Getting Started

1. Create an Account

Sign up for a free account at preflightapi.com/sign-up. No credit card required. You'll start on the Student Pilot plan, which is free and includes 500 API calls per month — enough to explore every endpoint.

2. Get Your API Key

After signing in, navigate to the API Keys page in your dashboard. Your subscription includes a primary and secondary key — both work identically. Having two keys lets you rotate one without downtime. Copy either key to use in the next step.

3. Make Your First Request

Include your API key in the Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key header. Let's fetch the current METAR for JFK International Airport:

curl -H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://preflightapi-apim-service-test.azure-api.net/api/v1/metars/KJFK"

A successful response returns the current METAR observation:

{
  "icaoId": "KJFK",
  "reportTime": "2026-01-15T14:56:00Z",
  "rawOb": "KJFK 151456Z 31012KT 10SM FEW250 M04/M18 A3042 RMK AO2 SLP308 T10441183",
  "temp": -4.4,
  "dewp": -18.3,
  "wdir": 310,
  "wspd": 12,
  "wgst": null,
  "visib": 10,
  "altim": 30.42,
  "slp": 1030.8,
  "fltcat": "VFR",
  "clouds": [
    { "cover": "FEW", "base": 25000 }
  ],
  "wxString": null
}

4. Understand the Response

Single-resource endpoints (like fetching a METAR by ICAO code) return the object directly. Collection endpoints that return multiple items use a paginated wrapper:

{
  "data": [
    { "icaoId": "KJFK", "fltcat": "VFR", ... },
    { "icaoId": "KLGA", "fltcat": "MVFR", ... }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "nextCursor": "eyJpZCI6MTAwfQ==",
    "hasMore": true,
    "limit": 100
  }
}

To fetch the next page, pass the nextCursor value as the cursor query parameter. You can also control page size with the limit parameter (1–500, default 100).

curl -H "Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  "https://preflightapi-apim-service-test.azure-api.net/api/v1/airports/search?state=NY&cursor=eyJpZCI6MTAwfQ==&limit=50"

5. Explore the API

Now that you've made your first request, explore the full range of aviation data available. Here's a suggested learning path: