Ultimate Guide to METARs | Private Pilot Ground School

Here's a snippet of our Private Pilot Ground School explaining how to read a METAR, including all of the many obscure references and remarks you'll come across.

[ryanchurch]

Another great video from FlightInsight. Great narrator!
Edit: Want to point out the RVR on the last slide is saying: "Runway 12 visual range is 2200 ft variable up to greater than 6, 000 ft. The V is variable, and the P is greater than.

[psychastria]

"TSB21" means the thunderstorms began 21 minutes past the hour, not at 2100Z. It's similar to RAB (rain began) and RAE (rain ended) times showing minutes past the hour.

[ahmadsamadzai]

Thank you for these. Checkride is in 3-4 weeks. I have learned a ton from your channel.

[kevindavis]

Awesome explanation. Thanks! For the Zulu conversion, if you have an iPhone, you can add “UTC” to your World Clock settings, and it’ll tell you the current Zulu time.

[johnfitzpatrick]

Thankyou for explaining the METARS, I can already interpret 3/4
Merry Christmas and happy New year.
🌟
🌲

[chrisfezer]

Second, as has already been pointed out, the R12/2200VP6000ft means the runway visual range is variable from 2200 to past 6000 ft. The fog on the runway is shifting.

[keithmeline]

So is this a real good look of what your ground school is like? I really would like something to listen to as a refresher to keep myself current. Yes ultimately I know one should be visually following along, however you have always had a way with just your words to explain things so well that I can picture them in my head.

[srmj]

No matter how long I've been using these reports, if I take a big break, it's like I'm brand new when I come back. Have you done or are you planning to do the TAF? That can get hairy. Thanks for the time and info!

[EmberHarrington]

What do you mean 1852 is 252 est? Isnt 1852 6:52pm?
or you have to figure military time And time difference from England?
Thanks.

[nicecare]

What is "2200" refer to in the runway visual range?

[alk]

So are METAR winds true or magnetic? What about ATIS? Where I fly magnetic variation is about 15 degrees, still I tend to see/hear the same wind direction in both METAR and ATIS, so I'm very confused. Also, it seems completely weird an not practical to have winds in true while runways are in magnetic, why make it harder to understand where the wind is blowing relatively to the runway heading?..

[kennyw]

BR could also be Barely Rain or mist. I like "Baby Rain" too.

[xking]

RVR is variable 2200 to more than 6000ft but you won’t need that for private pilot, only instrument 😅

[GPTLG]

Christ almighty, I had never seen an FAA METAR. In Europe, the altimeter setting is given in HPa (or milibars) and the METAR says Q1013 intead of A2992. Also, I have never seen such remarks on my ATPL exams, it's a good think we are not required to know them.

[jossy]

Can't read...too small a font to follow effectively

[Factory]

By far.... the most critical lesson in aviation is this:

You will need a LOT of money. That money will be burned. Then, you will need a lot more money. 😍

[jay-rus]

Kontinental?

Otherwise, thanks for the video. Helpful. 😂

[outdoors]

Great video, you might correct: k may stand for Continental US!! C not K.

[garyplewa]

These METAR and other FAA abbreviations are such a joke. These were created out of necessity decades ago when teletypes were in use with slow baud rates. Bandwidth has long since improved by several orders of magnitude. The FAA preached about modernization when they forced pilots to install ADS-B. The also fond the time and money to "go woke" by changing the meaning of NOTAM from Notice to Airmen to Notice to Air Missions. Really? If safety and modernization is really their concern they should publish METARs and most Importantly TFRs in plain text with proper Upper and lower case letters so it can be read and understood.