Originally Posted by
kcboy
I went into Newcastle earlier this year, end of a 10.5 hour day, in the soup weaving our way between TS.
Anyways runway length cut almost in half, doing instrument approaches that didn’t really work because the first 1000 metres of the runway were in pieces (they eventually sorted this out with a temporary RNAV aligned with the displaced threshold). ATC didn’t mention any of it, I couldn’t believe it. Not on the ATIS, not on first contact, nothing. They were purely relying on people finding out about runway length halved 8 deep in the NOTAMS. Between the RNAV putting you on 4 reds if you followed it’s profile to the original threshold, runway length being shortened significantly and ATC not telling you about any of it, turning up there at night after a 10.5 hour day :/ I’m glad nobody had any major issues there.
Sadly, that's typical of the overly prescriptive approach adopted by the aviation regulators here in Australia; an approach that focuses entirely on following the "rules", with little or no thought given to the practicalities, or safety. Up until several years ago, ATC in Perth would often report the wind recorded at the top of the control tower, along with the "official" wind recorded on the ground. It was very useful for pilots during the strong summer easterlies, when the wind at 200 ft could be very different to that on the ground. They stopped doing it because, we were told, it wasn't within the "rules".
