Originally Posted by
Trevor the lover
mmmm345
You asked for additional views a few posts back. Definitively - NO TAF means ALTERNATE. ENR 11.7.1.3 - WHEN AN AERODROME FORECAST IS NOT AVAILABLE, OR IS MARKED "PROVISIONAL" THE PIC MUST MAKE PROVISION FOR A SUITABLE ALTERNATE THAT HAS A FIRM FORECAST. End of paragraph.
The issue about LSALT + 500 is for no NAVAIDS. It should say "no cloud below LSALT plus 500 and 8km vis FROM THE TAF".
If still not convinced - think of this. There is no TAF at an airport called FUNGULU. LSALT to get there is 2,000 ft. The GAF, on the face of it, paints a picture of generally ****ty weather, but no real cloud below 2500 and vis is 9km. So off you go to FUNGULU and get there and its **** below 2500 and you cant get in.
10 miles from FUNGULU, so in the same area, is an airfield called ROSSOW. It has a TAF for cloud generally around 2500 ft and vis 9km (like the GAF), but it has TEMPO all day for cloud BKN at 800 and 3km vis in rain. So I go to ROSSOW, the weather is ****, but I've got the TEMPO fuel, so I hold then land. You only looked at the GAF, you say all good, you head off to FUNGULU and you get there at the same time I get to ROSSOW 10 miles away, the weather is ****, you can't get in and you have no fuel.
GAFS do not give INTERS, TEMPOS, fog, cross wind - these are all things that your fuel planning MUST be based on. Fuel at your destination is determined but the forecast AT YOUR destination. GAF is an overview.
No, I think you're wrong. My employer ops aircraft >5700 into non IAP no TAF airports, and has been doing so using GAFs (as do many others) and CASA is well aware of the operations and it isn't done off the back of a dispensation. With regards to
NOT AVAILABLE I suggest the following conversation:
You (to a mate): Can I borrow your car today?
Mate: No, it's not available!
You: Well, can I borrow it tomorrow?
Mate: Nah, not available tomorrow either.
You: When will it be available?
Mate: Never.
You: WTF, why?
Mate: Because I don't have a car!
Wouldn't happen like that, would it? More like this:
You: Can I borrow your car?
Mate: Sorry, don't have a car!
You see, to be "not available", it has to be there in the first place. BoM may not be able to produce a TAF due to industrial action or maybe due to insufficient met data, or only enough data to produce a provisional TAF.
I would say in your argument, the TAF for ROSSOW with those conditions would be reflected in the GAF! However, I agree with you, going with it just on the margins like that wouldn't be smart, but having been using GAFs for those ops for 6 yrs I've yet to see that, or the GAF is split and your ROSSOW is other the dividing line with the ****ty WX. Now that I have seen and have taken appropriate precautions fuel wise.