as weather source, so it's quite limited for such detailed weather picture you need - so I don't think I can help here.

I'd believe perhaps Windy.com has some of these filters you ask for though?

[Daniel Lange 1352906]

After a lot of work. I'm thrilled to share Where2Fly v2.0 with the community

- Enjoy a brand new interface featuring a map to visualize your next adventure
- Want to organize and search through your installed scenery? Personal lists are now available!
- Found a hidden gem and only fly to places with addon scenery? Check out the new scenery database for selected MSFS airports!
- Discovered a great airport and want to share a scenery link? You can now contribute
- And all the same functionalities from v1 such as searching destinations, arrivals, top lists, find airline callsigns and flights.

https://where2fly.today/