How to determine average number of VFR days

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12-15-2015, 09:03 AM

dl773

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How to determine average number of VFR days

Hello all,

I am trying to determine the number or average of VFR days for two airports in very different parts of the country. Is there an easy way to do this?

Thanks,

12-15-2015, 01:44 PM

kingsnake2

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As someone who has tried to do the same thing before, I've found the answer to be no.

However, depending on how good you are with Excel and how much you like research you can get detailed records from most airports (and all major airports) from NOAA. Another comparable would be recorded VFR tower operations which you can get from the FAA.

12-15-2015, 03:03 PM

dl773

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lol yeah I was trying to avoid downloading massive quantities of METARs to an excel sheet and crunching it.

This thing about VFR tower ops, is that referring to ATADS (Air Traffic Activity Data System)?

12-15-2015, 03:12 PM

kingsnake2

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Yes, with ATADS you can pull tower operations.

The easiest method - just google "Sunny days per year XXXX" and compare. By no means perfect but probably close enough for most problems.

12-15-2015, 03:20 PM

dl773

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Thanks Kingsnake. I've done the sunny days thing but was looking for something more accurate. I think you're right though, it's probably good enough to just use sunshine days/year.