Aviation and Wx Apps/websites (iOS & Android, ect)

[Orlaam 306]

I know ForeFlight has been mentioned, is well known, and even has the ability to connect to the sim for navigating.  I loved ForeFlight in iOS when I trialed it but no way could I justify the cost as an enthusiast. 

 

There are several other apps but none really look very good or have much to offer, IMO. 

 

Today I decided on an app that looked nice and has a few top reviews.  It's called Takeoff and is excellent.  It essentially gives you METAR information for airports near you.  You can also select a distant airport or input favorites, so you aren't confined to your region.  It has TAFs, PIREPs, NOTAMs, Winds Aloft, SIGMETs/AIRMETs, and pretty anything you'd gather from NOAA for flying.  The layout is very nice.  I flew from my home airport closest to me, KDVT, to KGCN and was happy to see exact Wx info to what ASN was giving me in their menu.  Really cool.  It even decodes the METAR and indicates the wind for each runway, so it makes picking your takeoff or landing RWY easy and predictable.   If you fly RW or just love Wx and aviation like me, then Takeoff is a great app.  It's 4 dollars US and appears to be best used within the US only.  At least the NOAA graphical maps are mostly US, although it pulls non-US airport data fine.

 

My other favorite is RadarScope.  A radar only app that more or less requires a 10 USD per year subscription is great.  It displays all NEXRAD radar products and is a storm chaser app.  Great for RW Wx and likely good for aviation.

 

I do own MyRadar Pro too and it's nice for the fact that it visually displays SIGMETs, AIRMETs, or other aviation data, but the radar is too sensitive and it nags you a lot to rate the app, despite rating it already.  It's kinda worth owning but it's hit or miss for me.  The weather forecasting and current conditions are usually off a little.

 

For actual forecasting and current Wx, the NOAA website, http://www.weather.gov/ is actually the best IMO for US Wx.  They've done some weird changes to it in certain areas though so it can be stubborn to use.  You can enter an airport ICAO code though and get accurate Wx.  The aviation portion is good too: https://www.aviationweather.gov/

 

What are you using?