surface wind updates
 

What is the official criteria for passing the updates of surface wind to an aircraft on final?

A point can be reached where they become distracting when the latest update is already within the existing band already passed.

I am not talking about an update which is a significant change to that passed in say the last two minutes.

ecj, there's no real definitive answer. I don't have the books to hand but they say something like wind with landing clearance and more if the pilot requests them (instantaneous or otherwise). Many controllers use common sense and pass more reports if the wind is all over the place.

If they're a nuisance all you have to say is "no further windchecks" or something along those lines. Not that I've ever seen it of course ;) , but I have heard that some pilots ask for windchecks down final until they hear one that's inside limits and then say "no more thanks"

Pull the cabin air knob first ... :)

Page GEN 3-5-5 et seq in the UK-AIP lists which airfields pass Average winds and which pass Instant winds.

Whilst my main occupation is as an instructor I work part time as a FISO and the equipment which we have available is only capable of providing Instant winds. If the wind is changing direction significantly or varying markedly in strength, but not at the moment when I pass the wind information to the pilot then I will pass the information as “ the wind is instant xxx at yy knots, within the last x minutes the wind has been variable xxx to yyy, aa gusting bb knots”, otherwise I pass the wind information without stating that the value is an Instant reading.