Be safe - take a look yourself
Quote from lomapaseo
"The issue may have really been who has a better subjective judgement of whether snow or ice was seen? The crew durring at the time of dispatch or a another passing crew looking through looking their windows."
The crew may have viewed the wings during the preflight but when sitting in the cockpit you can't see the wings. Who has a better view then?
From 411A
"I hesitate to break it to you, HolidayPilot, but if the weather was truly thus, as reported...'
Regardless of the weather report, when informed of snow / ice on the wings the crew should investigate, as in get off their bottoms and go look. Which, according to the description of events wasn't done.
To clarify - I can't imagine sitting in the cockpit and being informed that I have snow / ice on my wings and then using a weather report to determine if I am OK to go. Better to have a look, even if previously De-iced / Anti-iced.
When the Feds come knocking would you rather say:
- Well according to the weather report…
Or
- I took a look and saw no snow / ice buildup.
One answer lets you keep your ticket, the other is a roll of the dice.