Heathrow ATIS

[White Hart]

The Heathrow ATIS has recently undergone a few changes.

What do the pilots think of our new 'robotic' system - has anybody actually noticed the changes? Also, when flying in/out of EGLL, in your view, do you agree with our reporting accuracy of the local MET conditions?

Finally, for those of you who land at EGLL in the very early hours, and can receive Datalink ATIS, how far out from EGLL (timewise) do you start to listen to D-ATIS before touchdown?

[Manual Reversion]

If the wx is looking dodgy, most of the night!
The sooner LHR had ATIS that can be acquired on ACARS the better, ditto PDC

[doo]

I picked up on the change by the multiple vioce changes, I must say it can be a bit tedious listening to the exit closures repeat the rwy each time.
I have always found the 1/2 hour updating can take quite a long time to come out, but please don't go the way of some airfeilds where they update every few minutes (computer update) for the smallest change.

[Max Angle]

It was quite nice to hear the controllers do it but to be honest it was often read far too quickly (comes with the territory at LHR I guess!) and I am sure that some overseas crews struggled to hear it sometimes, the new system is very clear and at about the right pace. I am sure it's a chore that won't be missed in the tower.

Any chance of a nice female voice like they have up the road at Luton to make it sound different from STN, which we also copy every time we fly in LHR. Perhaps we could even have celebrity voices from time to time!.

[Hand Solo]

Datalink ATIS wasn't working at about 0400 this morning.:(

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<It was quite nice to hear the controllers do it>>

Wow.. they never used to. I certainly never did an ATIS broadcast in all my years there and wouldn't have known how to! Presumably the powers-that-be decided at some stage that the ATCOs had plenty of spare time!!!!

[Gonzo]

No, ATCOs never did it, it was the assistants; the very same people (with 8-10 hours of training) who are now providing the Met. cover for LHR.

[White Hart]

I expect that we cannot do anything about the male robot voice - you'll have to live with that one!

I would like to know if the crews find our weather reporting to be accurate. Any comments?

[expedite_climb]

White Hart;

Tried the D-ATIS today at LHR - must have been 0800 ish and it didnt work. (Got some message from LGW clearence say it doesnt work :confused: ).

Just wondered when it is working? Roll on D-ATIS, one of the few things I like about the states!

[mr ripley]

Tried DATIS about 0730z ish today and also got the weird LGW clearance message reply. In my limited experience, I am very much a fan of DATIS and its certainly the way ahead when you have 3 different ldg and t/o runways and taxiway closures.

I look forward to it working at LHR.

[MrBernoulli]

Saw the BA AIS saying that DATIS for LHR was available on trial but it didn't work when we tried it outbound and inbound to LHR. Why am I not surprised?

[flying finn]

I always thought it was sort of homely hearing the Heathrow ATIS get read out by a local lad. As a rule of thumb, the quicker it was read out the better the weather was, but copying it was at times a bit of a struggle. Nonetheless, the occasional cricket score would brighten up a four sector day, not to mention the additional information provided by the sound of a torrential downpour in the background.

D-ATIS is the way forward though, particularly for our longhaul colleagues.

Agree about the runway exit closures - surely one of the assistants could just tag the whole message on the end of the broadcast, rather than have the synthetic voice go "Runway 09L exit A10E is closed. Runway 09L exit A10W is closed. Runway 09L exit A5 is closed blah blah...". Also, are we heading in the Scottish direction of the runway being reported as 'wet' rather liberally?

[Brain Potter]

Interested to hear about Datalink ATIS and to see it being called DATIS. Some military aerdromes call their broadcast a DATIS seemingly just because it is recorded digitally- it certainly doesn't update automatically like, for example, Newcastle. Therefore, it has always seemed pointless to me to call it a DATIS (instead of just ATIS) because the end user doesn't care about the recording medium - be it digital, tape or wax drums! Maybe they will drop the extra D when they realise it now means something else. Any thoughts?

[TyroPicard]

White Hart

Yes, I've always found the weather accurately reported, unless it's changed sice the recording.......

TP

[EGLL ATC]

The latest info we've been given is that Datalink ATIS for EGLL is under test at the moment but should be available from December.

flying finn - we've spoken to "the powers that be" about the runway turn-off messages and they're looking into them all being lumped together i.e. Rwy 09L turnoffs A10W and A10E closed.