Aviation Meteorological Services

Aviation meteorological services

Aviation weather services are organised worldwide under ICAO Annex 3. Each Contracting State maintains a "meteorological service" providing the observations, forecasts and warnings required for aviation.

ICAO framework

ICAO Annex 3 — Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation defines:

• International standards for aviation weather data (METAR, TAF, SIGMET, AIRMET, SIGWX, WINTEM, GAMET, SNOWTAM, ASHTAM, VAA, TCA).
• International station networks, data formats, transmission means.
• Responsibilities of national met services.

National Met Services in the EU

Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) — Germany

Seat: Offenbach am Main.

Legal basis: DWD Act (Gesetz über den Deutschen Wetterdienst).

Aviation products for PPL:

• METAR/TAF for German commercial airports and selected regional aerodromes.
• SIGMET / AIRMET for FIR Bremen, Langen, Munich.
• GAFOR — General Aviation Forecast — special VFR product:
  • 5–7 route corridors per state with codes "X", "D", "M", "O", "C", "I" for visibility conditions.
  • Three-step scale for 0–3, 3–6, 6–9 hours ahead.
  • VFR-specific — the most important product for German visual-flight pilots.
• SIGWX (Significant Weather Charts) — graphical weather charts 0–6 h, 6–12 h.
• Wind/temperature charts (WINTEM) for various flight levels (FL 050 to FL 390).
• Self-briefing portal "pc_met" and mobile app "FlugWetter".

Briefing channels:

• Internet: https://www.flugwetter.de (paid for full access, often via flying club subscription).
• Telephone: AvBriefing hotline (paid).
• AIS-C of DFS in Frankfurt — complete pre-flight briefing.
• EFB apps (SkyDemon, ForeFlight) — often relay DWD data directly.

MeteoSwiss — Switzerland

Seat: Zurich-Kloten.

Aviation products:

• Skybriefing — paid self-briefing portal.
• METAR/TAF for Swiss aerodromes.
• VFR weather charts with detailed mountain forecast.
• Föhn warning and detailed Swiss-Alps forecast.

Météo-France — France

• Aéroweb — French self-briefing portal.
• Comparable to DWD/MeteoSwiss.

Other major European Met Services

• UK Met Office — UK (PPL briefing via AvMet, online).
• Austro Control — Austria (briefing via PPR hotline and online).
• AEMET — Spain.

ICAO document hierarchy

ATIS and VOLMET

ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) — see atis-... in Air Law. Local aerodrome weather.

VOLMET (volume + met) — continuous weather broadcast on VHF/HF with METAR/TAF for several airports:

• VOLMET Europe on VHF/HF, broadcasts from Heathrow, Frankfurt, Madrid etc.
• VHF VOLMET: 126.225 MHz (London), 127.000 MHz (Frankfurt partially).
• Texts repeated in English 24/7.

Special areas

SNOWTAM

• Specialised NOTAM for runway state with snow/ice/water.
• Format per Annex 15 Appendix 2.
• Issued by the aerodrome weather station.

ASHTAM

• NOTAM for volcanic ash.
• Provides FL information for ash clouds and recommended avoidance.

VAA (Volcanic Ash Advisory)

• Advisory from the VAAC (Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre) — 9 VAACs worldwide; Europe covered by London and Toulouse.
• Charts and forecasts for ash dispersal.

TCA (Tropical Cyclone Advisory)

• For tropical regions — hurricane/typhoon forecasts.

VFR briefing checklist for PPL

Check before every cross-country:

1. METAR of departure, destination and alternate (current state).
2. TAF for the planned flight time (forecast).
3. GAFOR for the route (visibility per corridor).
4. SIGWX at planned altitude (weather overview).
5. WINTEM at planned altitude (wind and temperature).
6. AIRMET / SIGMET if active.
7. NOTAMs for the route.
8. Sunset and daylight conditions.
9. For mountain flights: current GAFOR and Föhn warning.

Data-format standardisation

All aeronautical weather data follow ICAO codes:

• METAR/TAF: per ICAO Annex 3 Appendix 3.
• Weather symbols standardised worldwide.
• TREND in METAR: NOSIG / BECMG / TEMPO.