ASOS is broadcasting on vhf & telephone but not connected to the internet. So if you use any digital flight planning service, you won’t get destination weather. I am planning an ifr flight in/out of this airport today and it’s going to be intermittently imc. I about decided on a different nearby airport when I realized the issue (at first I figured the station was completely down, so no Kohlsman, no approach). Called the asos line; it’s fine. No notam on this. Is it worthy of a notam? (I wonder what % of pilots know you can call, or where to get the asos numbers anymore, now that we all flightplan online.)
The NOTAM system is massively busted. They won't issue things that are important like CTAF changes, good luck on weather reporting missing. The big question is whether ATC can see the weather at all.
Not sure what you use for flight planning, but on Foreflight the number is right there. Let's be honest, would a NOTAM have changed your scenario. If they NOTAMed the ASOS out of service, would that have been accurate? Then you and others may have assumed its totally out of service, and not flown there at all. This is what such a NOTAM looks like - SVC AUTOMATED WX BCST SYSTEM U/S
No, it's not worthy of a notam. Plenty of airports have weather reporting that is not connected to the national network. I doesn't change flight planning.
Ok, so I have some questions. If I can’t see an ASOS station’s weather report online, do I need a NOTAM to tell me I can’t see the ASOS weather report online? Should I read the airport data included in my EFB during my flight planning and wouldn’t I see the phone # for the AWOS/ASOS? If I am IFR rated, proficient and current with my destination’s forecast as intermittent IMC, why do I care what the report is before takeoff? Isn’t the weather going to change and isn’t the forecast intermittent VMC too?
Doubt they can in this case, Ron. FSS says they could not, so pretty sure ATC can’t. Thanks for your thoughts, Ron.
NOTAMS - The 20th (and 21st) century blew through that FAA function and didn't even rustle the paper on their teletype machines. Not certain, as I don't work there, but I think the system is about 80% CYA for the FAA and about 20% intended to inform.
Isn't this the situation everyone was in 30 years ago before there was such a thing as AWOS/ASOS, or an internet?
The more interesting question for me is whether the station that isn’t reporting to the internet reports to ADS-B. You need to make the flight and report back.
If the ASOS isn't reporting METARs to the internet, it won't be available to ADSB either. It means the data connection is down. Usually that is a problem on the Telco company side, not the actual ASOS and FAA/NWS.
At my home drome, KGIF, we have had numerous times when AWOS was reporting but was void of data because of sensor problems. Tune it in and you hear “Wind, missing. Temperature, missing. Dew point, missing. Sky condition, missing....” I half expected to hear, “Winter Haven regional airport, missing.”
NOTAMs. Some are older than I am. Some are needed, but missing. Some are there, but wrong. It's the government.
Didn’t have time to check back or read any responses. Final: Returning to this airport it was partially imc, atc said they had no weather so no approaches. I said ‘it’s reporting, just not to you; I have the current alt.set’. This perked the controller up, she thanked me for providing it and issued the approach. Broke out & cancelled, and of story. So, a notam would have reduced some atc confusion, and some pilot work. Essential? Not from a safety standpoint. More of a convenience issue… which is probably not in the purview of the notam system.
Curious. What did the approach plate say about minimums or ability to use the approach without local altimeter setting. Often, without local, the approach can be flown with higher minimums using some other nearby weather.
Do they even have a morse code-era abbreviation for "teh internets" ? AD WX ASOS RDO OK PHN OK TUBES IFACE UNREL?
" "When local altimeter setting not received, procedure NA" nearest airport is 17nm over some hills with a 300' vertical difference, and often quite different weather
The AWOS at the airfield I train at (KGDJ) is not reporting to the internet. It doesn't show up in Leido's for flight planning. It is still available by phone and transmits VHF. The explanation given to me was a phone service "upgrade". Apparently the service used a cell data signal to connect. The local tower has been totally refitted to 5G antennas, and none of the transceivers are backwards compatible. No known date for when that will/can be corrected.
I doubt the controller would have noticed a notam about weather reporting at a satellite airport, so I doubt it would have reduced any controller confusion.
The controllers in my neck o' TW seem to know about other local notams (runway lights, etc) so I think it would help them. Oddly, ours seem to read them!
It's a shame the bar is set so low. . . and our own expectations, too - we're sort of conditioned to expect bad judgement and decision making from the FAA. Yeah, the system works, but at enormous inefficiency. Islands of competence, sure, but in an ocean of a grotesquely bloated and mostly unaccountable bureaucracy. That something like this system has lurched along in this state for a lifetime is so sad. . .
