Weather

A short time ago I was introduced to WEATHERMEISTER.COM I had used it for many cross country flights.
On my way to Sun-n-Fun it really became evident I cannot make a flight without it.
I was sitting in the FBO in Valdosta, Ga Monday morning and looking at runwayfinder.com and others that gave me the Metars and latest observations on various fields along my route. I then noticed they were as much as 2 HOURS OLD. They may as well been from last week for all the good it was. I looked outside and noticed the sky was clearing above to almost VFR at Valdosta GA. Back into the FBO again and this time I checked Weathermeister.com. The field observations were within minutes of the current time, sky's clearing and broken clouds along the route. So off I launched. I appreciate the complexity of the web site and just how much information is packed into it that you only need to go here for a briefing. Oh by the way if you plan a flight and want to throw in a fuel stop, Dan will figure the percentage of extra time it will take rather than going direct.

The moral is email Dan Checkoway and SIGNUP now, before you need it. It has EVERYTHING you need.

Tad "Stripes" Sargent
FFI Wingman
7A 400 hours

Check out NavMonster.com

Nice, BUT

Free makes it nice but it still doesn't have all the info that Weathermeister has and IMHO the ease of use.
Can't say enough good about the capabilities of Weathermeister.com

The fun thing about Weathermeister is that you get used to using a certain set of features for awhile, and then one day you start exploring what Dan has added (without any fanfare or announcement) to areas of the site you haven't looked at for awhile. I didn't know he'd added Flight Plan Filing for quite awhile after he did it - well, that was the last time I had to go to DUATS!

Paul

Ironflight said:

...I didn't know he'd added Flight Plan Filing for quite awhile after he did it - well, that was the last time I had to go to DUATS!

Paul

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I can find all the weather I need lots of places but but haven't run across any site but DUATS for NOTAMS. Does weathermeister have NOTAMS?

n5lp said:

I can find all the weather I need lots of places but but haven't run across any site but DUATS for NOTAMS. Does weathermeister have NOTAMS?

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Yes!

Mark

Not only does it have NOTAMS, but they are actually readable! (Of course Larry, I know you're a professional decoder....but some of us appreciate a little help!)

I must agree...

The Weathermeister product coupled with XM weather technology is a powerful combination that has changed the way I flight plan and conduct flights. I recently used both on the trip to Sun N (Mud) N Fun from Oregon and back. We saw just about every type of weather, wind, turbulence, T-storms, mountain wave, etc, and these tools allowed us to manage and optimize route selection. We were able to compare 2 different routes at a glance using Weathermeister, and then monitor the progress and weather developments real time with the XM/Garmin combo.

A little scary

Comments to the effect that a pilot can't fly without an uncontrolled and unofficial weather product sounds a little dependent scary no matter how good it seems to be at the moment.

Bob Axsom

Bob Axsom said:

Comments to the effect that a pilot can't fly without an uncontrolled and unofficial weather product sounds a little dependent scary no matter how good it seems to be at the moment.

Bob Axsom

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"Can't" and "Won't" are two different things Bob - I CAN do a whole lot of things that I won't choose to do if I don't have to. Yes, if Dan Checkoway drops dead tomorrow , and Weathermeister goes off the air, I will continue to fly. Same thing is true of XM weather. I will be quite sad if either one happens, just as if I suddenly had to go back to flying Pipers and Cessnas.

I choose to avail myself of the best information available, as long as it is available - to not do so would definitely be "a little scary".

Paul

Bob Axsom said:

Comments to the effect that a pilot can't fly without an uncontrolled and unofficial weather product sounds a little dependent scary no matter how good it seems to be at the moment.

Bob Axsom

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Bob, weathermeister made my RV at least 7 knots faster and I've heard similar reports from others. Of course, I'm kidding but if this is enough to get you to try Dan's offering I'm sure you'll liked it. Sorry, couldn't resist.
Really, weathermeister is some of the best spent aviation dollars you can surrender to anybody.

As a recent convert to Weathermeister, Bob, I think you misunderstood the meaning of "I cannot make a flight without it."

I think he was referring to the fact that his other sources of weather were not current enough to inform him of the changes in the weather that were taking place and therefore would have erroneously lead him to the decision to stay on the ground.

Like calling "1-800-DONTFLY"

I'm not doing many x-c's these days, but I like Weathermeister so well I'm paying the subscription anyway. I want to encourage "smart" formats like Dan has created.

I walked in the weather office at S&F last Monday morning to look at a 400 mile trip back to south Alabama. Despite identifying the aircraft as a Legend Cub, the briefer started with continental weather patterns on the West Coast. What followed was mostly watching the briefer fumble with screens and links.

Point is, all you get with a briefer is the same weather info from the same government sources, via the same internet, but filtered through a much lower understanding of your actual needs. The guy could have supplied a better briefing if he had just dialed up Weathermeister and plugged LAL-CTY into the route blocks.

I wonder what it would take for Dan to get Weathermeister "approved" as an official weather briefing?

Yeah, he probably wouldn't want to deal with the whole liability issue, but let's face it -- Duats sucks like a venturi.

One of the reasons it sucks is they simply added a web interface to a telnet session! Oh brother. I just used the telnet interface directly to see how it works. It's ridiculous. You get loads of data that would take you 45 minutes to read it all, if you can understand the onslaught of abbreviations. Weathermeister is cool, simple, direct and obviously done by a pilot, for pilots.

Every single time I use duats then weathermeister.com it I can't help but wonder how much the FAA paid CSC for Duats and how much it costs the FAA in maintenance fees.

FSS briefing

I too went to the FSS at Lakeland for my return trip. I asked the briefer specific questions about the front that was passing across the FL/GA border and he had the deer in the headlight look. I could only assume he had no real working knowledge of weather systems. He could however pull up weather charts and read from them real fast.
I love weathermeister.

Another endorsement!

I'm a huge fan of Weathermeister, too. Some additional benefits not yet mentioned are:

It is very easy to access through my smartphone and get a "briefing" in the cockpit;

When I discovered recently that the airpark where we are buying a home wasn't in Dan's database, I dropped him a line (through the website) and he added the airport within 24 hours....in time for my flight down there.

It's fabulous and well worth the subscription cost if you fly much at all.

My $0.02.

I love weathermeister & use it every single day.

Weathermeister.com

Come on BOB. The context is this. I cannot go fly without some kind of weather observations. I cannot fly cross country without seeing all the weather along my route. And I cannot find another site that gives me what I need in one place. If I cannot than I will not. If this is clear enough than I cannotsay any more.
This was ment to be a commercial for a product I use. Please do not read anything more into it. Thanks
Best Regards.
Tad Sargent

quote=tadsargent;216952]

"On my way to Sun-n-Fun it really became evident I cannot make a flight without it."

This was the trigger for my comment.

Bob Axsom

Yes for Weathermeister

I have been a customer of Weathermeister for about three months, and even though I don't fly X-C often, I use it almost every day. I did make a trip to Daytona Beach two months ago and was convinced it is light years ahead of the "old fashioned way." Not to disparage FSS briefers; I do still talk to them, but I always double check with WM, too.

This thread SORTA reminds me of a local weatherman who was chastised for issuing tornado warnings several years ago before the NWS office in Birmingham issued the "official" tornado warnings. He argued that he could predict and provide warnings about tornadoes much quicker and in a more meaningful way for the North Alabama area than the National Weather Service office which at that time was located far away in Birmingham...plus he could show on live TV the exact neighborhood where he thought a tornado was developing. There were a lot of threats from the government folks, but the weatherman's TV station management stood behind him. Now there are many TV Meteorologists who have high-powered radar and computer technology. I work for the US Government, and I will be the first to admit that the Government doesn't always have the latest, most modern equipment.

So my post is about a weatherman named "Dan" and a Weathermeister named "Dan." How cool is that?

Try Weathermeister; if you're serious about keeping up with the weather, you'll find it a great tool. Also, Dan has made it "customizable" so you can use his standard format as well as a few of your own "customized" layouts. I love the Route planning feature, where it interpolates the winds aloft and predicts both a "Best Speed" and a "Best Economy" altitude. It's just very useful.

I like it ...a lot!

Don

My FSS friend....

DanH said:

I walked in the weather office at S&F last Monday morning to look at a 400 mile trip back to south Alabama. Despite identifying the aircraft as a Legend Cub, the briefer started with continental weather patterns on the West Coast. What followed was mostly watching the briefer fumble with screens and links.

Point is, all you get with a briefer is the same weather info from the same government sources, via the same internet, but filtered through a much lower understanding of your actual needs. The guy could have supplied a better briefing if he had just dialed up Weathermeister and plugged LAL-CTY into the route blocks.

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...who shall remain nameless... I gave him a tour of Weathermeister and he was flabbergasted at how incredible the site was and how they have to do many of those calculations in their head when Dan's site just spells it out for you (i.e. best cruise altitudes, etc.) He wishes they had access to this at FSS as it automatically lays out the en route Wx information in a sensible, easy to read format and does it all on one primary page.

How's that for an endorsement.

And it has NOTAMs that are actually readable with things we actually care about highlighted for easy viewing. Let's see - how many runway closures can the FAA hide amongst rivers of NOTAMs on burned out tower lights. Puh-lease!

Between Weathermeister and the XM on my 396 my informational "tool box" is a whole lot more kitted out for XC flying than it used to be.

Rob