diff --git a/src/Environment/realwx_ctrl.cxx b/src/Environment/realwx_ctrl.cxx
index a1133830e..f7a42f098 100644
--- a/src/Environment/realwx_ctrl.cxx
+++ b/src/Environment/realwx_ctrl.cxx
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ void NoaaMetarRealWxController::requestMetar
 )
 {
   static const std::string NOAA_BASE_URL =
-    "http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/";
+    "https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/";
   class NoaaMetarGetRequest:
     public simgear::HTTP::MemoryRequest
   {
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ void NoaaMetarRealWxController::requestMetar
 
       virtual void onDone()
       {
-        if( responseCode() != 200 )
+        if( responseCode() >= 400 )
         {
           SG_LOG
           (
diff --git a/src/Main/metar_main.cxx b/src/Main/metar_main.cxx
index 657a7d9e4..7a0bd148c 100644
--- a/src/Main/metar_main.cxx
+++ b/src/Main/metar_main.cxx
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			try
 			{
               static const std::string NOAA_BASE_URL =
-                "http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/";
+                "https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/";
                 HTTP::MemoryRequest* mr = new HTTP::MemoryRequest
                 (
                     NOAA_BASE_URL + strutils::uppercase(argv[i]) + ".TXT"
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
                 if( !mr->isComplete() )
                   throw sg_io_exception("metar download timed out");
-                if( mr->responseCode() != 200 )
+                if( mr->responseCode() >= 400 )
                 {
                   std::cerr << "metar download failed: "
                             << mr->url()
diff --git a/utils/fgcom/utils/build_fgcom_server.sh b/utils/fgcom/utils/build_fgcom_server.sh
index 8fdbbae37..c71247062 100644
--- a/utils/fgcom/utils/build_fgcom_server.sh
+++ b/utils/fgcom/utils/build_fgcom_server.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ APTNAV_DATA="http://dev.x-plane.com/update/data/AptNav201304XP1000.zip"
 DAHDI_SRC="http://downloads.asterisk.org/pub/telephony/dahdi-linux-complete/dahdi-linux-complete-current.tar.gz"
 LOGSEP="###########################################"
 GETMETAR_SCRIPT="#!/bin/bash
-#curl http://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/$1.TXT
+#curl https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/stations/$1.TXT
 echo \"Hello World !\""
 
 ROOT=$PWD