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Help

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

  • Who can use the data provided by ADDS?

    Anyone, subject to the terms of use located at http://weather.aero/terms. ADDS was designed to provide weather forecast information and services. It is a free service, funded by the FAA.

    Please be reminded that the ADDS data and information contained in this is intended primarily for research purposes. It is essentially experimental and should not be used as a substitute for officially disseminated weather forecasts and warnings. The information shall not be used for flight planning or other operational purposes.

  • How reliable is access to ADDS?

    ADDS is a "best effort" website which has been engineered with reliability, redundancy, and failover in mind. Since 1999, we have had a remarkable record for uptime: less than 3 outages per year, usually lasting less than 5 minutes, but we cannot guarantee access to information, and we are not a 24x7 operation.

    This means that ADDS staff do not carry pagers and are not expected to monitor the site on nights, weekends, and holidays. We also have only one location, so in case of fire or other catastrophe, the site could be down for a while.

    If you absolutely must have 24x7 operational reliability and don't need the experimental products, please use Operational ADDS instead.

Weather Products

  • Why did the colors change for the flight categories on the METAR plots?

    The changes on Experimental ADDS for the flight categories: VFR, MVFR, IFR, and LIFR were made at the request of FAA Flight Standards (AFS-410). The "pastel" colors were necessary to accommodate the National Ceiling and Visibility Analysis (NCV-A) product. This facilitated the plotting of station data icons over the gridded NCV-A product in such a way that users can clearly differentiate both data sources. The color combinations were developed with oversight from the FAA Flight Standards group.

  • What happened to the low confidence overlay on the HEMS Tool and Ceiling and Visibility plots?

    FAA Flight Safety has determined that the low confidence overlays should no longer appear on the Ceiling and Visibility product. The low confidence overlay was also removed from the Ceiling and Visibility products in the HEMS Tool to comply with this request.

  • What happened to the Ceiling and Visibility Graphics?

    The Ceiling and Visibility product is now on its own page.

    The number of levels currently shown have changed.  This is in response to a directive from the FAA Safety Committee which recently approved this product for operational use.  Now, that product will show only 3 levels:  "Possible Obscuration", "IFR", or "VFR". 

Data Access

  • Is there a mobile application for the Flight Path Tool or HEMS Tool?

    We would love to develop a mobile app version of the Flight Path Tool and HEMS Tool. Unfortunately, these are not priorities of our funding sponsor, the FAA. Because ADDS is entirely funded by the FAA, new development is prioritized according to their priorities.

    We have been directed, however, to provide data services that can be used by the broader aviation weather community. Our Text Data Server is currently used by over 150 organizations as their primary source of aviation observation data and could easily be used as a data source for a mobile application. If anyone were to develop such an application, we would encourage them to share it with the ADDS community.

  • Why doesn't the Flight Path Tool or HEMS Tool display a specific ASOS/AWOS station?

    The station information that is presented in the Flight Path Tool, HEMS Tool, and elsewhere on the ADDS site is obtained from the NOAAPort Satellite Broadcast Network (SBN), which is fed from the NWS Telecommunications Gateway. Their website provides a form to check the availability of a station in their data stream. If a station of interest is absent, you will need to contact the station's operator/manager and request that the station's information be submitted to the Telecommunications Operations Center for distribution.

  • Where can I retrieve archived data?

    ADDS does not archive historical data. Our mission is to provide up-to-the minute data to our users in useful formats. Due to the large volume of realtime data processed by ADDS, we must aggressively scrub our disks. For most gridded and observation data sets, we maintain approximately 24 hours of data. If you need data beyond 24 hours, please try the NCDC.

  • Can I obtain ADDS data directly?

    Yes. ADDS provides a Text Data Server that serves METARs, TAFs, AIR/SIGMETs, PIREPs, and station information via an HTTP request. This facilitates machine-to-machine retrieval of raw data and provides users more control over the data this is currently available through the ADDS web site. Please refer to the 'Data Services' section for more information and examples of queries.

    We are also developing servers for the FAA's NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW) program. These servers will provide even more capability to ADDS clients (such as retrieving gridded data sets using OGC standards). Look for prototypes of these servers coming online soon.

    For details on copying and distribution of images, icons, data, or text, please refer to the FAQ item: Can I copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the images, icons, data, text or "look and feel" of this website?

  • Can I copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the images, icons, data, text or "look and feel" of this website?

    Yes. UCAR owns all intellectual property contained on this website, including the "look and feel", any and all images, icons, data, and text. However, you may use the images, icons, data, and text (the "ADDS Material") at your own risk, subject to the terms of use at http://weather.aero/terms, so long as:

    1. you credit UCAR and NCAR/RAL as the source of the ADDS Material,
    2. you conspicuously and appropriately publish with the Work, or affix to the Work, the following notice ("Notice"):

      The source of this ADDS Material is the Research Applications Laboratory (RAL) of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), which is operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) pursuant to a Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation. Copyright © 2010, UCAR

      3. The Notice shall be displayed on any documents, media, printouts, and visualizations or other electronic or tangible expressions associated with, related to or derived from the ADDS Material or associated documentation.

    3. your use of the ADDS Material is not so pervasive as to give the impression that you are affiliated with or endorsed by UCAR, NCAR or ADDS.
    4. you do not use the names, "University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, UCAR , National Center for Atmospheric Research, NCAR, ADDS" and the names, acronyms or trademarks associated with any of UCAR’s other programs or laboratories in any way so as to imply an association with or endorsement by UCAR of any products, services or institutions, unless specific written permission is obtained from UCAR.

       

     

Troubleshooting / Technical Support

  • What is required to launch the Flight Path Tool or HEMS Tool?

    The Flight Path Tool and HEMS Tool will run on the Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems with the current stable release of Java (currently version 1.6). Java can be downloaded from the official Java website.

  • Can I launch the Flight Path Tool or HEMS Tool without a browser?

    Yes. A browser is a convenient way to find and launch the applications, but it is not necessary to run the tools. The tools actually run in Java Web Start, a standard component of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). To start them without a browser, pass the URL of the application as an argument to the Java Web Start Application Manager, launch the Java Web Start Application Manager and double-click the name of the tool, or create a desktop shortcut/bookmark to the application from the Java Webstart Application Manager. The Java Web Start Application Manager program is called 'javaws.exe' or 'javaws,' depending on your operating system

  • Having trouble launching the HEMS or Flight Path tool?

    You may simply need to clear your Java cache. Here's how to do it.

    1. Open the Java Cache Viewer ("javaws.exe" on Windows, "javaws" on Linux and Mac). You can launch it from a command/terminal window with the "-viewer" option like this:

      javaws.exe -viewer
       
    2. Be patient.  The Java Cache Viewer may take a little while to start up.
    3. In the Java Cache Viewer, find any rows for the HEMS tool and/or Flight Path tool. For each such row, highlight it and press the delete key or click the red delete X.
    4. Once you've removed the applications from the cache, you can exit the Java Cache Viewer.
    5. Now go the ADDS website and re-launch the HEMS or Flight Path tool. You should see a progress bar indicating that it is being downloaded from the site, rather than loaded from your cache.
  • How do I enable logging for the Flightpath Tool or HEMS Tool?

    Output from the log file can help us diagnose any issues with the FlightPath Tool or HEMS Tool.

    Here's how to do it.

    • Shut down any currently running FlightPath Tool or HEMS Tool.
    • Open the Java Cache Viewer ("javaws.exe" on Windows, "javaws" on Linux and Mac). You can launch it from a command/terminal window with the "-viewer" option like this:

      javaws.exe -viewer

    • Be patient. The Java Cache Viewer and Java Control Panel  will appear.
    • Close the Java Cache Viewer by clicking on "Close" in the bottom right corner of the Java Cache Viewer window. 
    • In the Java Control Panel, click on the "Advanced" tab at the top of the window.
    • Expand the "Java console" menu (click on the icon to the left of the menu item "Java console").
    • Check "Show console"
    • Exit the Java Control Panel by clicking "OK".
    • Now go the ADDS website and re-launch the FlightPath Tool or  HEMS Tool.

    You should now see a Java Console window appear along with the FlightPath Tool or  HEMS Tool .

    • Cut and paste the text inside the Java Console and email it to support@weather.aero for diagnosis.

If you still can't find the answer, try visiting the community forums.

If you can't find the answer here or in the community forums, contact us and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

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