landing min's

[flyburg]

Question.

Have flown in the usa for many years. the law states that officially one cannot take off when destination is below published landing min's. in this situation in the states metar is valid for one hour, taf for the rest. in this example , when arriving within one hour of metar time and it is below mins you cannot go similary when arriving one hour after metar eventhough it is above min's if taf is below you cannot go.
Most FAR 121 carriers have an exemption: if main body of forecast is above min's but conditional language is below(tempo, chance off) you may still go as long as you have a second alternate(it's not that simple but in great lines). Recently got a job in the Netherlands. Dutch law specifies that if destination is below min's you can always go as long as you have a second alternate. The netherlands however is a JAA country. The JAA rules specifically state that flight planning mininum's have to be above published minimums. Question are you legal to depart when your destination is below min's and forecasted to be so?

[quid]

I can answer from only USA 121 perspective. There have been a few changes.

1. The FAR language used to read - "any combination of wx reports *AND* forecasts", now it's "any combination of wx reports *OR* forecasts". That makes a big difference. If the forecast is below mins, but the last METAR shows it to be above mins, you ARE legal to depart if the flight is less than one hour.

2. A General Counsel's opinion has changed the *conditional* requirements. Now, if there is ANY chance (Tempo or Prob 40, etc.) the flight MAY NOT depart, unless it meets the above.

For the Netherlands, I can't help.

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[dusk2dawn]

Check www.jaa.nl/jar/jar/jar/jar.ops.1.295.htm (http://www.jaa.nl/jar/jar/jar/jar.ops.1.295.htm)

[flyburg]

Thanks, that answers the question