Weathermeister debuts on premium stage by Bob Collins

I've made note on these pages before about Weathermeister, the nifty application that RVator Dan Checkoway provided to us about a year ago. It had -- and has -- a customizable interface that makes getting the weather at your home field -- or anywhere else -- instantly possible.

There have been more robust programs available -- DUATS, the Kansas City mostly-Java application -- and these have been fine. But in the last couple of weeks, Dan has added membership tiers for Weathermeister that provide pretty much all the information you need, and he provides multiple platform delivery systems; a significant step ahead of the competition.

Me? I just like the fact an RVer is behind it.

This week I got a chance to patrol the site. I'm not presently flying -- I'm still self-grounded for medical reasons -- but one of the things I do to stay somewhat "proficient" is plan flights as if I'm still flying.

Once you log in, you're asked to provide the usual information -- name, address, phone number and home airport etc. Then you get a chance to customize yourself. -- your departure airport, your destination (you can save up to 10 "custom" routes under the premium plan), your bird's performance specs -- and indicate the type of weather you're looking for either based on a geographical area or a user-inputted set of points.

What's really cool here -- OK, I think it's all really cool -- is you can save a custom profile for your plane. In fact, you can save multiple profiles for your plane based on the type of flying you're intending, that finds its way back into the data provided to you later on.

There are a couple of minor quibbles with the interface, mostly surrounding navigation. For example, the option to set specs for your aircraft comes partway down a form where you've already starting inputting data. When you click the link, it goes to a new page in the same browser rather than opening up a pop up or at least the spec page in a new tab, meaning when you go back you'll have to input the data again for your flight. But, like I said, these are very minor and I'm certain these are the sorts of user experience issues that get settled over time.

Once you've settled on your route -- and, OK, I'm a take-off-and-look-down kind of pilot so I entered 21D to KFCM (basically one side of Minneapolis to the other) -- a simple button leads you to a route briefing. If you're like me, you'll actually find yourself saying -- out loud -- "wow." This has the makings of something big.

Weathermeister plotted a course for me of best economy altitude and best cruise altitude. In my case it indicated 4,500 on a direct route. I probably should've entered route points because it took me directly over the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, but it displayed my route with a Google Map. You've got to love Google Maps, and the geek in me immediately leapt to "how did he do that?" mode.

Beneath the map, a table indicates the usual flight-data information. Done? Oh, heck no! The easy-to-understand, all-in-one-spot presentation provided METARS for nearby airports and as you roll a mouse button over the airport identifier, the airport data is displayed. A notation also tells me if there are any TFRs along my route. For this flight, there weren't, although knowing President Bush was to be in Iowa today, it was good to be reminded that TFRs are a possibility.

Done? Nope. Two PIREPS were also presented, revealing light rime icing from 7,500 to 9,000 feet. This is a huge improvement over the usual services I use for weather and flight planning. The importance of it all being on one page cannot be overstated. I usually can't find PIREPS -- easily anyway -- on a lot of flight planning software, and that's if I even remember to look. Now, it's not a problem.

Done? Nope. The page continues with 6 weather map depictions, including the option for regional radar, which loads in a small pop-up window (and won't be derailed by your pop-up blocker). AIRMETS and SIGMETS are easily located. TAFS and winds aloft are indicated, the forecasts for departure and arrival locations are neatly and efficiently displayed -- no more looking through 5 pages of data for Mississippi and laser light show warnings when all you want to do is fly across Minneapolis for gas.

Eight thumbnails give you the option of checking NOAA forecast maps, there's several tables of NOTAMS (OK, there might be a laser light show NOTAM, but you can find it and dismiss it easily).

And then it gets really cool! The page imports AIRNAVS fuel price data for airports along your route of flight. Again. Wow!

For kicks, I go back to the main page (gotta enter my data again, though) and check what's in the area briefing. Basically, you get much of the same information, without the route data. Since you can save this as a custom route, you're basically looking at logging in, pushing a button and getting everything described above. Impressive? Oh, yeah.

I had to get to work so I didn't have as much time to play on the site as I'd hoped, which actually works out to be a good test since I wanted to find out how easy it would be to navigate and get data on those occasions when I'm in a hurry to go fly. Easy. Simple text navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen gave me every TFR in the country, with links to the actual FAA posting (I would recommend that these links spawn new windows instead of taking you off Weithermeister.

A "tools" link took me to an option to deliver weather either by e-mail or instant messenger. Think about that: if you had, say, a Blackberry, you can get weather in the cockpit. There are several different responders, depending on what sort of weather you're looking for -- area briefing, METARS, route briefing, NOTAMS and TAFS. It's not far-fetched, I suppose, that other things will be added in the future. Imagine being able to get an e-mail with the latest fuel prices, for example.

So how much does this cost? First, if you've visited Weathermeister in its early stages, don't worry. It's not going away. There's still a free site. But if you wanted advanced features such as emailed TFRs-- and trust me, you will, the cost is ridiculously low. With the basic package, you get everything described above with the exception of the e-mail/IM feature for about $50 a year or about $5 a month. The premium package allows more custom saves and the IM/e-mail feature for about $2 additional. A corporate package allows a significantly higher number of custom saves. You can find an explanation here.

This is a package that is the most user-friendly -- while being affordable -- package that I've ever seen. And why wouldn't it, it's designed by a user. I can imagine RVers will be flooding Dan with ideas for new features. And you know what? I'll bet Dan will have a lot of them incorporated within a day.

Here's wishing Dan the best of luck in this area. Remember, you knew him when.