A CPR AC90 FLC; RELYING ON THE AWOS WX BROADCAST; FINDS THAT THE CLOUDS WERE LOWER THAN RPTED AFTER TKOF AND THEY WERE THEN TOO LOW TO CONTACT AN APCH CTLR. THEY CONTINUED AT LOW ALT IN CLASS G AIRSPACE UNTIL ESTABLISHING RADIO CONTACT WITH A DISTANT APCH CTL.

1999-02 · NASA ASRS report 428173

Date: 1999-02

Anomalies: inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence|other-unspecified

Synopsis

A CPR AC90 FLC; RELYING ON THE AWOS WX BROADCAST; FINDS THAT THE CLOUDS WERE LOWER THAN RPTED AFTER TKOF AND THEY WERE THEN TOO LOW TO CONTACT AN APCH CTLR. THEY CONTINUED AT LOW ALT IN CLASS G AIRSPACE UNTIL ESTABLISHING RADIO CONTACT WITH A DISTANT APCH CTL.

Narrative

WE WERE UNABLE TO CONTACT MIZZU APCH ON THE GND ON FREQ 124.1. WE TOOK OFF SINCE THE AIZ AWOS WAS RPTING WIND 260 DEGS AT 20 KTS GUSTING TO 36 KTS; VISIBILITY 10 MI; 2600 FT SCATTERED; 7000 FT BROKEN; 9000 FT BROKEN; TEMP 14 DEGS; DEWPOINT 6 DEGS; ALTIMETER 29.72. WHEN WE WERE AIRBORNE; THE CEILING WAS ACTUALLY 1000 FT BROKEN. WE WERE NEVER ABLE TO PICK UP MIZZU APCH IN THE AIR. WE HAD TO FLY UNCTLED UNTIL SPRINGFIELD APCH COULD HEAR US. I FEEL THAT THE AWOS INACCURACIES COULD HAVE LED TO A PROB; SINCE THE WX WAS MUCH LOWER THAN RPTED; NOT ALLOWING US TO CLB HIGH ENOUGH TO HEAR THEIR XMITTER. THEIR XMITTER HAD WORKED ALL THE WAY TO THE GND THAT MORNING. UNFORTUNATELY; AS THE WX WENT LOWER; THEIR XMISSIONS DID TOO. WE DID NOT FEEL THAT LNDG AGAIN AT AIZ WAS THE ANSWER SINCE THE XWIND WAS SO STRONG AND WE HAD HIT WINDSHEAR OF +/-20 KTS ON THE CLBOUT. I FEEL EVEN THOUGH EVERYTHING TURNED OUT FINE; AND FARS AND COMPANY SOP'S WERE NOT BROKEN; THE INCIDENT COULD HAVE EASILY HAD A BAD OUTCOME. I HAD EVEN GONE SO FAR AS SQUAWKING 7600 AND WAS ABOUT TO CLB THROUGH THE LAYER SINCE THE CLOUDS WERE COMING DOWN AND THE TERRAIN WAS COMING UP WHEN ANOTHER ACFT ANSWERED OUR CALLS AND RELAYED OUR INFO TO SGF APCH. SGF GAVE US A SQUAWK CODE AND A CLB AND THE PROB WAS CORRECTED APPROX 20 MINS INTO THE FLT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE CAPT SAID THAT SHE ATTEMPTED TO CALL THE FSS WHILE WAITING FOR TKOF AT AIZ; BUT ALL THAT SHE RECEIVED WAS A RECORDING WITH A PARTIAL MESSAGE THAT REPEATED ITSELF. SHE DID ATTEMPT TO PHONE THE LCL APCH CTL WHILE AIRBORNE; BUT WAS UNSUCCESSFUL. THE XWINDS WERE NEAR THE MAX DEMONSTRATED AT AIZ AND SHE DID NOT BELIEVE THAT IT WAS REASONABLE TO RETURN THERE. THIS ANALYST DISCUSSED THE LIMITATIONS OF AWOS WITH THE RPTR.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

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