Decoding a METAR in Infinite Flight | Question Thread

Ground School Community Tutorials
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Hey Guys,

This tutorial will take you across how to decode a METAR in Infinite Flight. have a great learning !

WHAT IS METAR ?

METAR is an abbreviation standing for Meteorological Aerodrome Report. It is generally auto generates every 30 minutes. It is used by pilots to check the weather of the airport before takeoff or landing.

AIRPORT NAME, DATE AND TIME -

Metar 1

The highlighted portion starts with a 4 letter ICAO code of the airport you are looking the METAR for. In this case, it is VIDP standing for Delhi. It is followed by date and time the METAR is generated.

DECODING -

VIDP - Delhi airport

311500Z - 31st of the month, 1500 Z is the time

WINDS AND VISIBILITY-

Metar 2

The highlighted portion first consists of the speed and direction of winds. It is followed by the visibility and condition.

DECODING -

13004KT - 130 degrees at 4 knots. The direction of winds are always true headings and not the magnetic

2500 - Visibility of the airport is 2500 meters or 2.5 km
BR - This stands for mist conditions at the airport

CLOUDS

Metar 3

The highlighted portion tells about the condition of clouds in the aerodrome. Before decoding it, have a look at the abbreviations used to describe clouds -

Abbreviation for clouds -

NCD - No clouds detected or SKC - Sky clear
FEW - Few clouds
SCT - Scattered clouds
BKN - Broken clouds
OVC - Overcast

DECODING -

SCT030 - scattered clouds at 3000 ft

FEW035 - Few clouds at 3500 ft

BKN - broken clouds at 10000 ft

TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE

Metar 4

The highlighted portion tells you about the temperature and pressure conditions of the airport.

DECODING -

29/26 - Current temperature / dew point

Q1001 - It is pressure which currently is shows 1001 hectopascals. The Q stands for QNH, which is the Q-code for what pressure you set on the altimeter subscale in order to read elevation above mean sea level. It’s not necessarily the pressure at sea level though - that is QFF (QNH adjusted for temperature deviations from ISA).

NOSIG - This is abbreviation for ‘No Significant Change’. This means that there is no significant change is detected in the weather of airport from quite a long time

Hope this tutorial helped you.

You can post your questions here. They will be answered ASAP :)

Cheers !

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Good one mate. Easy to understand. I’m already familiar with METARS but this will definitely help beginners!

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Great thread this will help many out here familiarize themselves with METARS!!!😀

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This is so easy to see. Must have taken ages and is very in depth. Will help many, thanks for making it.

Happy Flying :)
Cign

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Extremely helpful, I am definitely saving this.

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i see 9999 sometimes… what does that mean?

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It represents a visibility greater than 10km.

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alright thanks

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I see FEW035CB and I know that it means Few at 3500, but what does the CB mean?

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Awesome to have an updated tutorial on this. Great work!

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Cumulonimbus.

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Hey @Madison,

9999 means the the visibility is of 9999 meters or more. This is equivalent to 10 km or more. Some small airports flying VFR have greater values up to 50 km :)

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Ah well done! I was writing a METAR tutorial but you beat me too it and wrote it better. I’m sure this will be very helpful to some people :)

At least more helpful then mine was 😂

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Thanks for the appreciation @Black_Bird, @Jster82x, @Captain_Cign, @Astreal, @TheAviationGallery. @Sashaz55, @Lufthansa2 and @Madison :) Glad this helped you

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Haha @Liam06, thanks for your kind words :)

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Amazing in-depth tutorial! Just like @Astreal said:

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Thanks @Stellar_G !

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Well done… thank u!

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Glad that you liked it @Murphy :)

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Great tutorial @Raveesh

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