Want to know what the weather/arrival & departure runways/sky conditions are when flying into/out of ORD? Or any airport for that matter? Do you ever wonder what pilots mean when pilots are pushing off the gate and they say “United 1518 off Bravo Twenty One with “ECHO”? Or when they contact approach and they say “Chicago Approach, United 1523 with you one-one thousand “ECHO”? The answer is as simple as dialing a phone number.

I am “virtual” pilot and air traffic controller (I control ORD) in the flight simulator community; we use real world weather when we fly and control. We use information freely available on the internet, and via published phone numbers, the same information real world pilot and controllers use:

KORD “ATIS” REPORT:
KORD airport information ECHO 110156Z 22013GT18KT 10SM FEW085 SCT100 SCT200 01/M06 A2937. Arrivals expect vectors ILS 22R, ILS 27L, ILS 27R. Simultaneous approach is in use. Land and hold short operations are in effect. Runway 22R arrivals may be asked to hold short of runway 27R (6050’ available), if unable, advise approach control. Readback all runway hold short instructions. Departures expect runway 22L, 32R, 32L from T10 (8800’ available). NOTAM: Runway 18/36 closed. Pilots use caution for bird activity in the vicinity of the airport. When ready with taxi, contact ground metering on frequency 121.67. Advise on initial contact you have information ECHO.

The above report is from last night; I won’t go into detail on all the specifics, but if anyone is interested, here is a link to decipher all the above jargon: http://www.studentpilot.com/training...d_school_id=20. The ORD specifies are self-explanatory.

FYI: Each “ATIS” report is designated by the next phonetic alphabet word, ECHO would be followed be FOXTROT, then GOLF, then HOTEL, etc… http://www.dynamoo.com/technical/phonetic.htm

The first part is called a METAR report; basically it’s a weather report for the conditions of a particular airfield. The METAR report is then put into the entire report called an ATIS report, pilots must access the ATIS before they push off the gate and contact ground, and when they contact “approach” control. The ATIS gives the pilot the METAR report, plus the departure/arrival runways, field conditions, and any specific advisories on the status of the field.

You can check the ORD ATIS 24/7 at 773-601-8921. It is normally updated every hour at the top of the hour unless there is a significant change to the information. This number is not secret and is published here: http://www.airnav.com/airport/KORD. You can access the ATIS information (although not every airport has a listed phone number), for other airports at the above mentioned airnav.com, just click “airports” then put in the 3 or 4 letter code. Scroll down a bit and on the left of the page will be any published phone numbers.

You can check any METAR report here: http://adds.aviationweather.gov/metars/. FYI you can check any airport METAR in the world from this site.

I check my departure airport ATIS before I board (to check weather and departure runways), and before I shut my phone off on-board I check my arrival airport ATIS (to check same info). Again, the ATIS changes every hour but I find it find another bonus to listening to Channel 9. Not every single airport has an ATIS phone number, some have a simple weather observation system number, but the METAR is always accessible.

Hope everyone enjoys this post! Any questions please let me know.