It indicated that, if they became aware of information that was outside their area of responsibility, they may have to address the information to a pilot of an aircraft though another ATC unit. During the period prior to the occurrence involving VH-YIR and VH-VYK, there were several amendments to the AIP regarding the provision of FIS. The ATSB has been advised of the following proactive safety action in response to this occurrence. In New Zealand, FIS is defined as: 3.3.7 FIS will include the provision of available and relevant information concerning: (b) weather conditions reported or forecast, at departure, destination, and alternative aerodromes; (Table GEN 3.3-3 lists aerodrome MET information available in-flight on request from ATS). Data from the CVR indicated that the crew actioned the low fuel and fuel imbalance checklists from memory. any other Suitable Airport to which an enroute diversion can be made. At the time of departure for both aircraft, the forecast conditions at Adelaide Airport were such that an alternate airport was not required. These conditions can be determined by BoM or other AWSs. The low pressure system that caused flooding in central QLD earlier this week could soon become a tropical cyclone over It stated that FIS was to include operational information about meteorological conditions and hazard alerts. 1968 Total Observations 10% 20% 30% Calm 3% . Virgin advised that after a review of various information sources, including audit data and internal occurrence reports, they were satisfied there was no indication of systemic noncompliance. Tropical Cyclone Freddy possible over Coral Sea, Sydney ends near-record run below 30 degrees. As there were no operational requirements due to the forecast weather, the flight departed Perth without fuel for a diversion to an alternate airport after an approach at Sydney. This recommended that Airservices, as the issue owner, work in collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology to instigate a system change to reinstate the alerting function of SPECI reports currently not available through an Automatic Broadcast Service. Under the forecast priority guidance, issuing an amended aerodrome forecast (TAF) for Category B airports, such as Mildura, is ranked below the need to create information concerning en route weather phenomena that may affect the safety of aircraft operations (SIGMET). The lower minima for the RNAV GNSS approach was based on the higher accuracy possible with GPS (GNSS) tracking. Certainly not when temperatures are soaring! 2 main wing tank and 1,054 kg in the No. Given the proximity of Leinster to Darlot, the captain also carried sufficient fuel to reach Wiluna in the event that Leinster became unsuitable. And they fail! The ATSB also found that the forecasting process at Mildura Airport appeared to be conservative, with a high false alarm rate. It might be worth asking Anthony Watts if he knows of any from his US Surface Stations Investigation. The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is the designated meteorological authority in Australia for the provision of a meteorological service for international air navigation in accordance with International Aviation Civil Organization (ICAO) Annex 3 Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation. To supplement the information already provided, the crew asked ATC for the latest observation reports for Mildura. In my neck of the woods the BoM seem to be in the throes of replacing a long term, human attended, mercury thermometer and weather station with an AWS. These levels depend on the: A system component failure in a fail passive system will not result in significant deviation of the aircrafts flight path but will mean that the aircraft can no longer be landed automatically. Virgin Australia Airlines Pty. Had the 18 kg of fuel in the No. Given the sleep obtained and rest opportunities available, it is not considered likely that fatigue was a factor in the captains performance in the occurrence. accesses the ABS at a time when the SPECI information is available. Warning, rainfall and river information are available at www.bom.gov.au/nsw/flood. Once the change appeared in an updated product, or after 1 hour, whichever was sooner, the Hazard Alert prefix would cease. While runway 16 at Melbourne Airport met the requirements of flight instrument procedures requiring autoland capability, on the morning of the occurrence, the forecast for Melbourne was for low cloud and a 30 per cent chance of fog until 1000. How did they design a probe to match a glass thermometer without such a comparison and at which site? At 0918, just after Velocity 1384 transferred to this frequency, the controller for this sector informed them of four other aircraft due to arrive at Mildura around their arrival time, which included Qantas735. As a result of this process, Airservices amended the AIP and MATS to reflect that SPECIs would no longer be broadcast to pilots if an ABS (such as AWIS) was available. The 0954 amended TAF was passed to Mildura traffic by the Mallee controller once it was released by the BoM. This TEMPO meant that anyone flying to Mildura Airport required either 60 minutes of holding fuel to outlast the predicted deterioration, or needed to nominate an alternate destination airport. Neither crew were aware of this TAF nor would they have been able to use this forecast in support of their decision to divert. Radar viewer Nearest radar station images and loops Satellite viewer View and animate the latest satellite images Interactive forecast maps Computer models used in offical weather maps MetEye Mapping tool for forecasts and observations. Cloud cover is normally reported using expressions that denote the extent of the cover. Sun protection recommended from 9:30 am to 5:50 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 12 [Extreme]. Im of the view, having casually observed the BoM 7-day forecasts vs actuals during this summer that theres a constant 2C to 3C over-forecast by the BoM to the point that it has become a bit of a joke in our household. a PNR [Point of No Return]), if necessary. Pilot weather updating requirements have been clarified and enhanced and ACARS [aircraft communications addressing and reporting system] equipment continues to be rolled out across the Virgin fleet. By Julie Mercer. As the crew of Velocity 1384 did not obtain the updated weather for Adelaide Airport while en route, they remained unaware of the deterioration until quite close to Adelaide. Good girl Jennifer. These included updates of forecasts and observations and occurred frequently for the remainder of the flight to waypoint BLACK (48 NM or 89 km from Adelaide). This decision took into account the observations at Mildura, which indicated the weather there was suitable for landing. Concurrently, the TTF for Adelaide showed light winds with few clouds with no significant changes expected over the forecast period. In addition, the Adelaide aerodrome forecast (TAF) valid at the time retained a 30per cent probability that visibility would reduce in fog. In particular, in relation to this occurrence, it was noted that pilots would have expected the crews of Velocity 1384 and Qantas 735 to have been told of the fog at Adelaide prior to changing to the Tailem Bend sector frequency. However, fuel uplift records from Sydney and Mildura, as well as flight plan fuel figures adjusted for taxi and auxiliary power unit fuel burn, enabled the ATSB to calculate if this requirement could be met. This investigation will analyse Bureau of Meteorology data across Australian airports, with a focus on those supporting regular public transport operations, and is subject to the availability of long-term data holdings of aviation forecasts and observations. That article highlighted the 60-minute flight time restriction on the provision of information. Flight dispatch and flight following consisted of two modes. In addition, the ATSB noted that the industry expectation for the provision of flight information services was not aligned with that provided by Airservices Australia (Airservices). On 23 September 2017, a new record hot day for Victoria was claimed at the Mildura airport using an electronic probe in an automatic weather station (AWS) housed in a Stevenson screen. Whether or not the ATSB identifies safety issues in the course of an investigation, relevant organisations may proactively initiate safety action in order to reduce their safety risk. Specifically, weather conditions were observed below the landing minima 0.99 per cent of the time, and below the alternate minima about 2.6 per cent of the time at Mildura Airport between 2009 and 2013. As a result of this development, the forecaster issued an amended TAF for Mildura at 0952 that was valid from 1000. The only section in the AIP that defined hazard alerting procedures stated: A sudden (not forecast NOTAMed) change to a component of FIS having an immediate and detrimental effect on the safety of an aircraft will be communicated by ATC using the prefix Hazard Alert. In addition, CASA clarified that there was no strategic difference between an in-flight scenario and a pre-flight plan in relation to the use of forecasts. Light winds becoming easterly 15 to 20 km/h during the day then becoming light during the afternoon. We are in a sense pushing back against the Council of Nicea, that established the canon of the bible and authority of those who ran the church. This resulted in enhancements to Virgins flight planning and flight following policies, re-organisation of the flight following section and expansion of communication infrastructure across the Virgin fleet. Water Data Online provides free access to nationally current and historical water information that is collected by the Bureau of Meteorology under the Water Regulations (2008). The pilot did not specify the cloud datum, but a comparison of the reported cloud base with the observed cloud base from the Mildura Airport automated station, which was generated 2 minutes later, identified that the reported cloud base was probably with reference to mean sea level. The controller then offered to gather further information for the crew of Qantas735but indicated there would be a slight delay in doing so. Under the provision of FIS, for major airports and airports without a broadcasting AWIS, pilots will be alerted if they are within 60minutes of the affected destination or the relevant condition. This service was structured to support the responsibility of pilots to obtain information inflight on which to base operational decisions relating to the continuation or diversion of a flight.. Additionally, the AWB for Adelaide included the potential for fog by way of a code grey, but the TAF issued at 1800 did not forecast fog. Amended flight planning policy to apply worst case of TAF or TTF forecast conditions. Somewhat surprisingly, the automatic weather stations at Mildura for these three Septembers recorded statistically significantly cooler temperatures than the mercury thermometers. The sources of information during the investigation included: Endsley, M 1997, The role of situation awareness in naturalistic decision making, in C Zsambok & G Klein (Eds.) in India, UK, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) the BoM records the instantaneous highest one-second readings from a probe as the maximum temperature for that location for that day. Then, to discover new sampling stations are in different locations from the older ones but are assumed to be the same for temperature measurements is almost unbelievable. Certification for various levels of autoland is dependent on a number of factors. However, as the Mildura AWIS was not broadcasting the actual weather conditions, which were consistent with the SPECI, it could be considered that ATC should have provided this SPECI information to incoming aircraft as ATC-initiated FIS. The captain reported flying SydneyAdelaide and return on 17June2013 with about a 6.5 hour duty time. Four occurrences were identified in which the weather change was forecast but the crew were not alerted. Fail operational capability is the minimum capability to conduct Cat IIIB, and some Cat IIIA ILS approaches. The bureau needs a big shake-up from the top down. While the infrastructure available to flight crews may vary between operators and aircraft, broadly these information sources relate to support from the operator of the aircraft (in this case the airlines) and support from ATC. The AIP stated that ATC-initiated FIS provided pertinent operational information including meteorological conditions and the existence of non-routine meteorological products. A ground-based transponder station. This was despite the fact that the AWIS was not broadcasting, as communicated in the NOTAM. Good situation awareness supports effective decision making, which relies on accurate information being obtained in a timely manner (Endsley, 1997). In other words, considering the forecasts that did not predict conditions below the alternate minima (0.09 per cent), and all observations below the landing minima (0.99 per cent), in the period 20092013, 10 per cent of the time that the observations were below the landing minima at Mildura Airport, those conditions were not forecast (0.09/0.99). The second opportunity occurred at 0838, when ATC updated Qantas 735 on the conditions at Adelaide. Western Standard Time (WST) was UTC + 8 hours. These conditions include thunderstorms, hail storms and fog. A further article in the Flight Safety Australia, MarchApril 2012 edition, outlined the provision of ATCinitiated flight information services. Both aircraft had the necessary equipment to conduct at least a CAT II (fail passive) autoland at Adelaide and both flight crews were trained and approved in Cat II/III autoland procedures. For further information on the history of the changes to FIS and hazard alerting, see appendix D. The AIP GEN 3.5 section 11 contained information for pilots in relation to broadcasting an air report (AIREP). The HGS displays certain aircraft parameters such as altitude and airspeed, and is useful during low visibility operations as it allows the captain to scan the outside environment while also viewing relevant parameters on the HGS. In relation to the provision of ATC-initiated FIS at Mildura, the controller responsible for the Mallee en route sector reported that workload initially precluded them from passing information on the weather deterioration at Mildura Airport. 2 tank 18 kg remaining, with an imbalance of 576 kg. In relation to the use of specific meteorological products for flight planning, the Virgin operations manual for flight dispatch stated: If required to plan a flight which reflects weather requirements (i.e. This included amendments to meteorological products such as: The provision of this service is limited to aircraft within 1 hours flight time of the condition or destination, or 2 hours for a SIGMET. The forecasters then decided to amend the Adelaide TAF at 0700 to include a 30 per cent probability of fog. This airport was also affected by unforecast fog and low cloud at the time of their arrival. In addition, the onset time of fog at Adelaide Airport that day was 40minutes later than any recorded onset time at that location in the preceding 30 years. The availability of a code grey forecast is unique to Australia, and is used to highlight the possibility of weather conditions that airline operators may wish to consider in terms of flight planning. Analysis of the second lot of forms, received on 4 December, has proven more problematic because of the quality of the available data, and absence of critically important data. Partly cloudy. The flight crew of Velocity 1384 also conducted an instrument approach and landed below minima in fog and with fuel below the fixed reserve. This service responds to in-flight requests for operational information from pilots operating in all classes of airspace on air traffic control VHF frequencies or high frequencies (HF). This aircraft, registered VH-VYK and operated by Qantas, was en route from Sydney, New South Wales to Adelaide before also diverting to Mildura. Response to this occurrence temperatures than the mercury thermometers TTF for Adelaide showed light winds with few clouds with significant! Mildura at 0952 that was valid from 1000 several amendments to the AIP the., rainfall and river information are available at www.bom.gov.au/nsw/flood Suitable Airport to an... 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