Reader Survey This survey is intended for those that have used this product or add-on. If you have used it, please let your fellow simulation enthusiasts know how you rate it by taking this survey. Please, if you have not used this product, do not take this poll (you can view the poll from the "Results" link below). - Review Poll - Have you used David Sandberg's InfoMETAR Utility? Excellent Good Average I can live with it Taking it off my system Results

While others have worked diligently on Scenery David Sandberg has been working on weather utility enhancements to FLY!. I dare say that he has now become the METAR guru for FLY!. David initially provided us with Thinmetar a METAR utility that provided lots of options to enhance and improve FLY!'s handling of METAR Data. I reviewed Thinmetar product in February. That review also contains some useful information about METARs and my person preference on the Thinmetar options menu. Many of those comment hold true for InfoMETAR and therefore, I will not recreate them here. But you can read that review by clicking here.

InfoMETAR is Sandberg's most recent release continues to refine FLY!'s realism. InfoMETAR is actually an entirely new product, although all of the functionality of Thinmetar, which we have become used to and love, is still there.

Severity of Random Weather can be adjusted

Complete station information including Density Altitude

The Program

InfoMETAR is in my opinion two very distinct sub-programs although related. First is the METAR utility that is most similar to Thinmetar. The user interface is greatly improved with a Map display being the primary interface. The second program is the Random METAR Generator. This is completely new, and provides a means for the pilot to create weather for FLY! that although not real, is consistent with weather experienced in flight Plan region. I will look at these two sub-programs separately in the following paragraphs.

METAR Utility

InfoMETAR has an automatic download utility included this will permit download of the current cycle, previous cycle, or merge the two to generate the most complete METAR data available. I've only use the complete previous data option as the most recent data may be incomplete. David advised me that the merged data, which is the default actually will have more stations than the previous hours data. This, David said, is because some station just don't update on an hourly basis. Typically the merged data will have over 400 more reporting stations than the previous data, including international stations.

After download, A map is generated which closely follows the format of a NOAA Weather depiction Chart. This chart becomes the primary interface for the import utility. The user can build the flight plan by simply clicking origin and destination or waypoints on the map. Once this is done the METAR can be thinned to include only those stations within your chosen criteria. I loved the map feature, as I was able to visually and immediately see what the enroute weather would be. Based on the different reporting stations I could choose those that were to my liking, or that I felt would provide the best and most realistic changes in weather. Sandberg also provides a useful help file that explains the various symbols on the map. From this point you can start FLY!. Remember, as in the other METAR utilities you still must go to the FLY! environment page and select import METAR. Browse for the infometar.txt file and choose it.Ken Wood has uploaded, to the AVSIM site, an excellent and brief tutorial on using the METAR function within FLY!. You can download his tutorial here.

I will not go into detail about the thinning options. As stated before these are similar in function to the Thinmetar options. Read the Thinmetar review for these details.

Random METAR Generator

The Random METAR Generator is the best thing that has happened to FLY!'s weather since SKY!. With this option I am able to create realistic weather for FLY!. This is perfect for those days when, the real weather is dull, the NOAA site is down, or the "Interesting Weather" is not where I want it to be. Now for those of you that are thinking, "Big deal, I can do that in the FLY! environment page"; remember that weather created on the environment page will be the same throughout your flight. Regardless of, if you are flying over the arctic, or the Caribbean; what you create is what you get! With the Random Weather Generator the weather will change, enroute based on the climate common to the region you are in. The create utility will still permit you to choose the reporting stations for your weather. Another advantage of the Generator...now I can get good and consistent layers. Something that is almost impossible when the data is dependent on imported METAR data.

Additional Features

I'm not sure if I've come across everything that InfoMETAR has to offer yet. David packed it full of cool features. Here are some:

• Wizard for Planning your Environment
• ICAO decoding of station identifier
• Plain language METAR information (also double left-click)
• Excellent Help file
• Seamless integration with Enviro!
• Station Sunrise/Sunset Times
• Promised integration with SKY!2
• Fully Supports RWX format METARs and automatically converts to NOAA format. This is an InfoMETAR exclusive!