Just found this thread following a search. A first for me over here.
I’d suggest the new ATR72 – 600 MP aircraft. Glass display, CAT3, good fuel economy at low level, decent endurance etc http://www.alenia-aeronautica.it/eng/Difesa/Proprietari/Pages/ATR72MP.aspx
Ideal for medium range work covering most waters likely to be of interest. I believe list price for an ATR72 airframe is about £17M. Would £100M get us 4 aircraft fully kitted out for the next 20 years? Likely a lot cheaper than other aircraft on offer. Granted it doesn’t have some of the capability of the C295 but do we really need another aircraft with a ramp? Could we not just call in a herc if it was required in a specific case?

Went in there once in conditions like that. We were small enough to be able to use the crosswind runway whilst everyone else had to divert.

Nothing new. I recall the same conversation 15 years ago.
The answer given then IIRC was that airlines needed to be persuaded to change their ops to allow pilots to fly manually more often to retain their touch. Most airlines back then instructed pilots to use the autopilot routinely.
Interested to know what the current generation are instructed to do.

Get rid of it. If something was reasonable in the first place it was already likely in UK law. The HRA seems to just be used by people who want to ignore an existing piece of legislation for their own ends.

+4 Understand the reasons for your not posting but I think the majority miss your updates and appreciate your knowledge.

Whilst batteries are expensive they don’t necessarily all have to be replaced at the same time. Most electric cars of tomorrow are being designed I’m told to have individual cells replaced as they die off. Therefore £7k in one hit might not be the true cost.
If you do loads of local miles each year then worth buying a dedicated electric car. If not then a combi car of some description is the better bet.

What a load of old S**t

OK, you think I can afford Sky Sports HD for £25 a month for 1 or 2 races? Don’t think so. Not like football where you have several matches.
Why not a deal with another free to air broadcaster? BBC afraid to do a deal with a competitor? Smacks of the BA Concorde thing. Sell off the parts for ‘charity’ when really what they did was to prevent anyone else from ever operating the aircraft commercially because of a lack of parts.
Do the BBC have any sports left for the average person in the street or have they all gone middle class with Wimbledon, Golf and Athletics? How many people really want to watch no. 18 court at Wimbledon? If the BBC have an equality policy it fails from a class perspective. Unintentional snobbery accepted but still snobbery.
I also note with the 10 BBC races that they only appear to commit to show them live on the web. The only ones that appear to be guaranteed on TV are the British, Monaco and final GP’s.
I don’t normally get angry but this one and the excuses really gets my goat.

This is the guidance given by the MetOffice. Note copyright is theirs and this is provided just for educational purposes. Apologies to the mods if I’ve still overstepped the mark.

Aerodrome actual weather – METAR and SPECI decode

Please note the decodes below incorporate the changes to METAR coding introduced on 5 November 2008.

CODE ELEMENT EXAMPLE DECODE NOTES
1 Identification
METAR or SPECI METAR METAR METAR — aviation routine report, SPECI — selected special (not from UK civil aerodromes)
Location indicator EGLL London Heathrow Station four-letter indicator
Date/Time 291020Z ‘ten twenty Zulu on the 29th’
AUTO A fully automated report with no human intervention AUTO METARS may only be disseminated when an aerodrome is closed or at H24 aerodromes, where the accredited met. observer is on a CAA approved overnight duty break. Users are reminded that reports of visibility, present weather and cloud from automated systems should be treated with caution due to the limitations of the sensors themselves and the spatial area sampled by the sensors.
2 Wind
Wind direction/speed
31015G27KT
‘three one zero degrees, fifteen knots, max twenty seven knots’ Max only given if >= 10KT greater than the mean. VRB = variable. 00000KT = calm.
Extreme direction variance 280V350 ‘varying between two eight zero and three five zero degrees’ Variation given in clockwise direction, but only when mean speed is greater than 3 KT.
3 Visibility
Prevailing visibility 3200 ‘three thousand two hundred metres’ 0000 = ‘less than 50 metres’ 9999 = ‘ten kilometres or more’. No direction is required.
Minimum visibility (in addition to the prevailing visibility if required) 1200SW ‘Twelve hundred metres to the south-west’ The minimum visibility is also included alongside the prevailing visibility when the visibility in one direction, which is not the prevailing visibility, is less than 1500 metres or less than 50% of the prevailing visibility. A direction is also added as one of the the eight points of the compass. NDV = no directional variation (AUTO METARS only)

4 RVR
R27R/1100 ‘RVR, runway two seven right, one thousand one hunded metres’ RVR tendency (U = increasing; D = decreasing; N = no change) may be added after figure (not currently used in the UK) e.g. R27R/1100D. P1500 = more than 1500 m; M0050 = less than 50 m. Significant variations — example : R24/0950V1100, i.e. varying between two values. (Not from UK civil aerodromes)
5 Present weather
+SHRA ‘heavy rain showers’ + = Heavy (well developed in the case of +FC and +PO); – = Light; no qualifier = Moderate. BC=Patches BL=Blowing BR=Mist DR=Drifting
DS=Duststorm DU=Dust DZ=Drizzle FC=Funnel cloud
FG=Fog FU=Smoke FZ=Freezing GR=Hail (>5mm)
GS=Small hail or snow pellets HZ=Haze IC=Ice crystals MI=Shallow
PL=Ice pellets PO=Dust devils PR=Banks RA=Rain
SA=Sand SH=Showers SG=Snow grains SN=Snow
SQ=Squalls SS=Sandstorm TS=Thunderstorm VA=Volcanic ash
VC=In vicinity UP=Unidentified precipitation (AUTO METARS only)
Up to three groups may be present, constructed by selecting and combining from the above. Group omitted if no weather to report.

6 Cloud
FEW005 SCT010CB BKN025 ‘few at five hundred feet, scattered cumulonimbus at one thousand feet, broken at two thousand five hundred feet’ FEW=’few’ (1-2 oktas), SCT=’Scattered’ (3-4 oktas), BKN=’Broken’ (5-7 oktas), OVC=’Overcast’, NSC= no significant cloud (none below 5000 ft and no TCU or CB). There are only two cloud types reported; TCU=towering cumulus and CB=cumulonimbus. VV///=’state of sky obscured’ (cloud base not discernable): Figures in lieu of ‘///’ give vertical visibility in hundreds of feet. Up to three, but occasionally more, cloud groups may be reported. Cloud heights are given in feet above airfield height. NCD= no cloud detected (AUTO METARS only)

7 CAVOK*
CAVOK ‘cav-oh-kay’ Visibility greater or equal to 10 km and the lowest visibility is not reported, no cumulonimbus or towering cumulus, no cloud below 5000 ft or highest minimum sector altitude (MSA)( whichever is the greater) and no weather significant to aviation.
8 Temp and dew point
10/03 ‘temperature ten degrees Celsius, dew point three degrees Celsius’ If dew point is missing, example would be reported as 10///.

M indicates a negative value

9 QNH
Q0995 ‘nine nine five’ Q indicates hectopascals. If the letter A is used QNH is in inches and hundredths.
10 Recent weather
RETS ‘recent thunderstorm’ RE = Recent, weather codes given above. Up to three groups may be present.
11 Wind shear
WS RWY24 ‘wind shear runway two four’ Will not be reported at present for UK aerodromes.
12 Colour states
Military reports also display a colour state BLU, WHT, GRN, YLO1, YLO2, AMB or RED, coded according to cloud and visibility.
BLACK indicates the runway is unusable.
13 Runway state group
24421594 Runway 24 has dry snow covering 11% to 25% of the runway to a depth of 15 millimetres. Braking action is medium or good DRDRCEttBB

DRDR is the runway designator: 27 = Runway 27 or 27L; 77 = Runway 27R (50 is added for “right”); 88 = All runways; 99 = A repetition of the last message, because no new information has been received.

C indicates runway deposits: 0 = clear and dry; 1 = damp; 2 = wet; 3 = rime or frost covered; 4 = dry snow; 5 = wet snow; 6 = slush; 7 = ice; 8 = compacted or rolled snow; 9 = frozen ruts or ridges; / = not reported due to runway clearance in progress

E indicates extent of contamination: 1 = 10% or less; 2 = 11-25%; 5 = 26-50%; 9 = 51-100%; / = not reported due to runway clearance in progress

tt indicates depth of contamination: 00 = <1; 01-90 = 1 to 90 mm; 91 not used; 92 = 10 cm; 93 = 15 cm; 94 = 20 cm; 95 = 25 cm; 96 = 30 cm; 97 = 35 cm; 98 = 40 cm or more; 99 = Runways non-operational due to snow clearance; // = not measurable or not significant

BB indicates friction coefficient / braking action: 28 = friction coefficient 28%; 35 = friction coefficient 35%; 91 = braking action poor; 92 = braking action medium/poor; 93 = braking action medium; 94 = braking action medium/good; 95 = braking action good; 99 = figures unreliable; // = not reported

If the aerodrome is closed due to contamination of runways, the abbreviation SNOCLO is used in place of a runway state group. If contamination ceases to exist, the abbreviation CLRD is used between 88 and braking action.

14 Trend
BECMG FM1100 23035G50KT 3000 SHRA ‘becoming from 1100, 230 degrees 35 KT , max 50 KT, 3000 metres, moderate rain showers BECMG=Becoming TEMPO=Temporarily NOSIG=No sig change
NSW=No sig weather AT=At FM=From
TL=Until NSC=No sig cloud
Any of the wind, visibility, weather or cloud groups may be used, and CAVOK. Multiple groups may be present.

*CAVOK will replace visibility and cloud groups

Example
SAUK02 EGGY 301220 METAR
EGLY 301220Z 24015KT 200V280 8000 —RA FEW010 BKN025 18/15 Q0983
TEMPO 3000 RA BKN008=

An example of the above METAR for 1220 UTC on the 30th of the month, in plain language:
EGLY: Issued at 1220Z on 30th. Surface wind: mean 240 deg true, 15 KT; varying between 200 and 280 deg; prevailing vis 8 km; light rain; cloud; 1-2 oktas base 1000 ft , 5-7 oktas 2500 ft; temperature +18°C, dew point +15°C QNH 983 hPa; Trend: temporarily 3000 m in moderate rain with 5-7 oktas 800 ft.

Example
SAUK02 EGGY 301220 METAR
EGPZ 301220Z 30025G37KT 270V360 6000 1200NE +SHSN SCT005 BKN010CB
03/M01 Q0999 RETS BECMG AT1300 9999 NSW SCT015=

An example of the above METAR for 1220 UTC on the 30th of the month, in plain language:
EGPZ: Issued at 1220Z on the 30th. Surface wind: mean 300 deg true, 25 KT; maximum 37 KT, varying between 270 and 360 deg; prevailing vis 6 km, minimum vis 1200 m (to north-east); heavy shower of snow, Cloud; 3-4 oktas base 500 ft , 5-7 oktas CB base 1000 ft, temperature +3°C, dew point -1°C; QNH 999 hPa; Thunderstorm since the previous report; Trend: improving at 1300 Zulu to 10 km or more, nil significant weather, 3-4 oktas 1500 ft.