Top post JT! Very enlightening and I have a question (my bold):
Looking back some years when forecasting was very problematic with respect to fog conditions, I can't recall any crews of my acquaintance who didn't religiously consider dew point, temperature split, cloud cover, wind expectation, high/low, etc. This was especially so heading off to those airports notorious for being fog lovers ... motoring eastbound to PER or southbound to LST/HBA late at night bring back more than a few memories ..
So don't crew do that anymore, if not why not? And is it even taught in CPL/ATPL Meteorology syllabus or is it all rote learning these days (i.e. the forecast on the box doesn't indicate any probs so it should be fine)?
I know from flogging around in WA with RUFDUS in the middle of the night, in the cooler months and in particular on long legs (like PD to JT) I would religiously do what you described JT and it saved my bacon several times. It also wasn't that long ago!
Pick the trend post
Note: And I'm not being critical of the crew involved, on the contrary maybe this a failing in the CAsA ATPL/CPL syllabus that may need to be addressed?
