Aviation MCP

What Perufitlife/aviation-mcp MCP server does

Perufitlife/aviation-mcp MCP server exposes six aviation-focused tools to an MCP-compatible client. It combines live weather with curated aviation reference and learning content, so an agent can answer operational weather questions, retrieve airport or aircraft facts, explain terminology, and generate study material.

The weather tool accepts an ICAO airport code and returns decoded METAR information, including flight category, wind, visibility, temperature, and dewpoint. It can optionally include TAF data. Other tools provide airport records, aircraft specifications, glossary definitions with related terms, filtered FAA-style practice questions, and a daily aviation quiz question.

How it works

The server uses the free Rotate Pilot aviation API as its data source. Weather data is live, while airport, aircraft, and glossary information is maintained as curated reference data. The MCP tools present these results to an AI client in a form the client can use when responding to natural-language requests.

For example, an agent can check whether conditions at KJFK fall into a particular flight category, retrieve runway and elevation information for an airport, compare the range and cruise data for aircraft, or ask for questions limited to a particular subject. The glossary tool can explain terms such as “squawk” or “v-speeds.”

Setup and configuration

Perufitlife/aviation-mcp MCP server can be started locally with npx and does not require a Rotate Pilot API key, user signup, or additional credential configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aviation": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@renzom13/aviation-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

The project also documents a hosted Apify deployment using a Streamable HTTP endpoint. Legacy SSE clients can use the corresponding /sse endpoint. The hosted option requires an Apify token and charges per tool call, while the local package is described as free to run apart from the surrounding runtime or network costs.

The README names Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, and Windsurf as compatible clients, along with other MCP-capable applications. No environment variables are specified for the local setup.

Tools and capabilities

• get_metar: Retrieve decoded current METAR weather for an ICAO airport, with an optional TAF.
• get_airport: Look up airport identity, location, coordinates, elevation, and runway data.
• get_aircraft: Retrieve specifications by aircraft slug, including engines, seats, range, cruise, ceiling, MTOW, and type rating.
• get_glossary_term: Explain an aviation term and return related terms.
• practice_questions: Generate FAA-style exam questions with answer options and the correct answer, optionally filtered by subject.
• quiz_of_the_day: Return the daily aviation question.

Limitations and notes

The tools are specific to aviation data and study use cases; the provided material does not describe flight planning, booking, dispatch, reservations, or aircraft tracking features. METAR results represent current weather data, but the documentation does not define refresh intervals or guarantee coverage for every ICAO code. Airport, aircraft, and glossary responses are reference data rather than live operational feeds.

The hosted deployment is not equivalent to the no-credential local setup: it uses an Apify URL, needs an Apify token, and is billed per call. The documentation does not provide service-level guarantees, detailed rate limits, or a project license.