Flight Condition Checker

What the checker looks at

When you press the button, the checker loads the latest forecast for the place you picked and looks at the next two hours in that place's local time: from the current forecast hour to two hours later, stopping at midnight. Each hour in that window is rated against your selected drone profile:

• Wind at 10 m and gusts
• Precipitation probability
• Visibility
• Temperature

These five decide the result. The checker also shows wind at 120 m (or 80 m where 120 m isn't available), rated against the same limits as the surface wind, and whether the whole window is in daylight. Kp index, cloud cover, humidity, UV and air quality appear only when one of them is worse than Good during the window.

How the result is decided

The checker takes the worst hour, not the average. If the next hour is calm but the one after brings gusts above your profile's caution limit, the result is CAUTION or NOT RECOMMENDED, because that is what you would fly into if the flight runs long or you launch a second battery.

• GOOD TO FLY: every core condition is within your profile's good limits for the whole window.
• CAUTION: at least one condition is borderline at some point in the window.
• NOT RECOMMENDED: at least one condition is outside your profile's limits at some point. It is also shown when the temperature and wind are both at caution level or worse at the same time, because cold batteries and hard-working motors together drain power far faster than either alone.
• INSUFFICIENT DATA: the forecast doesn't cover the window, which is rare and usually temporary.

Under the result you'll see the main risk: the first reason from the worst hour. That is the condition to watch.

Your drone profile changes the answer

The same weather can be GOOD for a heavy enterprise drone and NOT RECOMMENDED for a sub-250 g drone. The drone selector above the button sets the limits:

If you know your drone's manufacturer wind rating, a custom profile built from it gives a more accurate answer than any preset. Our guide on what drone wind ratings really mean explains how the limits are derived.

When to use this, and when not to

Use the checker when you are about to fly, or are deciding whether to drive to a site in the next hour or two. For anything later, use Flight Window. It runs the same rating engine for any date and time you choose in the coming week, and can suggest the best windows.

A forecast describes conditions over open ground on a grid several kilometres wide. It cannot see:

• gusts around buildings, trees, cliffs and ridges;
• sea breezes and valley winds that set up in the afternoon;
• a local shower developing faster than the model expected.

Treat a GOOD result as "nothing in the forecast argues against flying," then look at the sky and feel the wind when you arrive. If the conditions on site are clearly worse than the forecast, trust the site.

What the checker does not cover

The result is about weather only. It does not know about airspace, temporary restrictions, NOTAMs, no-fly zones or local rules. Check those separately before every flight. Our Airspace & no-fly zones page links to the official tools by region, and how to read a NOTAM explains the notices themselves.