Moorabbin ATIS IA in VMC ?
 

Hi. Just listened to the Moorabbin ATIS and it starts with:

Expect instrument approach. Wind.... Visibility in excess of 10 kilometres, cloud broken 3000 ft ...

Haven't flown in a few years so maybe this is a CASA DAS thing ??? Why advise of instrument approach in clear VMC ???

Cheers
Back Pressure

Possibly reduced staff and down to one runway due flight restrictions and as a result may be treating ops as Special VFR to limit aircraft in the zone.

That being said, weather has been a bit on and off all day and perhaps they were due to change the information.

It will be so that Center will sequence you thru to MB Twr from the C Airspace above. You don't make Inst App's from the usual VFR App points.

When it says to expect an instrument approach and the weather is clear, you will need to request a Special VFR clearance and you would approach from the normal approach points. Only one aircraft is in theory, allowed in the zone at the one time.

In my experience MB tower need to look outside their windows and UPDATE the ATIS.
A few times my observation and the METAR observation are way better than the ATIS weather, but funny old thing we can’t do circuits because they say BKN 1000’ and Vis 3000 m.....
I have no idea what they are up to......?

So if you are reading this MB tower people, what are you doing?

Give them a call next time and ask?

If it’s EIA you have no option but to expect to request SVFR (usually). You don’t get the option to come in normally.

I understood SVFR was only when conditions were non VMC. AIP ENR1.2

Please can someone post the reference about SVFR in VMC,

In this case it is VMC, for a VFR flight this means when you reach the inbound point, you may not be able to get a clearance into the zone if an IFR approach is .happenning or imminent. At Jandakot plenty of VFR flying still goes in when they say EIA, but I have never heard them say it in VMC.

As mentioned above, it may simply be a case of that the ATIS was slow to be updated.

That being said, EIP is a good way to keep aircraft out of the zone without having to individually deny them a clearance at the approach points. Inbound aircraft for recreation and training purposes will simply turn around or go somewhere else when they hear EIP, or they have noticed and crap weather is inbound and are waiting for that.

I’ve seen plenty of times where it has remained as EIP for some time after bad weather because they have a backlog of aircraft to get out and if they open it up, a dozen aircraft will be requesting circuits. I’ve seen 10 aircraft lined up to get out whilst circuits have started up after some fog has cleared and I had to wait nearly 30 minutes.

MATS 3.1.1.5

"When more than one instrument approach is in general use, EXPECT INSTRUMENT APPROACH may be recorded."

No where does that imply you need to request SVFR, or that you can't ask for a visual approach. If the weather is suitable for a visual approach and traffic allows, there is no reason why you wouldn't be cleared for it either.

It is explained above in the quote...

If you’re special VFR, you are effectively treated as IFR in that you may be the only one in the zone, but you’re not using instruments.

You don’t have to know it’s SVFR, you will be TOLD you need to request SVFR because visibility is below 5,000 metres but above 1,600
metres.

It’s a very grey area really, as by entering when EIP is active as a VFR, the weather is likely to be sub-standard (less than 5,000 metres vis and above 1,600 metres vis) and things can go pear-shaped very quickly if you’re not on the ball.

https://www.airservicesaustralia.com...-June-2014.pdf

Don't know 'bout over in Oz but this side of the ditch the cloud base must be higher than 1000 feet above the initial commencement altitude of the appropriate instrument approach before a visual approach can be advertised. If the initial commencement altitude is say 3000 feet then the cloud base needs to be above 4000 feet. Perhaps something similar applied in this case?

I agree, and our school have a policy of no VFR flights into the training area when EIA is on the ATIS for that reason, I don't want them stuck out there with a front approaching and an IFR appraoach is happenning..

But this conversation is about VMC.

SVFR isn't a set of weather conditions, it is a type of clearance.

SVFR has to be requested by the pilot, ATC will not tell you to ask for it!

Nice pun on the grey area, but I think it is perfectly clear

IFR and VFR aren't separated in D only given traffic so there is no reason to deny a VFR if in VMC with EIA on the ATIS. SVFR on the other hand (which is issued on pilot request) is separated so that is where you may be denied entry. Workload is certainly a reason you may be denied.

The EIA (at least at the 2 class D aerodromes I have worked at) is related to the MSA/LSALT for the IFR to be visual for a visual approach. I don't know MB but if the MSA is above 3000' that could be why there was EIA on the ATIS.

Thanks AWOL. If we have a lowering cloud base here then it is worth asking to come in at a lower level rather than ask for SVFR, then you will get a "not above" clearance.

Also anyone who is out there in the mimima for SVFR should probably be flying IFR anyway or safely on the ground!

Sort of.... if you don't ask for it, you will be advised that clearance is not available and that you will need to request SVFR.

It's not hard to work out, but a low time pilot could end up in some very serious trouble flying at 1,600 metres visibility. I've flown into YMMB in SVFR and the heavens opened up on downwind with no warning resulting in zero visibility, so I'm glad I was suitably equipped and experienced to deal with it. Not nice otherwise.

This.
If IFR need the approach to get below LSALT then EIA will be on the ATIS. Might be perfectly clear and overcast at 2500'.
In that case it has pretty well no effect on VFR aircraft. Not even close to any SVFR requirement.

If its overcast at 1200' or reduced vis different story.

Not uncommon for me to request SVFR to get out of Moorabbin due a few low clouds then nil cloud and blue skies in Class G a few miles away.

Special VFR

By day, when VMC do not exist, the ATC unit responsible for a control zone may issue, at pilot request, a special VFR clearance for flight in the CTR, or in controlled airspace next to the CTR for the purpose of entering or leaving the CTR, providing
(AIP ENR 1.2):

• the special VFR flight will not unduly delay an IFR flight
• the flight can be conducted clear of cloud
• the visibility is not less than
  • 1600 m for aeroplanes
  • 800 m for helicopters
  • for balloons, not less than 100 m below 500 ft AGL and 1600 m at and above 500 ft AGL
• a helicopter is operated at such a speed that the pilot has adequate opportunity to observe any obstructions or other traffic in sufficient time to avoid collisions and
• the flight can be conducted in accordance with the requirements of CAR 157 regarding low flying.

Is YMMB that much busier now than it was in the 70s and 80s? I don’t recall such Byzantine ATC complications in those days when there were a host of charter and freight operations running along with numerous busy flying schools.

Ahhh....the halcyon days of an inbound call and a base call and flying with your eyes and ears wide open seem to have gone.

A bygone era when ATC was razor sharp, helpful and possessed superhuman powers of SA.