Metar visual decoder

[jackpilot]

Perfect for real weather flights

https://metar-taf.com/

[sagrada737]

Interesting and useful.  Thanks Jack!

Mike

[Joe Lavery]

Great find Jack, so long since I went flying I'm not sure I could work it out manually 

[sagrada737]

One way to stay alive as a VFR pilot is...   It's "always best" to fly into/toward good weather.  The same holds true of "single pilot IFR".  The lure of "Get-There-Itis" has done in more than one pilot.

For the VFR pilot, it doesn't take much in the way of complexity for the pilot to become disoriented in IMC conditions.  Add to that turbulence and equipment failure(s), and the VFR pilot can quickly become overwhelmed, and suffer loss of control, which may be unrecoverable.

In this regard, the Metar-TAF app is very useful in the flight planning process.

Even for the IFR pilot, it can be the case where due to weather and equipment failures, that the pilot "gets behind the airplane", which can result in loss of control and/or Controlled Flight into Terrain.

With our Sims...   The flight environment is very forgiving.  If we screw up or become overwhelmed flying the aircraft, we can simply shut-down the Sim, turn OFF the power and give it a try another time.  Not so with real-time flying in IMC flight conditions where bad weather can be a serious issue, where you either get it right, or suffer the consequences.

Lest the old-timers here think the above is a bit too anal...   I'm reminded of a few high-time IFR pilots that  "bit the dust" due to flying VFR into IMC conditions.  One example of this was a T-28 pilot flying his warbird in formation with another T-28 aircraft.  Departure was VFR for a fun flight to a destination about 50 miles away.  The weather on departure was 5 miles visibility.  Enroute the weather deteriorated to less than 3 miles.  They made the fatal mistake of "scud-running" and chasing holes in the sky.  The flight ended when both aircraft flew into a mountain.  Poor flight planning and over-confidence by the pilots were the primary factors that caused these perfectly fine aircraft to fly into terrain.  These guys were high-time military pilots, who unfortunately they lost their life.

Perhaps we all can tell of our own experiences when we had some "close calls" with weather.  As always, the best strategy is to make a 180 back to VFR conditions.
 
Anyway...  Thanks again Jack for the weather app -- one of many useful tools for any pilot.

Mike