METARs and TAFs are great. But there is nothing quite like an accurate and timely pilot report (PIREP) to fill in the gaps.
Wouldn’t it be great if it were quick, easy, and painless to file a PIREP? Share those visibility or turbulence or icing or CAVU conditions you are experiencing with fellow pilots. While you are at it, add a photo.
Virga is a new app that makes filing — and reading — PIREPs easy.
Waze for Pilots
Matt Lane is a relatively new pilot. A few years ago, he was flying home to Colorado. Cruising at 11,000 feet he found himself on top of a very wide cloud layer. ATC had no PIREPs that offered conditions at his destination. He noticed he had cell coverage, so he called his wife. She reported clear skies. That call gave him the confidence to continue on.
But that experience led him to wish for a “Waze for Pilots” type app. Something that made it both easy to submit and view PIREPs. Icing on the proverbial cake would be if PIREPs could be filed without having to speak with anyone. So he put his tech industry background to work. Partnering up with his flight instructor, Ben Barash, the two developed Virga.
Lane is funding the development and hosting the cost of the infrastructure out of his pocket, which is why the app is available at no cost to pilots. Having more PIREPs in the system will help make flying safer — especially in the GA segment of aviation. And that is exactly what drives Lane and Barash.
How to Get Started
Download the free app from the Apple App Store (search “Fly Virga”), complete the registration process, which includes name, call sign, optional photo, email, aircraft make/model, and N-number and you are all set. Your Virga profile can also include more than one aircraft.
As soon as the registration is complete, the main screen, which is a geo-centered map, starts to populate with PIREPs. Simply tap on any pin to read the decoded PIREP. Raw text format is also included. Best of all, Virga PIREPs include photos, if uploaded by the filer.
File that PIREP
Speaking of filing a PIREP: It is hard to imagine it can be any easier.
From any screen, click the second icon from the left at the bottom of the screen (it looks like a clipboard with a + sign) and follow the prompts.
Pick one or more conditions to report. Click next.
The next screen is auto-populated with data from your phone and your profile. Adjust as necessary. Click next.
Select from the available options on the screen, visibility in this case. Click next.
Since I selected precipitation as well, the next screen asks for specific data. Once entered, click Preview.
At this point, Virga will ask you if you’d like to take a photo or select one from phone’s library. You know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words? Help a fellow pilot out.
After the photo is added make sure the Preview is accurate and click Submit. Below the raw text on the Preview page is a Remarks field you can use to include custom information.
If you happen to be in an area of bad cell coverage, your PIREP will remain in the app’s outbound queue until stable coverage is available.
Best of all, PIREPs filed via Virga are added to the FAA’s Aviation Weather system and LEIDOS. And once in the system, they should also be visible on your chosen EFB, assuming that feature is available and active.
Alerts and Followers
The app has the ability to let the user set up Alerts. Simply draw a circle around the area you want to follow, select both base and top altitudes, and an expiration for the alert. You can also set it to never expire. Click the Alerts icon (a bell) in the upper left, select the saved alert, and a list of PIREPs meeting your chosen options appears instantly.
You can also follow and be followed by fellow Virga users.
This feature came about, Lane told me, when they tested the app with instructors from a flight school. The instructors, they learned, often texted each other with condition updates.
“They basically texted each other PIREPs,” he said.
So making it easy to follow one another made sense. And allowing that formerly local knowledge to be shared beyond the group makes it all the better for all pilots.
Lane admits to filing, on average, five PIREPs on a 90-minute flight. He may be an outlier, but says, “once you get the routine down, it becomes a habit.”
It’s a habit he hopes lots of pilots will develop.
Download Virga
Open the Apple App Store on your iPhone. Search for Fly Virga to download. It costs nothing to download or use. An Android version of the app is in development, according to Lane.
As someone who flies a NORDO airplane that cannot submit PIREPs via radio, but who occasionally observes something of note, this is a great way to contribute.
Downloaded, went through Sign Up, asked for my tail number and then told me that number is “already in use”. Oh, well. Nice try.
Allan, thanks for downloading Virga! You should be able to add the same Tail Number as other users (multiple pilots on the same airplane), but Virga Callsigns are unique to each user. Try again with a new Callsign and see if you have success then. Think of the Callsign as a fun user name 🙂
Filing PIREPs is easy now. Process straight forward
Nice. I have a concern regarding the time spent looking at a device instead of looking out the window(s) while in VFR conditions.
Not available for Android phones
George, we are actively working on getting an Android version of the app out. We will be sure to make an announcement when we do!
Definitely would use this when it comes out for Android, as my iPad isn’t connected to cellular service I would only be able to submit from my android phone. When is the eta for an android release
I also use android and see this is not available.
Well done, Matt Lane; this is long overdue and neglected in GA. I always thought that ForeFlight or another might figure it out, but you did!