Welcome back Gundog01! Haha.
where it has been determined
that an alternate aerodrome to the destination aerodrome is
required, then the amount of fuel on board an aircraft at any
particular point in the flight should
This is not telling you how or when to determine if an alternate is required.
All it does is highlight and reemphasise that, even if your alternate is closer than your destination, you need to have fuel to make it past the alternate and back again, and still have your fixed + variable reserves etc. in place.
Anyway, I'm glad you liked the NTSB link
Capt. Fathom,
No-one is suggesting this at all.
We are saying that the law allows us a degree of freedom to THINK about the situation.
How far below the alternate minima is the forecast?
How far above the landing minima is the forecast?
What does the METAR say now?
How quickly are the conditions deteriorating (or improving)?
Etc.
Funnily, I ran into a situation SIMILAR to this last night.
At TOD I listened to the AWIS at my destination and a minute later centre confirmed what I had heard. SPECI issued actual conditions now 100' below alternate minima. No amendment to the TAF, though.
Interesting timing given this debate!