Reading METAR and TAF.
Pilot weather decoding 101.

Every aviation weather report in the world follows the same two formats: METAR for current conditions, TAF for forecasts. They look impenetrable on first glance — strings of letters, numbers, and slashes that read like an encrypted license plate. They are not, in fact, encrypted. They're just compact. Once you learn the chunks, you can read both in seconds.

One example METAR you'll see at MCIA

That's a real-shape METAR for RPVM (Mactan-Cebu International). Let's decode it from left to right.

Chunk by chunk

• METAR — report type. Just says "this is a METAR." Always at the start.
• RPVM — ICAO airport identifier. R = Pacific region, P = Philippines, VM = Mactan-Cebu. (Manila NAIA is RPLL.)
• 020930Z — date and time. The 02 is day of month (2nd), 0930 is the time, and Z means Zulu (UTC). For Philippines, add 8 hours: this is 17:30 local on the 2nd.
• 09010KT — wind. Direction first (090° = from the east), then speed (10 knots). If you see a G in there (e.g. 09015G25KT), the G means gusting and the second number is gust speed.
• 9999 — visibility in meters. 9999 means "10 km or more" — the maximum reportable. If you see 5000, that's 5 km. If you see 1000 or lower, it's getting marginal.
• FEW018 BKN300 — clouds. Two layers reported here. FEW = few clouds, base at 1,800 feet (the 018 is hundreds of feet). BKN = broken layer, base at 30,000 feet. Other codes: SCT (scattered), OVC (overcast). Heights are AGL (above ground level).
• 28/24 — temperature and dewpoint. 28°C and 24°C. The closer the dewpoint is to the temperature, the more humid; if they're within 2-3°C, fog or low cloud is possible at airfield level.
• Q1011 — altimeter setting (Philippine convention is Q in hectopascals). 1011 hPa. You'll dial this into the Kollsman window of your altimeter. (US format would be A2987 in inches of mercury.)
• NOSIG — "no significant change expected" in the next 2 hours. Sometimes you'll see TEMPO 2400 (temporarily reduced visibility) or BECMG (becoming) followed by changing conditions instead.

What the same airport's TAF would look like

Same airport, same format mostly, but now we're looking at a forecast covering a 24-hour validity window. Two new things to read:

• 0209/0309 — validity period. The forecast covers from 09:00Z on the 2nd to 09:00Z on the 3rd.
• BECMG 0214/0216 10012KT — "between 14:00 and 16:00 Z, conditions becoming wind 100° at 12 kt." Permanent change starting in that window.
• TEMPO 0218/0222 4000 SHRA BKN012 — "temporarily between 18:00 and 22:00 Z, expect visibility 4 km, rain showers (SHRA), broken cloud at 1,200 ft." This is the chunk that drives go/no-go decisions for VFR pilots — temporary 4 km vis with rain at 1,200 ft is below VFR minimums for student pilots.

What pilots actually do with this

Three decisions come out of every weather brief:

1. Can I depart safely? — driven by current METAR ceiling, visibility, and crosswind component for the active runway.
2. Will conditions hold for the planned flight? — driven by the TAF for the validity window covering departure + flight time + a buffer.
3. What's my alternate? — driven by the TAF for nearby airports. If MCIA forecast shows weather dropping below alternate minima, you might file for Bacolod or Davao instead.

For PPL students, the threshold is straightforward: VFR requires ≥ 5 km visibility and ≥ 1,500 ft ceiling at most Philippine airports under standard rules. CAFS instructors set higher personal minimums for student solo flights — typically ≥ 8 km vis and ≥ 2,500 ft. The METAR + TAF tell you whether you meet those minima now, and whether you'll still meet them when you land.

Where to look in the Philippines

Active weather sources Philippine pilots use:

• PAGASA — Philippine national weather agency. Daily and hourly observations and warnings.
• CAAP NOTAM & weather brief — formal pre-flight document required by CAAP for cross-country flights, includes METAR/TAF for departure, destination, and alternates.
• aviationweather.gov — global METAR/TAF aggregator, used internationally; the Philippines' RP-prefix airports are searchable.
• Schedulers/dispatchers at MCIA — for commercial ops, the MCIA tower briefs are the authoritative real-time source.

What CAFS ground school adds

Decoding the format is one chapter. Reading between the lines is the rest. Capt. Wollen's PPL ground school spends a full session on Philippine-specific weather patterns: monsoon rhythms, sea-breeze effects on Mactan, afternoon convective build-up over Cebu's central highlands, and what a typhoon bulletin actually means for VFR planning even when the typhoon is 800 km away. None of that is in the format spec. All of it shows up on the checkride.

For more from the Fundamentals series: Mastering the fundamentals of flying · Reading the C172 instrument panel.