Inflight weather service

A method implemented in a computing system for providing an in-flight pilot weather report, comprising:

• receiving said pilot weather report, wherein at least one data set from said pilot weather reports is based on actual weather condition data collected at an aircraft in flight and reported for a specific altitude and geographic location;
• processing said pilot weather report to produce graphical information comprising icons and colors;
• generating information about alternate routes based on the actual weather condition data to provide a selection of adverse weather avoidance altitudes;
• and
• displaying said graphical information indicative of at least one of echo tops, lightning, icing, turbulence, other pilot report information, and urgent pilot report information over a base map.

A method of providing in-flight pilot weather reports to aircraft aloft, comprising:

• providing said in-flight pilot weather reports to said aircraft via a satellite communication, wherein at least one data set from said in-flight pilot weather reports is based on an actual weather condition data collected at an aircraft in flight and reported for a specific altitude and geographic location;
• processing said in-flight pilot weather reports to provide a graphical representation of said in-flight pilot weather reports, said graphical representation comprising a base map, colors, and icons;
• providing a base display on which said graphical representation is displayed;
• and
• prioritizing said in-flight pilot weather reports to generate information about alternate routes based on the actual weather condition data and to superimpose said graphical representation over said base display where urgent information is displayed over other information.