My Computer Systems Assignment

So for my Computer Systems class I have to program a “aviation related” application in Visual Basic 6. This is what I have so far:

I’ve dubbed it “Decoder Ring” as it will eventually decode METAR, TAF, and FD. The teacher tossed in the FD requirement in there. I have no idea what FDs are. Eventually I plan on having the ability for you to fetch the latest data from the net. Right now, you just have to copy and paste the data into the special field and hit the “decode” button.

The idea being that I will turn this:

METAR CYKZ 280200Z 23007KT 15SM BKN160 02/M05 A3022 RMK AC5 SLP246=

Into this:

Weather for Buttonville at Janurary 28 02:00 UTC. Wind: 230 at 7 Knots. Visibility: 15 Miles. Sky: Broken at 16000. Temp: 2C. Dewpoint -5C. Altimiter: 30.22 inches. Remarks: Alto Cumulus 5/8, Sea Level Pressure: 1024.6mb.

The airport names are stored in a access database that the application uses to do aerodrome code to real name look ups.