iFly GPS Forum

From https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/programs/adsb/faq/:

FIS-B provides a broad range of textual/graphical weather products and other flight information to the general aviation community. FIS-B is only available on the 978MHz Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) equipment. FIS-B includes the following:

• Airmen's Meteorological Conditions (AIRMET)
• Significant Meteorological Conditions (SIGMET) and Convective SIGMET
• Aviation Routine Weather Reports (METAR)
• Non-Routine Aviation Weather Reports (SPECI)
• NEXRAD (regional and CONUS)
• Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) Distant and Flight Data Center
• Pilot Reports (PIREP)
• Status of Special Use Airspace (SUA)
• Terminal Area Forecasts (TAF) and their amendments
• NOTAM – textual Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs)
• Graphical TFRs
• Winds & Temperature Aloft
• TIS-B Service Status
• Lightning strikes
• Turbulence
• Icing, Forecast Potential (CIP/FIP)
• Cloud tops
• Graphical-AIRMET
• Center Weather Advisory
• Temporary Restricted Areas (TRAs)**
• Temporary Military Operations Areas (TMOAs)**

** Available NAS-wide in the summer of 2020

Bug in your application:
iFLYGPS falsely reports "NO PIREPS IN VICINITY" when there are several PIREPS in the last 20, 30, and 50 minutes.  i.e. stating unforcasted turbulance 2000ft above my airport. 
 

Passive Aggressiveness:

Instead the PIREP page should state: "This feature only works when Cellphone, Network, and ADSB signals are all actively being received at the same time on the 60th day of a leap year." (I'm asking forgiveness for this passive aggressiveness rather than deleting it, because I'm at the point of despiration and I need you to be there, emotionally speaking, for me).  Perhaps you should just remove PIREP from the app, and don't advertise that you have it until you actually get it working.  (From your features page: "on the ground with Wifi or in the air with ADS-B (FIS-B Weather).  Live NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs, Winds Aloft, Lightning,  PIREPS and more.")

Constructive comments:

• Data retreival and expiration: Handle retreiving and stale-dating pirep data exactly the same way you do METARs so you don't confuse us. 
• Display on map: If you don't have code for placing a pirep icon outside of an Airport Location, then use your code for displaying airmets to draw a small boundry box around the airport to indicate that there is a pirep in the area. At first displaying pireps with, or as a type of, airmet was a despirate suggestion, but I primarily look at pireps to see if the airmets are blowing FU (airmet smoke) at me or if they are actually accurate (...do I get points for combining abbreviated slang, an airmet reference and a Homonym all at once?  I hope so.  I'm really trying here...)
• Interpreting Text: Raw text for now.  Interpretting it will require additional QA time that you can do later.  Hard to read information is better than false information(see passive aggressiveness).

If you're not going to show a PIREP because of a software environment condition, then say so on your PIREP screen.  It can be dangerous to state that a "PIREP doesn't exist in your area" when you are either not checking, or you have a serious bug in your code.