Category: flying

How would like you like to get weather information like this…

EGOV 250950Z 17014KT 9999 FEW017 SCT170 BKN250 16/11 Q1004 BLU NOSIG TAF EGOV 250736Z 2509/2518 17012KT 9999 FEW022 PROB30 TEMPO 2514/2517 7000 -RA BECMG 2516/2518 BKN018

or

or

…instantly on any device?

With one free app and another free account, you can.

It works by combining your AutoRouter account with the new Telegram Messenger app. Here’s how to get it set up:

Go to http://router.euroga.org/ and open a free account

Download Telegram Messenger for all the devices you want to use

Associate Telegram with your mobile telephone number

In Telegram, search for “autorouter” (it’s a bot) and send it a message

It will reply that it doesn’t know who you are because you need to link the Autorouter account with the Autorouter bot

Tap on the safety pin, find yourself in the contacts list, and send it your mobile number

It should all be configured now, so try sending “radar” to the autorouter bot and get back something like the first image in this post. If that works, try “sferics” to get lightning strikes or “EGLL” to get the Heathrow weather.

There are tons of commands available. If you enter one that the bot doesn’t understand, it replies with the list of supported commands. Since it doesn’t understand “help”, that’s what I use to remind me what’s available.

Supported commands:

EOBT – delay or bring forward next flight plan to hour and minute UTC.

CANCEL – cancel the next flight plan.

ARRIVAL – send arrival message at hour and minute UTC.

WX – METAR/TAF for airport with given ICAO ID.

NEAR – get METAR/TAF near ICAO airport

NOTAM – NOTAMs for airport/FIR (add ordinal for details)

PLATES – AIP plates

SUBSCRIBE – subscription management

GRAMET – vertical route profile

SIGMET – European SIGMET

SFERICS – lightning strikes

RADAR – rain radar

SATIR – infrared satellite

TOPS – infrared with cloud tops estimation

MSLP – mean sea level pressure analysis

SIGWX – significant weather

TEMSI – European TEMSI forecast

TEMSIFRANCE – French TEMSI

AIRSPACES – Active airspace information

GAFORSLOVENIA – Slovenian GAFOR

RADARSLOVENIA – Slovenian rain radar

NORDICSWC – Scandinavian Significant Weather Chart

DWD – German Met Office products (subscription required)

Send your location for METAR/TAF in the vicinity

For a complete explanation of how to set it up and the commands available, go to the Autorouter site.

One more thing – if you have an account with the German Weather Service (DWD), perhaps because you have an ADL120 installed in your aircraft, you can get images like this: