EMB145 Captain and Dispatcher report on events surrounding a weather divert. Flight was dispatched with no alternate; PUB had a runway closure preventing its use and the eventual diversion airport had low visibility.
Synopsis
EMB145 Captain and Dispatcher report on events surrounding a weather divert. Flight was dispatched with no alternate; PUB had a runway closure preventing its use and the eventual diversion airport had low visibility.
Narrative
While enroute to DEN I overheard an aircraft on Commercial Radio tell Dispatch that the weather in DEN was going down. I contacted Dispatch and was given PUB as an alternate. While holding at the HGO VOR; I was able to get the PUB ATIS. It noted that 8L/26R was closed and that they were shooting the GPS 17 Approach. The off line alternate book does not have this approach plate and only included plates for the 8L/26R Approaches; and since the weather was 800 OVC; it was below our visual circling minimums. This turned out to be an unsuitable alternate; so I contacted Dispatch and asked if there were any other suitable alternates. They told me that they had just sent another aircraft to ZZZ; which was reporting 200 OVC and 1.25 VIS. I got the landing performance; and the Captain exercised his emergency authority; since we were now at bug out fuel. The flight arrived without incident in ZZZ. Dispatch sent us multiple releases that were illegal due to the fact that the alternates were not legal because of weather and equipment outages (NOTAMS).I did my job and can read and understand the FAR's and OPS SPECS. Dispatch failed to contact us enroute to advise us that the weather in DEN was going down. A heads up from Dispatch may have allowed us to divert to get more gas and weigh our options rather than box us into a corner where we had no choices left. This put the flight in a situation where time was not on our side and decisions were more time critical while the fuel was ticking down. Our aircraft is equipped with SELCAL and there appears to have been no attempt to contact us. Also we were not informed that there were any runway closures at PUB. By the time we got PUB ATIS and discovered the runways were closed and that it was unsuitable for an alternate; our options were very limited; to say the least. Dispatch also attempted to send us out of ZZZ with alternates that were unsuitable due to either the weather or ground facility outages. There is also a very limited number of alternates available near the DEN airport. It took multiple tries to have the Dispatcher produce a legal release document. The dispatchers need additional help when the weather goes down. Also; in bad weather situations someone should review their work before a release is sent to the flight crew to ensure that it meets the FAR and OP SPECS requirements.
Second reporter narrative
At the time I built the release for flight X it did not require an alternate for landing in DEN. After I became aware that the weather in DEN had dropped; I immediately looked at the weather for ZZZ and determined it was not good enough but the weather for PUB appeared to be good enough. I was also dealing with 1/4 mile visibilities in ORD at this same time. Upon reviewing the weather and NOTAMS for PUB; I missed the NOTAM that there was a runway closure in PUB. It was at this time I was getting ready to contact the flight to let them know about the deteriorating weather in DEN; when Commercial Radio called me and stated flight X was on the line. I talked to flight X; who was holding at the time; and stated that the weather in ZZZ was no good and told him that if he needed to divert that he should go to PUB (not realizing I had missed the NOTAM for the runway closure). Just a few minutes later is when flight X called me back as I recall; and stated that he could not use PUB because of a runway closure. I immediately talked to ZZZ; and they told me that if the aircraft could shoot an ILS that they would most definitely be able to get in. I then relayed that information to flight X. It was at that time that flight X diverted to ZZZ. In looking back at this particular event I can come up with several things I would have handled differently given I had the situation to do over again. 1. I would have reached out for some help from co-workers to lighten my workload. 2. I think I also felt pressure just knowing the planes were on Commercial Radio; and were waiting for a response from me. 3. If this were to happen again I would ask for assistance with my workload so that I could read line by line and maybe even read twice the pertinent weather and NOTAMs. 4. I feel like I got behind the eight ball and it caused other issues. Had I gotten relief from some of my other workload; I don't think this is something that I would have missed.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.