Aviation Data for Developers
Minus the turbulence.
Access real-time weather, airport information, NOTAMs, airspace data, and flight planning tools through a single, well-documented REST API. Built for aviation apps, EFBs, and flight planning software.
Student Pilot plan is free forever — 500 API calls/month, no credit card required.
import type { MetarDto } from './types'
const res = await fetch(
`https://api.preflightapi.io/api/v1/metars/KJFK`,
{
headers: {
'Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key': 'your-api-key',
},
},
)
const metar: MetarDto = await res.json()
console.log(metar.flightCategory) // "VFR"Everything You Need for US Aviation Apps
One API to access the full spectrum of aviation data. Built on official FAA and NOAA data sources.
Real-Time Weather
METARs every 10 min, TAFs every 30 min, PIREPs every 5 min, plus AIRMETs, SIGMETs, and G-AIRMETs. Sourced from aviationweather.gov.
Airport Database
19,600+ US airports from the FAA NASR subscription, updated every 28 days. Includes runways, frequencies, diagrams, and chart supplements.
Airspace Data
Controlled and special use airspace boundaries from FAA/ArcGIS, updated every 56 days. Includes polygons, altitude limits, and classifications.
NOTAMs
Notices to Air Missions sourced from the FAA NMS (NOTAM Management System). Query by airport, geographic radius, or flight route corridor.
Flight Planning
Navigation log generation with waypoints, winds aloft integration, bearing/distance calculations, and magnetic corrections.
Performance Tools
Crosswind calculator and density altitude computations using live METAR data or custom parameters.
Why PreflightAPI?
Skip the Data Pipeline.
Ship Your App.
FAA data is spread across dozens of files in hard-to-use formats, published on overlapping cycles. Weather feeds need constant polling and parsing. That's weeks of plumbing before you write a single line of product code. PreflightAPI gives you all of it through one clean API — so you can ship in days, not months.
Read the full story →One API, Not Six
Weather, airports, airspace, NOTAMs, flight planning, and performance tools — all in one place. Stop stitching together data from NOAA, the FAA, and ArcGIS yourself.
Always Up to Date
Weather data refreshes every few minutes, and airport information stays in sync with FAA publication cycles. You always get the latest data without lifting a finger.
Ready-to-Use JSON
Every response is clean, consistent JSON — no decoding raw weather strings or wrangling government file formats. Just plug it into your app and go.
Simple, Intuitive API
Clean RESTful endpoints with predictable JSON responses. Get started in minutes.
/api/v1/metars/KJFK{
"id": 42861,
"rawText": "KJFK 051856Z 22012KT 10SM FEW250 18/06 A3012",
"stationId": "KJFK",
"observationTime": "2025-01-05T18:56:00Z",
"tempC": 18.0,
"dewpointC": 6.0,
"windDirDegrees": 220,
"windSpeedKt": 12,
"visibilityStatuteMi": 10.0,
"altimInHg": 30.12,
"flightCategory": "VFR",
"skyCondition": [
{ "skyCover": "FEW", "cloudBaseFtAgl": 25000 }
]
}Simple, Transparent Pricing
Start free and scale as your application grows. No hidden fees.
Plans named after pilot certificates — pick the one that matches your project's ambition.
Student Pilot
- METAR & TAF weather data
- Airport search, details, runways & frequencies
- 19,600+ US airports from FAA NASR
- Email support
- Up to 500 API calls/month
- 10 requests/minute
Private Pilot
- All Student Pilot endpoints
- PIREPs — pilot weather reports
- AIRMETs, SIGMETs & G-AIRMETs
- Controlled & special-use airspace boundaries
- 625,000+ obstacles (towers, cranes, etc.)
- Bearing & distance between any two points
- Winds aloft forecasts (6/12/24 hr)
- Email support
- Up to 25,000 API calls/month
- 60 requests/minute
Commercial Pilot
- All Private Pilot endpoints
- NOTAMs by airport, radius, or route
- Airport diagram PDFs from the FAA
- Chart supplement (A/FD) PDFs
- Crosswind calculator (live METAR or manual)
- Density altitude calculator (live METAR or manual)
- Nav log with wind correction & fuel burn
- Priority email support
- Up to 250,000 API calls/month
- 300 requests/minute