I wrote to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority a while back suggesting they fund – it wouldn’t cost too much, weather CAMS at places like Kilmore Gap, Mittagong, Mount Victoria and other places where safety could be improved.
I’ve recently noted in an article the following,
“The FAA’s own data from Alaska shows that a federally funded system of 221 aviation weather cameras installed there since 1999 have become a critical aid to flight planning and have enhanced safety.
A 2012 FAA survey of Alaska, Part 135 operators concluded that weather CAM data has become an integral part of flight planning and go, no go decision making.
The NTSB credits them for contributing to a 53% reduction in weather related aviation accidents between 2008 and 2011. The cameras have also helped cut unnecessary flight hours due to unreliability of weather information by 64%.”
If you’re interested I suggest you have a look at this FAA site. The Loop provision is particularly good Also if you click on one of the pics the clear day image is shown for comparison
FAA Aviation Weather Cameras - Home
As you will note, this site covers the AV CAMS in Alaska. They are incredibly fantastic. I wonder if there had been AV CAMS at Lockhart River showing that the weather was clear to the east, whether we would have had that unnecessary accident.