Abstract: Embodiments provide functionality to remotely observe atmospheric conditions. An embodiment, in response to receiving an indication of existence of an airborne aircraft, automatically selects an antenna from a plurality of fixed antennas based on a location and an orientation of each antenna of the plurality of fixed antennas. In turn, a request for data is sent to the aircraft using the selected antenna and, in response to the request, data is received from the aircraft. The data received from the aircraft is automatically processed in a manner determining an atmospheric condition.