From an aircrew perspective......
Got a digital ATIS printout inbound to MAN recently, it said
ARRIVAL RWY 23R.......
and after the weather report(irrelevant to this post)
RWY 23R ILS DME IS U/S...
Then, having set up our approach, (obviously not the ILS), we hear preceeding traffic being cleared an ILS approach.
Now, I hear you say, was'nt your digital ATIS out of date?
Nope, it was issued at 1320z, and printed at 1321z.
So, a rather rushed re-brief.
Two points.
1. Get your terminology right. The ILS was not unserviceable.The DME part of the ILS was u/s. (But at MAN, in fairness, Dme distances from the VOR are on the approach chart, thus satisfying the altitude cross-check)
2. What use is digital ATIS if it does'nt give you the approach type in use - the runway in use does not suffice for FMS equipped A/C - they require some time to programme the new approach.
These ambiguities were unnecessary.
