Get acars and be done with it.
Relagate it to other skills like star sightings....

I suspect the new system is to goad you in that direction.

Cheers
Wino

I have to agree Malaga's "Controllers on the job" always makes me chuckle!!! :D Personally I think the should get back to the controlling, but hey it is the 21st century! Could be worse, could be "pilot's on the job" ;) :p

It's always nice to know that Professor Steven Hawking has another job on the side ..... :D

And the way that woman in Brindisi (and other places) says "QNH"

Always makes me giggle, sounds like she had something in her mouth at the time.

I have to agree with the earlier poster about CDG ATIS, how many taxiways do you need to talk about before getting to the WX?

But what about the Turkish Volmets?

Don't get me wrong, I reckon the Turks can show us all a thing or two about running a CAA, but just what the hell is that all about after each station's weather? eg:-

Reemark, Ankara , two four zeero zeero zeero metera zeero zeero zeero four five zeero zeero etc, etc, etc, etc etc.

What are they saying? I don't know, and I never have!

Wino, you are so right. How else could we contact pilots who have a prolonged loss of communications and get them back on the right frequency ... just before they get shot down :ok: :E

In spite of what happened on 9/11 (or 11/9 for UK folks), US carriers still remain the worst offenders in UK airspace. France and Italy ain't too far behind :hmm: Our defence forces (rightly so IMHO) are very twitchy of such events now. Three calls and no answer then you might be out !!!

Occasionally it seems to be a tech problem. But mostly it is finger trouble. In which case, pilots need to be aware of the interception procedures ;)

Hell, if I can get a greek or turkish VOLMET in the first go, then so can everybody else.

Let's not fall into the lazy trap, shall we.

I rather think that the problem is that we speak aviation english and you speak the queens english.

acars, if only, i will recommend to my management that we get it retro-fitted by the end of the week !!!

get real.

Oi! Leave it out, I'm quite happy as I am thank you! I don't know, you turn your back for five minutes........what was that? Oh yes, finals, three greens...... ( shuffles off into the ether muttering )

There was a clasic cartoon which appeared in the Nigel's Friday fire starter (company newspaper) that depicted the radio services of a certain country (country named withheld as I don't want to end up singing soprano)

It showed the vhf radio station as a bunch of peole with buckets over their heads talking into their microphones. The hf radio station was the same people standing IN the buckets.

Heat

Sofia! Always so welcoming and "Cave,,,,,okiiy":)

surely one of the most bizarre is the frenchman doing liverpool atis. Now Gerard Houllier has been fired who are they going to use?

I do agree with the absurdly long CDG atis comments, how many taxyways? if only they could find a method of promulgating notices to airmen in advance.

finally i do think the lady who does the london volmets has a delightfully welcoming voice at the end of a long day...

Not a frenchman, he's South African. His name is 'Basil'.

Whilst I agree that the copying of weather enroute from Volmet can be overdone (especially in today's ATC environment) and nothwithstanding that "the whole of Europe" may appear to be CAVOK, you do not, of course, know what the surface wind is by looking out of the window (vis a vis crosswind limits) or indeed whether an airport is out due to fog.

Agree with all the comments about verbose and incomprehensible Volmets though. For this reason I started, quite a while ago. copying ATIS broadcasts which means not having to wait for the Volmet "carousel" to go round and also they tend to be more current.

Years ago I did a fam trip LTN-NAP-LTN on the jump-seat of a 737. I was intrigued to hear the Italian VOLMET being delivered in a very cultured British voice (the same voice that used to recite London VOLMET and can still be heard delivering Shannon VOLMET on HF). AFAIK the voice belonged to an ex Army officer who was a marketing executive at Marconi Space and Defence Systems, who manufactured the system.

I was just saying to Mikey the other night... The Germans need a new Dalek - I can't understand a single QNH!

And what about the new woman at MAN that insists on reading the ATIS as if she's doing a love scene?

fireflybob - snap! I've never seen much point in knowing that the wind at XXXX is 240/15 and then finding out they are on 03:eek:

Schiphol ATIS
 

The female artificial voice pronounces the word "Right" as
"Left", so you never really know which parallel runway you will be landing on! Previous ATIS far better.

I suggest that ICAO implement a worldwide standard voice: the lady that did the Rio Intl. pax anouncements. That'll make the boys listen !

EHAM Volmet
 

Improved greatly with new female voice.
Clear and unambiguous.
Comments please.