In article ,
says...

(G Farris) wrote
Does this mean that all airports without active NWS observing stations are
off
limits to air taxi operators? Even in perfect weather conditions?

This is a safety rule. It only applies when they operate IFR. VFR
requires no weather reporting.

Of course since this is a safety rule, it makes the operation less
safe. Here's how:

I know a guy who flies a Caravan for a Part-135 cargo operation. He
used to fly into CFD, which has no weather reporting. That meant that
if the ceilings were less than about 2000 (high enough to get dropped
down to the MVA, go visual, and cancel IFR) he couldn't get in.

His alternate was CLL, but that was a pain for transferring cargo.
Usual procedure was to shoot the approach into CLL, and then, if the
weather was good enough (mile and clear of clouds), scud run to CFD
(just a few miles away).

But hey - he wasn't taking the chance of shooting an approach into an
airport without weather reporting.



Yeah, that was pretty much the jist of my question.
Not being able to shoot the approach because you have weather reported below
minimums I can understand, even though under Part 91, if it's marginal, you
can at least have a look. But not being able to file to the destination or
shoot the approach because there is no weather reporting seems pretty
restrictive, and could lead to some risky compromises - which of course the
authority will place completely on the operator's doorstep. Another variant
would be to cancel IFR when it's really marginal, or even go Special VFR, both
of which are clearly more dangerous than shooting a published IFR approach. As
for charters, now that more and more companies don't allow their pilots to fly
VFR at all, that just means a lot of airports off limits to Part 135
operations. Unless I'm missing something, you could be IFR, in perfect VMC at
an airport with a fully functioning instrument approach, and still not be able
to land because there is no weather reporting. Perhaps companies with
"all-IFR" rules allow some flexibility in these situations?

G Faris