DATIS/DCL UK
Could somebody explain why there are so few UK airports with DATIS and DCL, I know the London Airports have them but there are several very busy regional airports (including Scotland) that don’t. It amazes me when flying to some rather sleepy airports abroad that they have the facility but when flying around the UK in some of the busiest airspace in the world that one of us still has to get the ATIS and do battle on the tower frequency for clearance. This is not a point of laziness in fact it’s quite nice to listen and jot down the ATIS sometimes but generally when flying over the UK we are nearly always in the descent when in rage to get the ATIS and this means someone has to go heads down and listen to BOX 2. In the cruise this is no issue but to constantly do it in the descent when it’s critcal for both pilots to hear and check any level changes is becoming a challenge. Every sector seams so busy now and surely in this day and age we can have this faculty at every UK airport? It’s also a battle at some airports to get a clearance for anything on the ground and DCL is a Fantastic facility. I can only assume it’s a budget issue? However I once asked a UK tower controller if they were expecting DATIS DCL any time soon and they did not know what I was taking about!!! I know Somerset has only just got electricity but come on....