CYAV METAR Flask App

Simple Flask app to:

• Select an airport from a searchable dropdown (auto-refresh on selection)
• Show recent airport selections (last 5) at the top of the dropdown
• Populate airport choices dynamically from all Canadian airports
• Fetch and display decoded METAR details
• Show METAR age with color status (green <3h, orange 3-6h, red >6h)
• Show density altitude when temperature, altimeter, and airport elevation are available
• Show collapsible NAV CANADA TAF / NOTAM / SIGMET sections
• Show all available runways for that airport
• Calculate headwind/tailwind and crosswind for each runway
• Highlight the computed best runway and allow client-side runway filtering/isolation
• Fall back to the nearest station with an available METAR when the selected airport has none, and show the distance to that station
• Provide a top-right hamburger menu with Print and About actions
• Generate a WeasyPrint PDF report from a print-options modal (with per-section include toggles)
• Persist optional preferences (recent airports and print options) via privacy-controlled localStorage
• Show Privacy & Cookies controls with accept/reject and per-item retention toggles

The page uses a responsive layout:

• Left side: runway wind components
• Right side: decoded METAR in a two-column table + airport frequencies

Airport selector behavior:

• No load button required; the page refreshes automatically when selection changes
• Search is built into the airport dropdown (Select2) and focuses automatically when opened
• Recent selections and print options are stored in browser localStorage only when optional storage is enabled

Run locally

1. Create/activate a virtual environment (optional but recommended)

2. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Start the app:

   flask --app app run --debug

4. Open:

   http://127.0.0.1:5000

Notes

• METAR data sources: AviationWeather API (aviationweather.gov) with NAV CANADA Weather Recall (plan.navcanada.ca) fallback for station LWIS/METAR coverage
• Runway data source: OurAirports (runways.csv) with automatic local fallback from app.py if online data is unavailable
• Frequency data source: OurAirports (airport-frequencies.csv) with automatic local fallback from app.py if online data is unavailable
• PDF generation: WeasyPrint must be available in the Python environment; app checks availability before opening print flow
• This app does not set first-party tracking cookies; it uses localStorage for consent state and optional preference retention

Deploy on Apache at /FlightInfo

This project is now set up to run behind Apache/mod_wsgi at:

• https://a-burns.com/FlightInfo

1) Install Apache + mod_wsgi + venv dependencies

Example (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y apache2 libapache2-mod-wsgi-py3 python3-venv

2) Create a virtual environment and install app requirements

cd /var/www/a-burns.com/public_html/FlightInfo
python3 -m venv /var/www/a-burns.com/venv
/var/www/a-burns.com/venv/bin/pip install --upgrade pip
/var/www/a-burns.com/venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt

3) Enable the Apache config snippet

Use the provided file:

• apache/flightinfo.conf

Important:

• Update python-home in that file if your venv path differs.
• It expects your app path to be /var/www/a-burns.com/public_html/FlightInfo (your symlink target/path).

Then include that snippet in your active vhost for a-burns.com, or copy its directives into the vhost.

4) Reload Apache

sudo apachectl configtest
sudo systemctl reload apache2

5) Verify

Open:

• https://a-burns.com/FlightInfo

If needed, check logs:

sudo tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log