I started this thread in 2016 in frustration at the way that the military arbitrarily close Mount Pleasant Airport to all fixed-wing movements under certain Met conditions (detailed in the posts above).
However, the thread faded away without really getting to the answer to some of my questions.
This weekend has seen yet another highly disruptive delay to the LATAM connection from Santiago via Punta Arenas, including a 24 hour delay due to turbulence forecast yesterday afternoon (when during the whole period, the strongest wind reported was 18 kts with no gusts), followed by turning the re-scheduled aircraft back when it had only about 25 minutes to run today, due to an updated TAF forecasting the turbulence (this time the actuals being 29 kts with no gusts reported). Todays crew requested over the radio to continue, and assess the conditions for themselves, but were prohibited and turned back.
I would like to try again, and repeat a couple of the questions I asked previously (in bold, below).
"Maybe the way the Met Office processes information has changed. I do not recall when they started using the 5///// turbulence group in the TAFs - my impression is that it is only in the last couple of years. Out of interest, do any of you with wider international experience recall seeing this group being used anywhere other than the Falklands?"
"I am interested in how the "Ownership of risk" has migrated from the aircraft crew/airline/operator to the Airfield operator. Are the conditions found at MPA so unique that the decision must be taken away from the crew? How are decisions made at other international airports that suffer similar weather issues - is it an airfield decision or an operator decision. Is this a difference between Civ And Mil?"
Lordflasheart kindly responded with a comment (above) that he could only come up with Gibraltar, where despite severe turbulence issues, the decision is still not mandated by the Airfield Operator, but (presumably) left to the airline/crew to decide.
I know that LATAM regularly operate through Ushauia, which can be extremely turbulent, but as far as I know, the airfield is not prohibited to traffic by the Airport authority.
I am aware that Madeira suffers from extreme turbulence - how is the decision making done there?