A rough guide to ATIS ranges at lower levels... any thoughts?
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A rough guide to ATIS ranges at lower levels... any thoughts?
Hi,
Does anyone have any rough rules of thumb regarding ATIS range / distance at lower levels, say 3,000ft to 6000ft?
I’m not looking for any hard and fast rules and appreciate that terrain, met, etc all play their part.
Taking Cardiff as an example, the AIP has the Cardiff ATIS DOC60 nm/20000 ft.
Training for my IR in the south of England, where the terrain is pretty low and flat (perhaps Cardiff isn’t the best example as the terrain quickly rises to the north), my instructors recommend getting ahead of the game, and setting up as much as possible as soon as possible.
It would be useful to have a sense as to when the ATIS should become receivable.
Thanks.
Does anyone have any rough rules of thumb regarding ATIS range / distance at lower levels, say 3,000ft to 6000ft?
I’m not looking for any hard and fast rules and appreciate that terrain, met, etc all play their part.
Taking Cardiff as an example, the AIP has the Cardiff ATIS DOC60 nm/20000 ft.
Training for my IR in the south of England, where the terrain is pretty low and flat (perhaps Cardiff isn’t the best example as the terrain quickly rises to the north), my instructors recommend getting ahead of the game, and setting up as much as possible as soon as possible.
It would be useful to have a sense as to when the ATIS should become receivable.
Thanks.
Last edited by shorty79; 6th Apr 2013 at 11:09.
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shorty79
The only rule of thumb I'm aware of is the one for the radio horizon. It is part of the JAR instrument rating syllabus and mentioned in notes 1 and 2 following 4.1.5.2 of ICAO Annex 10, Volume V:
D = 1.23 * sqrt(h)
D = 1.23 * (sqrt(h)+sqrt(H))
D: distance [NM]
h: height of the aircraft [ft]
H: elevation of the station [ft]
Your instructor's recommendation sounds familiar. I believe every instrument student has heard it and you'll see instrument flying is very much about getting and staying ahead of the aircraft. You can see from above formula that during your training over southern England reception range will normally not be a problem. 6000 ft and 120 kt will leave you almost half an hour to get the ATIS before you arrive at the IAF. However, you mustn't forget the ATIS is usually updated every half hour, so very often it will be a good idea to wait another two or three minutes and get the latest message.
The only rule of thumb I'm aware of is the one for the radio horizon. It is part of the JAR instrument rating syllabus and mentioned in notes 1 and 2 following 4.1.5.2 of ICAO Annex 10, Volume V:
D = 1.23 * sqrt(h)
D = 1.23 * (sqrt(h)+sqrt(H))
D: distance [NM]
h: height of the aircraft [ft]
H: elevation of the station [ft]
Your instructor's recommendation sounds familiar. I believe every instrument student has heard it and you'll see instrument flying is very much about getting and staying ahead of the aircraft. You can see from above formula that during your training over southern England reception range will normally not be a problem. 6000 ft and 120 kt will leave you almost half an hour to get the ATIS before you arrive at the IAF. However, you mustn't forget the ATIS is usually updated every half hour, so very often it will be a good idea to wait another two or three minutes and get the latest message.
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To get ahead of the game even sooner why not give London/scottish information a call on box 2 for the weather. I often have aircraft calling me at Scottish whilst a few hundred miles from destination 
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Yes get setup early but there is too early.
I would suggest at the speeds you will be doing in your piston twin the DOC of the ATIS won't be in an issue. Its not for me and we are rocking in at 250knts.
10-15 mins before you expect to be handed over to the approach controller get the wx don't worry if its going to change in the next 5 mins. Brief the approach get the radios set up then a quick check to see what the changes in the wx are and then wait for the handover. If you think that you going to be speaking to the approach controller just as it changes don't worry about it. They will either spot that its just changed and tell you whats new or you can have a quick listen just after speaking to them.
The getting the wx off fisbangwallop is real life ops not for IR tests. Have the volmet frequencys but I suspect you won't have time to wait through the whole list of airports. I can't remember if I had to listen to it or not.
I would suggest at the speeds you will be doing in your piston twin the DOC of the ATIS won't be in an issue. Its not for me and we are rocking in at 250knts.
10-15 mins before you expect to be handed over to the approach controller get the wx don't worry if its going to change in the next 5 mins. Brief the approach get the radios set up then a quick check to see what the changes in the wx are and then wait for the handover. If you think that you going to be speaking to the approach controller just as it changes don't worry about it. They will either spot that its just changed and tell you whats new or you can have a quick listen just after speaking to them.
The getting the wx off fisbangwallop is real life ops not for IR tests. Have the volmet frequencys but I suspect you won't have time to wait through the whole list of airports. I can't remember if I had to listen to it or not.
