Weathermeister.com

[randylervold]

Weathermeister.com is so good it makes me feel guilty. Like most pilots I've established a list of web sites I use for my flight planning. It was actually a fair amount of work to hit them all to assemble the full picture of weather for the route I was going to travel. I'd use either general mapping software or AOPA's flight planning software to do my route planning (distance, time, waypoints, etc.), then hit all the weather sites. Weathermeister.com assembles all the data you need from many of the same sources I was using separately, then adds additional functionality with its Flight Optimizer.

Yes, it's a subscription service with three pricing levels, but frankly I think it's free, here's the logic... XM Weather on my Garmin 496 is $49.99/mo, or $29.99 for the Aviator LT package. I changed my subscription from the full package to the Aviator LT package saving $20/mo, then sign up for Weathermeister.com at $6.95/mo and I'm still $13 a month ahead. What I'm missing in the air is primarily winds aloft and satelitte mosaic. Winds aloft is not usually accurate, and with an RV you can just change altitude quickly to check anyway. My Advanced Flight Systems AF-3500 EFIS has a real time wind direction and speed arrow so I don't even need to compare TAS to groundspeed, just look at the arrow direction and windspeed. I've found the satellite mosaic product (cloud cover) is of little value since it doesn't show cloud tops... can I get over it or not? It doesn't tell you.

Anyway, for me using Weathermeister.com before I take off and XM Aviator LT in the air and is both cheaper and yields a better quality briefing. I feel like I'm cheating because I'm not working hard enough on my flight planning, just click a few buttons and it's all right there!

I haven't done justice here to all Weathermeister.com can do so be sure and click on this link for a full description.

[Bruce]

Randy,

Hats off to Dan C for the site. But after you do your homework on his site and then get a briefing (when going through flight school), usually I knew more about the weather than the briefer. It is a great TOOL to use. Saved my butt a few times. I like the feature of moving the range out when the fronts are moving through. Did not check it today with the NORTHERN that blew threw Dallas today. Peak gust 59 MPH. Kinda dusty as the Texans would put it.

[groucho]

Dan's weathermeister does indeed rule. Yesterday the weather went bad very quickly here & I used weathermeister to get near instant reports to generate a list of suitable diverts for a 2-ship I had airborne. I, of course, consulted with actual towers & weather dudes to be official - but I knew the answer before I even picked up the phone. Love it!

[dreamtime]

Weathermeister is one of those products that you look at and and realize that the designer really "got it" -- right functionality, right ease of use, right look and feel. It's one of those service products that has reached the level of simplicity that resides on the other side of complexity.

Not only is the functionality as good as it gets (at least in my experience), but I love the kind of retro simplicity of the user interface. I wish more designers of web products would follow this design philosophy.

I'm a subscriber and intend to stay that way. Thanks to Dan for a great service.

David

[cjensen]

I finally signed up for it today after reading this thread...I can already tell it will be well worth $6.95/mo!! MUCH improved over the years, and far and above better than the free version.

[Bill Dicus]

Just signed up yesterday and love it! Thanks to you who posted comments. Bill

[bfilarsky]

I've been using it for about a month now, and love it! I've already hooked a few others onto it as well. Thanks Dan!

[Ironflight]

I was using it on console a few weeks back, and when my Capcom (sitting next to me) - a military test pilot as well as a GA owner - saw it, he immediately signed up. He then put in the performance numbers for the T-38N, and asked it for the best altitude for a trip to El Paso from Houston.....it got a might confused with that (I don't think Dan expected people to be flight planning for a supersonic jet), but he was still blown away at the amount of information and the way it was integrated - best weather brief he'd seen....and the best I've seen as well!

Paul

[Geico266]

Nice job Dan. No nonsence weather information, who would have thought?

[keithschult]

I started using it back when it was a freebie on Dan's personal web site. It's a GREAT tool. It has simplified planning so much and given me so much I used to have to laboriously calculate. I admire Dan for constructing such a site. Thanks, Dan