32 questions on this topic, recalled by candidates after DGCA sittings between 2021 and 2026. Together they were asked 42 times; the most repeated come first. Pick a year to see only what was asked that year.
B. 2 hr
A TREND forecast appended to a METAR or SPECI is valid for 2 hours from the time of the report.
A. At least 9 hours and at most 30 hours
TAF validity runs from 9 hours (issued every 3 hours) up to a maximum of 30 hours for the longer TAFs (issued every 6 hours). Two hours is a TREND.
A. 500 m
Wind shear warnings cover the layer from runway level up to about 500 m (1600 ft) - the approach and climb-out zone.
B. UTC
All aviation met reports use UTC, shown as day and time with a Z (e.g. 210400Z). IST is UTC + 5:30.
B. Rain
SIGMET warns aircraft in flight of hazardous phenomena - thunderstorms, severe turbulence, severe icing, mountain waves, volcanic ash, tropical cyclones. Ordinary rain is not one of them.
B. IMD
SIGMETs are issued by the Meteorological Watch Offices, which in India are run by the India Meteorological Department.
B. 03
METAR temperatures are rounded to whole degrees, with an exact .5 rounded up. So +2.5 °C becomes 03.
B. Broken cloud, base 10,000 ft
Cloud heights in METAR and SPECI are in hundreds of feet above aerodrome level: BKN100 = 5 to 7 oktas based at 10,000 ft. BKN019 would be 1900 ft.
C. 1500 m
RVR is reported once the visibility (or the RVR itself) falls below 1500 m, because that is where it starts to matter for approach and landing minima.
C. All the three conditions
CAVOK needs all three at once: visibility 10 km or more, no cloud of operational significance (below 1500 m or the highest MSA, whichever is higher) and no CB or TCU, and no significant weather.
A. Calm - no wind
When there is no wind the group is coded 00000KT. A wind whose direction cannot be defined is coded VRB in place of the direction.
C. METAR the actual weather, TAF a forecast
A METAR reports what the weather IS at the aerodrome at the time of observation; a TAF forecasts what it WILL be over its validity period.
C. Cloud group
Each cloud group gives the amount and the height of the base in hundreds of feet, e.g. BKN012 = 5-7 oktas based at 1200 ft.
B. 30 kt
An aerodrome warning is issued for surface winds of 30 kt or more (and for a direction change of 45 degrees with winds of 20 kt), with a lower threshold (17 kt) at aerodromes used by light aircraft. Aerodrome warnings are for aircraft on the ground; SIGMET is for aircraft in flight.
Our independent check could not confirm this answer from the official sources we hold; treat it with care and confirm with your instructor.
A. Any one of the criteria for change is met
A special report goes out as soon as any single specified change occurs - in visibility, cloud, wind or weather. Contrast CAVOK, which needs all three of its conditions.
A. Visibility 1200 m, heavy showers of rain
Four figures after the wind are the visibility in metres: 1200 = 1.2 km. + means heavy, SH showers, RA rain.
B. 100-199 m
The height-of-base code steps are 0 = 0-49 m, 1 = 50-99 m, 2 = 100-199 m, 3 = 200-299 m, 4 = 300-599 m.
B. 0 to 800 m
Visibility steps in a METAR: 50 m below 800 m, 100 m from 800 to 5000 m, and 1000 m from 5000 m up to 9999. Fine steps where it matters most for landing.
B. Ceilometer / Ceilograph / Ceiling Balloon
Cloud base is measured with a ceilometer (a laser or light-beam instrument), a ceilograph, or a ceiling balloon timed as it rises to the base.
C. 2500 ft
Cloud bases in a METAR are given in hundreds of feet above the aerodrome: 025 = 2500 ft. FEW means 1 to 2 oktas, and CB is named because it is significant convective cloud.
A. Q1002
Unlike temperature, QNH in a METAR is not rounded: it is truncated to the whole hectopascal below. So 1002.6 hPa is reported as Q1002.
A. 4 hr
A SIGMET is valid for up to 4 hours. It warns of hazardous en-route weather such as thunderstorms, severe turbulence or icing, and is reissued if the hazard persists.
A. 30 to 200 mm
Weather radars that detect precipitation work at wavelengths of about 30 to 200 mm (the X, C and S bands): long enough to pass through cloud, short enough to be reflected by raindrops.
C. Four
Significant weather charts are prepared four times a day, for fixed validity times, so a pilot can always pick the chart nearest the time of the flight.
B. 10 kt or more
The correct answer is: 10 kt or more.
C. M00/M09
METAR carries temperature and dew point as two whole degrees separated by a solidus, with no decimals and no sign symbol - a temperature below zero is prefixed M. A sub-zero value that rounds to zero is written M00, which is how the report shows the air is below freezing.
C. CAVOK
CAVOK - Ceiling And Visibility OK - replaces the visibility, RVR, weather and cloud groups together. It needs all three conditions at once: visibility 10 km or more, no cloud below 1500 m (or below the highest minimum sector altitude) and no CB, and no significant weather.
C. 500 m
The visibility group is the bare four-figure group that follows the wind: 0500, so 500 metres. The groups beginning R are RVR for particular runways (R28/1200 is runway 28), which is a measured range along the runway, not the aerodrome visibility.
C. 3000 m
The visibility criteria for a SPECI are the fixed steps 800 m, 1500 m, 3000 m and 5000 m - the values that matter operationally. Of the three offered, only 3000 m is one of them. On an improvement the SPECI is issued after the better conditions have held for 10 minutes.
A. Upper left of the station circle
The station model has fixed positions: temperature upper left, dew point lower left directly below it, and the sea level pressure upper right. Present weather goes between the temperature and the dew point, to the left of the circle. The positions never change, which is what makes the model readable at a glance.
B. Lower left of the station circle
Dew point sits lower left, immediately under the temperature at upper left. Keeping the two in the same column is deliberate - it lets a forecaster read the spread between them, and so how close that station is to saturation, without doing any arithmetic.
B. The last three digits, in tenths of a hPa
Only the last three digits are plotted, in tenths of a hPa, with the leading 9 or 10 left off. So 148 means 1014.8 hPa and 987 means 998.7 hPa. The rule of thumb is to prefix 10 when the group is below about 500 and 9 when it is above.
These are candidates' recollections, not official DGCA papers: wording can differ from the paper as set. Every answer was checked against the DGCA CARs, AIP India, ICAO documents or worked calculation (independent check completed 17 Oct 2026). Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will check it against the source.