Go / No-Go. Clarity at a glance.

Real-time decoded airport METARs for macOS. VFR and IFR weather monitoring from your menu bar.

Under Review. Available Soon.

Requires macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later

FlyCheck Menu Bar Interface
FlyCheck Main View - Berlin FlyCheck Main View - Singapore

1. Search

Smart autocomplete for ICAO codes or Airport Names.

2. Monitor

Live status 🟢🔵🔴 directly in your menu bar.

3. Decoded

See wind, visibility, and ceiling in high-contrast signage.

Designed for your menu bar.

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Airport Signage Typography

We bypass system fonts for Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold. It mimics physical runway signage for instant legibility during pre-flight checks.

24L-06R

Anticipatory UX

Smart Paste detects ICAO codes on your clipboard. Hybrid Search lets you type "Heathrow" to find "EGLL" instantly.

Smart Reliability

We sanitize "0 ft" ceilings and automatically locate the nearest reporting station for small airfields. Data you can trust.

Situational Awareness

The interface and menu bar icon change color based on flight rules (VFR, MVFR, IFR, LIFR) for instant recognition.

Global Altimeter

FlyCheck auto-detects regional units (hPa/inHg). Prefer manual control? Tap any card to toggle units instantly.

Vector Wind Instruments

Don't just read the wind; see it. A dynamic compass ring and rotating vector arrow visualize wind direction relative to North, giving you instant crosswind awareness.



Private & Native

Zero tracking. No accounts. Pure SwiftUI. Instant launch. Keyboard optimized. No Electron bloat.

Why FlyCheck?

Feature FlyCheck Web METARs Heavy EFBs
Launch Speed Instant (0.1s) Slow (5s+) Slow (10s+)
Architecture Native (No Electron) Electron / Web Heavy Frameworks
Visibility Always in Menu Bar Hidden in tabs Full screen only
Cost Model US$9 Lifetime Free (Ad supported) US$100+/yr Subscription

The Berlin Story

I built FlyCheck in a Berlin hotel room while waiting for weather that never cleared. MVFR, occasional light snow, -5 degrees temps, overcast at FL10.

I was supposed to fly that day at EDAY Strausberg (it would have been my first time in a Skyleader 400!). Instead, I spent hours refreshing browser tabs, trying to track whether conditions might improve enough to make it to the airport. Every METAR check meant navigating to a website, typing the ICAO code, parsing dense text, and trying to spot the trend.

The anxiety of not knowing whether to wait or cancel is worse than bad weather itself.

So I built what I needed: instant weather checks from the menu bar. No tabs, no typing after the first search, no parsing cryptic abbreviations. Just the information pilots actually scan for — ceiling, visibility, wind, flight category — designed like the signs we already read on the ramp.

That flight never happened. But FlyCheck did.

Alan Soon

Pilot grade. One-time purchase.

Lifetime License

US$9

Pay once, keep it forever. No subscriptions, no annoying recurring fees. Just a precise, engineered utility for your menu bar. All for the price of a coffee and two cookies. ($9 isn't going to make us rich but it might buy some 100LL.)

Under Review. Available Soon.

Privacy Policy

We don't want your data; don't need it, don't care about, wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. FlyCheck is a utility tool that does its job without tracking you.

1. Data Collection

No Accounts: You do not need to create an account.

No Analytics: We do not use third-party trackers.

No Device IDs: We do not collect UDIDs or IPs.

2. Location & Storage

No GPS: We do not access Location Services.

Local Storage: History & settings stay on your Mac.

Cache: Weather data is cached locally for speed.

3. Security & Services

CheckWX API: Direct HTTPS requests for weather.

Sandboxing: Restricted via macOS App Sandbox.

Encryption: All communication is secure.

4. Contact Us

Questions about this policy? Reach out directly.

alan@fractals.sg ↗

Latest Updates

v1.0

The "Berlin" Build

Initial Release
Feb 1, 2026

Welcome to the initial release of FlyCheck! A native macOS utility that puts real-time aviation weather (METARs) directly in your menu bar.

New Features

  • • Menu Bar Resident: See Flight Category (VFR/IFR) and Wind Speed at a glance without opening the app.
  • • Decoded Data: Raw METAR strings are parsed into a high-contrast, legible "Airport Signage" design.
  • • Smart Clipboard: Open the app with an ICAO code on your clipboard, and FlyCheck will offer to fetch it instantly.
  • • Hybrid Search: Search by ICAO code or Airport Name (e.g., "Heathrow" → "EGLL").
  • • Visual Wind: A dynamic compass ring visualizes wind direction relative to North.
  • • Smart Fallback: If an airport has no weather station, FlyCheck automatically locates the nearest reporting station.
  • • Global Units: Tap any card to toggle units (Knots/MPH, Celsius/Fahrenheit, InHg/hPa).
  • • Native Performance: Built with SwiftUI for instant launch and minimal resource usage.
  • • Privacy Focused: No accounts, no tracking, and no location services required.

The Horizon. What’s Next.

FlyCheck is a living tool. Your one-time US$9 purchase isn't just for today’s build. You're playing a part in a growing utility designed to eliminate every friction point in your pre-flight routine.

v1.1

Coming Soon

Focusing on time-critical situational awareness with solar calculations and standardized timing.

Planned Features

  • • The Twilight Line: Context-aware countdown to sunset and civil twilight (-6° solar angle). Know exactly when to start your night log.
  • • Zulu Time Standard: Added a one-tap toggle to the timestamp. Click "Last Updated" to instantly switch the interface to official Zulu time (e.g., "Observed: 14:00Z") for briefing alignment.
  • • Clean Cockpit UI: We’ve decluttered the dashboard header, removing redundant icons in favor of a cleaner, text-forward design that prioritizes legibility.
  • • Refined Typography: Station names and weather conditions now rely on distinct font weights rather than iconography, and the Twilight countdown has been streamlined.
  • • Scientific Precision: We replaced manual calculations with Apple’s native physics engine. Whether you use Knots or MPH, hPa or inHg, every conversion is now handled by the Measurement API for certified accuracy.
  • • Standardized Readouts: We’ve unified rounding logic across the board (no more "off-by-one" errors) and enforced aviation-standard formatting (e.g., 29.92) regardless of your Mac’s region settings.
  • • Contextual Discovery: Tooltips on the Search and Refresh buttons will display their shortcuts (⌘F and ⌘R), teaching you the fastest path to each action right when you need it.
  • • Empty State Onboarding: The start screen will include a subtle shortcut footer—a quiet space to surface power-user tips when no active report is displayed.
  • • One-Tap Reset: A Close (X) button appears in the header when viewing a report, clearing both the displayed data and cached persistence with a single click. The app returns to the Start Screen and automatically focuses the search field, eliminating the multi-step dance of returning to a fresh state.

v1.2

In Development

Expanding situational awareness beyond the departure gate with multi-station tracking and international unit support.

Planned Features

  • • Multi-Station Watchlist: Track destination and alternates in a high-contrast list. Menu bar icon monitors the most critical station.
  • • Intelligent Unit Switching: Auto-toggle between inHg (North America) and hPa (International) based on ICAO prefixes.
  • • Visual Crosswind: Real-time headwind and crosswind calculations integrated directly into the visual wind instrument.

Feedback & Questions

Got an idea for the next update?
Found a bug? Airport missing?

I read and respond to every email. Reach out directly for support (or just to say hi).

alan@fractals.sg