Darwin Tower Met Instruments
 

Howdy all. thought you might like to read this.

NT News Item

Seems the controllers aren't the only ones annoyed with the shoddy wind read outs, espcially during the wet.

Whoever it was that told the NT News, good on you. It is a safety issue and must not be ignored. Cheers,

NFR.

I am sure the RAAF will fix it soon.
To the Pilot, good to report it I suppose, but what happened to a bit of improvisation.
Remember that the NT NEWS would oversensationalise the death of a Rodent, especially if eaten by a croc.
Do you ya get wind reports at Gove, Manangrida,Ngukurr etc. etc. no. So what happens then?

Back to basics guys and gals,this is where Pilot reports and using the Windsock comes in.

As for giving wind to an arriving jet on the approach at night in IMC during the wet. Well it may get a bit tough, what about doing VORDME at Gove in the same conditions, no difference really, except the Approaches themselves.

Your TAFS have the wind still, no doubt for alternates etc.

Regards
Sheep

I thought crashes due to microbursts usually happened in the US, not the third-world.

Or is the US part of the.... no, pardon me.

yes, in true nt nes fashion it was a very sensational bit of journalism, predicting that darwin was almost certainly only days away from a massive air disaster of epic proportions...but you have to remember, they have to have something to fill in the space between the advertisements...i'm sure thats how they work at NTN...

The reason the pilot sent the information to the NT news was for them to sensationalise it which in turn would force the RAAF to make an effort to have them repaired/ replaced.

Past experience is that you need to take to the RAAF with a sledge hammer to have anything done.

Recently there was a NOTAM that said some thing along the lines that all aircraft needed to carry an alternate due technical difficulties in Darwin. That is a lot of extra fuel. Alternate for darwin, say Tindal plus the standard 60 mins holding.
The same pilot approached the NT news, who in turn made some inquiries and "presto" the technical difficulties dissapear.

Good on him I say.

Re not having wind info at other ports, that was not the issue.
Need a reason for NT News to print it, they will only take up the cause if it sells newspapers. Make it sound exciting. Darwin is an international airport at an Australian Capital city. Don't you think wind info should be expected?
We certainly pay for it. Can you imagine if this mob were running a small GA company, the list of U/S's that would be fixed tomorrow would be endless. Not on the maintainance releases though!


I read this NOTAM yesterday and wondered what significance it had.

Something smells off!!

G'day, NFR
 

I seem to remember that an East-West Friendship crashed on approach to Bathurst NSW back in the '80s due to a microburst. Fortunately nobody killed.

Then again some people might say that NSW IS a Third World Country! :D :D

NFR,
Sorry to see that nothing has changed in my absence. This sort of safety issue is unfortunately a regular occurence, but not the fault of you line guys and techs. I know it has been said before, but you all do a good job, despite the circumstances in which you are required to operate. To the pilots, by now you should all be well aware of the wet season storms that predominate at this time of year. One lightning strike of a million or so volts will tend to damage electronic equipment. This is not an excuse for the outage, but at least you are being formally notified, at least for those who do actually pay attention to the NOTAMS. The windsocks are still working at each threshold, and are usually a better indication of the instantaneous wind as the anemometer is located around 500' west of the ARP. Landing is a busy time for pilots, beleive me I know, but if a microburst did suddenly happen on short final, you would probably know about it before the controllers had a chance to tell you. Like I said, no excuse for broken equipment, but that is part of the joy of operating in the Topend. To NFR, give my regards to the crew, I really miss working along side you all. To the pilots, maybe I'll be back there sometime soon to wreak havoc on the airwaves. Now let the crocs lose to tear apart what I have said.
Regards P-W ;)

"ACCORDINGLY, IN THE EVENT OF A SYSTEMS FAILURE OUT OF HOURS, DELAYS IN THE INITIATION OF RECTIFICATIONS MAY OCCUR"

So what on earth is that supposed to mean?

Does ATC systems include Tower and Approach comms?

Does it include VOR/NDB/DME/ILS/Marker, etc?

Does it include the "Green Light from Tower?"

This NOTAM is remarkably non-specific. It doesn't say what is likely to go offline, and fails to suggest whether 30/60/120min holding would be required.

It could be argued that YPDN required an Alternate from Jan 1 to 17 anyway. That sort of mealy mouthed stuff does not belong in an operational message. How the hell do you flightplan on that?

Darwin might not have the traffic load of SY, ML, BN, but it is a strategic location (not just militarily speaking). The only similarly equipped field is Tindal, and if Darwin is copping a wet afternoon, most likely Tindal is too. After that, suitable alternates for hi-cap RPT are a LOOOONG way away.

Fancy any B767 using Jabiru for ETOPS planning :D

Sad though that it doesn't disappear until some journo who cant tell a "microbust" [sic] from his elbow brings it up in a paper like the NT News. Is 41 Wing RAAF more interested in keeping out of the public eye instead of running a professional outfit?