As many will know, the ATIS system in FS is very basic indeed, and the range for reception is very low.

Does anybody know of any add-on or gauge system, whether commercial or freeware that would emulate the VOLMET system as found for example in your stock Airbus???

In case anyone has it or knows of it by another term, basically;

[ul]The flight crew enter the ICAO indicator of the required airport in the MCDU (FMC) together with a designator letter which tells the system what info they require. They then get a datalink report on the flight deck printer (and also downloaded into the avionics) which gives all the usual ATIS info well in advance of reaching the normal range.[/ul]

The beauty of this is that you would be able to plan arrival routes with more certainty - as in reality.