Cardiff ATIS

[No_Speed_Restriction]

Cardiff controllers, it still seems your ATIS changes when either the wind changes by 1 knot or someone in the tower sneezes :p. surely there must be a way you can lower the "sensitivity". I cant think of any other airfield where the ATIS changes so frequently.I here this alot from other pilots as well.

[niknak]

Any ATIS operates within the tolerances laid down as agreed by ICAO/The Met' Office/The CAA. These tolerances cannot be changed by ATC or the unit management unless new tolerances are issued by the above authorities.

We suffer from the same weather ambiguities as Cardiff as in that we are near the coast and susceptable to sudden changes in the weather.

Changes in wind direction or strength trigger a change in the atis, 1 knot won't do it, but 5 knots will, and I would have thought that this would be of interest to most pilots - if not, ignore at your own peril.

[chiglet]

At Manchester, we now have "SAMOS" Semi Automatic Met Obs System. Before that we had Met Observer, [from the Met Office]. We now have Samos qualified ATSAs doing the wx obs.
"IF" the wx changes, on either system [aka "wx special"] then it is up to the "Air ATSA" to update the D/ATIS or not.
The ONLY time there is an "automatic" update is a QNH change
we aim to please, it keeps the cleaners happy

[hoagie boy]

CWL ATIS seems to be particularly and needlessly sensitive, however it is not as bad as BRS. Everything from roadworks in Clifton to grass-cutting in Weston is reported and I am reasonably certain that I have even heard a warning of a future warning.

[flower]

Our ATSAs do the normal Met Obs every half hour, any changes in between are automatically generated.
We don't have SAMOS but PAMOS, what difference that makes if any I do not know, the system however is set up as required and as has been previously suggested it may be to do with our position geographically that effects so many of the automatic changes.

[No_Speed_Restriction]

I'm expecting to have a division of answers from my post. On one side controllers who believe that even the smallest information is important for the safe conduct of flight(perfectly reasonable viewpoint) and one side pilots who I suspect agree with me who have flown out of Cardiff. This post is meant as an observation only.

Most pilots find it "entertaining"; before checking in we copy the latest ATIS only to be told there is a new ATIS with "no significant change"; a very common occurance.

not having a moan, just an open forum.

flower, quick question. I wonder if the system is capable of being setup to take a mean value over a certain period of time as opposed to a one off reading.

[I'm not joking sir]

A lot of the ATIS changes are due to the change in activity at St Athan as that has to be reported and also the runway state. The Aerodrome Operator are big on runway inspections and these have to be recorded. The runway state may not have changed but if the time of inspection has, then the ATIS will automatically update itself but there is no "significant change".