[chevvron]

North Weald upgrades to AFIS on certain special event days of the year.

I understand the guy who does that is a current Stansted Tower controller; he might do Duxford Info too I'm not sure.

Not so. North Weald has been Air Ground for everything for the last three years.

Now we have James Chan telling us they do upgrade and UV telling us they don't.
Which is correct?

[UV]

I am, I work there.

[UV]

I want nothing from an A/G radio operator at all thanks, a recording of the airfield information/weather would be just fine and dandy.

You don’t want Flight Plans opened?
You don’t want Flight Plans delayed/cancelled/amended/changed?
You don’t want the Authorities alerted if you don’t arrive and are swimming?
You don’t want Airways joining clearances obtained for you?
You don’t want us to send out assistance if you get stuck in the mud or go U/S somewhere in the middle of the Airfield?
You don’t want to be informed that there will be a display practice in 20 minutes and the airfield will be closed?

Some people are soooo easy to please!

[James Chan]

UV is correct, as I only report events as seen from the private pilot's perspective.

UV,

You don’t want Flight Plans opened?
You don’t want Flight Plans delayed/cancelled/amended/changed?
You don’t want the Authorities alerted if you don’t arrive and are swimming?
You don’t want Airways joining clearances obtained for you?
You don’t want us to send out assistance if you get stuck in the mud or go U/S somewhere in the middle of the Airfield?
You don’t want to be informed that there will be a display practice in 20 minutes and the airfield will be closed?

All great stuff, but am I correct that other A/G units don't even have to do any of this? Someone else who flies to another airfield with "barebones" A/G are pleasantly surprised how good NW is.

[James Chan]

How can the pilot choose to maintain consistency if he doesn't know what runway all the other pilots have been using/plan to use when they return?

By listening to the radio to see what runway pilots are using, and if nobody there listen to the AWOS (which automatically anounces the winds, cloud base etc) or look at the windsock?

What am I missing?

[Highland Park]

I want nothing from an A/G radio operator at all thanks, a recording of the airfield information/weather would be just fine and dandy.

For an airfield such as Old Buck with a non - standard circuit pattern and size for noise abatement, that might be a little worrying (if that's the right word?), as I've lost count of the number of times that visitors have not followed the correct circuit procedure (both inbound and on departure) and have had to be corrected by myself or the other A/G operators, despite them apparently having read either the website, airfield plate or both.

If someone 'phones for PPR, I'm at pains to check whether they are familiar with the circuit and often also give them a gentle reminder as part of my reply to their initial contact call about the position of the Downwind leg.

To my knowledge, we haven't had a noise complaint for some years at Old Buck and the airfield management want to keep it that way, as do I.

Ian

[rikur_]

How can the pilot choose to maintain consistency if he doesn't know what runway all the other pilots have been using/plan to use when they return?

By listening to the radio to see what runway pilots are using, and if nobody there listen to the AWOS (which automatically anounces the winds, cloud base etc) or look at the windsock?

What am I missing?

I think we're talking about slightly different scenarios.
It's not uncommon at our airfield for several aircraft to be operating, but if they are outside the circuit to have changed to the local LARS service.
e.g. A typical 1 hour lesson will often go away from the circuit for some general handling, either non-radio or talking to LARS, and then come back and do a couple of circuits.
Not a disaster if someone turns up flying the opposite direction, providing they are competent at A/A ..... but I think having A/G advise the runway in use helps keep things consistent.
Also, PPR isn't always possible - there might be no one in the club when you set-off, so you haven't been told about the big patch of soft grass that you're about to land on at the "wrong" end.

[UV]

All great stuff, but am I correct that other A/G units don't even have to do any of this? .

All A/G operators are authorised to do all those jobs. If the position is manned (which it should be ) during the notified hours then I would assume the operator would be doing them.
However, in the real world.....

[Joe Dell]

I was once told off at an A/G field after announcing and entering the runway

I recently told a pilot off for doing the same thing. If he'd bothered to call for a radio check I'd have left bacon buttie duties and told him about the non-radio Moth in the circuit. He went around from short final.

As a pilot and A/G examiner, when flying, radio operators generally don't make me nervous. When in the tower, pilots do.

[Paul_Sengupta]

I'd already looked to see if anything was coming.

[Joe Dell]

I'd already looked to see if anything was coming.

Ok. You can have some cake.

[dont overfill]

[quote=

By listening to the radio to see what runway pilots are using, and if nobody there listen to the AWOS (which automatically anounces the winds, cloud base etc) or look at the windsock?

What am I missing?[/quote]

AWOS?? James we are talking UK here!

You are not allowing for the huge variation in the types of airfields that have A/G.

It can be an isolated grass strip with a caravan and a handheld or a busy multi runway field with several flight schools commercial movements and parachuting.

Before someone jumps in to say that should be an ATC environment, the cost of having ATC would probably result in closure. Thankfully the CAA are remarkably pragmatic about their requirements.

[chevvron]

By listening to the radio to see what runway pilots are using, and if nobody there listen to the AWOS (which automatically anounces the winds, cloud base etc) or look at the windsock?

What am I missing?

You're missing the fact that ANYTHING to do with safety on an airfield costs money(something which most small airfields don't have a lot surplus to play with). Any sort of met obs station will be expensive to buy/rent and to get approved by the CAA,(the VIAISALA one installed at Dunsfold and never used had a rental of about £5K pa) plus if the airfield 'normally' uses Safetycom, the airfield operator will need to get a radio frequency assignment for it. If you're getting a radio frequency assigned, why not cut costs and have a human observer; they can also answer queries from pilots
By the way, whatever type of weather station you have, it still needs a human to decide whether it is 'cloud base' or 'cloud ceiling', what type of cloud and what type of precipitation there is (if any); as we've seen on another thread, determination of cloud amount is imperative under the EASA regs about cloud ceilings.

[chevvron]

I am, I work there.

North Weald Pilot's Briefing Pack page 3 'Radio Communications:
'The service will at times be upgraded to a Flight Information Service, callsign North Weald Information,'.

[vintage ATCO]

By the way, whatever type of weather station you have, it still needs a human to decide whether it is 'cloud base' or 'cloud ceiling' and what type of precipitation there is (if any); as we've seen on another thread, determination of cloud amount is imperative under the EASA regs about cloud ceilings.

No they don't. There are lots of fully automated observing systems, just look at the METARs and the word AUTO.