usedtofly said... "What is it with you lot, do you really expect someone else to make all the decisions for you and absolve you of all responsibility?"
No, but an accurate, reliable TAF helps make things a hell of a lot easier when making a decision on the weather.
As pilots I'm sure we all have a half-decent understanding of weather - we have to - and of the practical limitations of forecasting. We all understand that weather is not just a fixed constant - it is indeed variable, everyone knows that. It's all very well bearing that in mind but it's not much cop when the wind is forecast to be Southerly but instead it turns out to be Westerly - or if forecast weather arrives earlier/later than forecast or doesn't arrive at all.
I was discussing yesterday's TAF shambles with my CFI and a couple of other FIs, and we all agreed that recently the TAFs have been pretty unreliable. My CFI made the point about yesterday's TAF showing no rain at all; what if someone decided to take a trip to Edinburgh based on that TAF and got caught out by the nasty weather that appeared instead? Unfortunately I don't have the TAF at hand but it showed few/scattered clouds at about 3000 feet or thereabouts and light winds - no mention of rain. Then the TAF was changed to show the rain... fair enough but why was it taken off the TAF in the first place, bearing in mind that the previous TAF had rain to start with?
I don't think we're "bashing" the Met Office as such on this thread, we all appreciate and respect the MO's work, however as users of the MO's data all we're asking for is a little more accuracy, that's all.
IO540: I can't remember off-hand but I think there might be cloud-top data available in the subscription service on the Met Office Aviation website.
Smithy