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Post by apteryx on May 22, 2015 9:47:17 GMT 12
Good news from yesterday's budget. Additional funding for Metservice over the next four years will allow for "free weather forecasting services for the recreational aviation sector".
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bounce
Warrant Officer
Posts: 32 
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Post by bounce on May 22, 2015 11:25:15 GMT 12
Oh wow! I've only seen a brief mention of this in a general transport news item, but it looks good from there.
If the details are positive then this is a huge victory for GA. A big thank you to those who kept fighting for this. It's a very real safety tool, and a small victory against the user-pays-till-the-industry-dies disease that's been spreading the last few years.
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Post by suthg on May 22, 2015 16:08:28 GMT 12
I bet Bruce had something to do with it - nah, just wondering, but I know you have been working on several fronts Bruce  Great news for GA! |
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Post by scrooge on May 22, 2015 16:28:10 GMT 12
Now we just need to get Airways to provide SIGMETS in plain english rather than with LAT/LONG references (or as well, it can't be that hard) and NZ domestic pilots will have EASY access to important information.
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Post by woody99 on May 22, 2015 16:57:55 GMT 12
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Post by FlyingKiwi on May 22, 2015 18:31:27 GMT 12
Now we just need to get Airways to provide SIGMETS in plain english rather than with LAT/LONG references (or as well, it can't be that hard) and NZ domestic pilots will have EASY access to important information. Something that was brought up at one of the recent Avkiwi CAA safety seminars I attended - from the near future (don't have the exact date at hand but mid-July I think) the SIGMETs will apparently be available in a graphical format, which is probably a good compromise. |
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Post by Bruce on May 22, 2015 18:36:31 GMT 12
I bet Bruce had something to do with it - nah, just wondering, but I know you have been working on several fronts Bruce Great news for GA! Thanks, I was only a very small part of it, but a lot of the Advocacy came through the NZ Aviation Federation, an umbrella organisation Comprising of SAA, AOPA, RNZAC, Gliding NZ, RAANZ and SAC. We have been working with CAA on this one and they have supported our call for free weather on Safety grounds. With that weight behind the issue, the Ministry of Transport took notice and put the case to Treasury. Its been a tough road but those of us working on this, and its great to get a result at last! A very happy day! The next step, and one which CAA is very keen on, is to have a combined CAA / Airways / Metservice portal where all essential flight information can be accessed in one hit. With the removal of Metservice charges, this is now a real possibility. |
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Post by Peter Lewis on May 22, 2015 18:51:25 GMT 12
Hopefully a refund for those of us that have actually paid for the current service for a period beyond July?
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Post by isc on May 22, 2015 21:08:11 GMT 12
The cost of one major weather related incident would cover the cost of free information for just about ever. Good news. isc
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Post by FlyingKiwi on May 23, 2015 19:44:50 GMT 12
Hopefully a refund for those of us that have actually paid for the current service for a period beyond July? Now now let's not get hasty...  |
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Post by Peter Lewis on May 24, 2015 21:58:23 GMT 12
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Post by falcon124 on May 25, 2015 11:38:57 GMT 12
Now we just need to get Airways to provide SIGMETS in plain english rather than with LAT/LONG references (or as well, it can't be that hard) and NZ domestic pilots will have EASY access to important information. Something that was brought up at one of the recent Avkiwi CAA safety seminars I attended - from the near future (don't have the exact date at hand but mid-July I think) the SIGMETs will apparently be available in a graphical format, which is probably a good compromise. Here's an example of Australia actually doing something right: Free access to graphical SIGMET info (link) along with lots of other aviation weather info at the Met Bureau's Aviation Portal (link). If Australia can do it surely NZ can too. Just don't follow us on our mad rush into the disaster that is EASA regulations (Europeans Against Sport Aviation) |
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Post by the_flying_surfer on May 25, 2015 22:02:02 GMT 12
Unsure if it does NZ SIGMETS but www.skyvector.com is pretty good for visual representation of them in other parts of the world. |
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Post by lindstrim on May 26, 2015 19:43:11 GMT 12
Yep skyvector does NZ sigments
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Post by sqwark2k on May 27, 2015 9:11:50 GMT 12
We get graphs for SIGMETS as part of our weather package from MetService at AirNZ
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Post by scrooge on May 27, 2015 10:45:12 GMT 12
The point with sigmets is that they are available in plain english via towers/controllers and flight information, but for some peculiar reason Airways have decided that they will only be provided in written form with Lat/Long 'because that's in accorance with ICAO' and what international operators use, which is a load of S*$T as they are quite happy to ignore ICAO when it suits (try filing an ICAO VFR flight plan). Surely it's not that hard to have domestic notams and international notams available in different packages.
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