Guides

Tutorials that work on live data. The decoding guides decode as you type, and the examples come from reports being issued somewhere in the world right now.

Weather

• How to Read a METAR

  Field by field through an observation — with a live decoder in the page, so you can paste any report from anywhere and see every group explained. Includes the traps: stale reports, AUTO stations, and why only BKN, OVC and VV count as a ceiling.

• How to Read a TAF

  What FM, BECMG, TEMPO and PROB30 actually mean, how to pull your arrival-time forecast out of one — and a live decoder to practice on.

• VFR, MVFR, IFR and LIFR

  The exact thresholds behind the four colors, with a live count of how the world's stations split across them right now, and the airports currently at the lowest ceilings.

• PIREPs, AIRMETs, SIGMETs and TFRs

  The products that cover the route rather than the airport — how to decode a PIREP, and what each advisory does and does not promise.

Charts and planning

• How to Read an Instrument Approach Plate

  The five sections of every US approach chart, what IAF, FAF, MAP and MSA mean, and a briefing order that works under pressure.

• Flight Planning, Step by Step

  Route, cruise altitude, winds aloft, the heading chain from true to compass, honest fuel reserves, and choosing an alternate.

Practice on the real thing

• METAR Decoder

  Paste any report, get every group explained — 99% of groups across 5,000+ live reports worldwide.

• Live Weather Extremes

  The hardest METARs to decode on Earth right now. If you can read these, you can read anything.

• All calculators

  Density altitude, crosswind, wind triangle, top of descent and more — each showing the rule of thumb against the exact answer.

About these tutorials

They are written to be read before a flight, not during one, and they aim to be honest about the limits of each product rather than just describing its format. The thresholds quoted are the ones in the app's own code, and the live examples come from the same data feed the app uses — so nothing here can quietly drift out of step with what you would actually see.

Nothing here is a substitute for training, the regulations, or official publications.