Not so Robert
The PCA contains a map on one side with Area Forecast boundaries, HF
frequencies and all the MET locations identified by code, and on the
other side a complete list of these locations both by name and by code.
Some of them are IFR waypoints (eg LEYOX - which is very close to an
old one called OXLEY that is in Western NSW, and GAFFA which is in
the middle of nowhere - the Great Australian not-very-much) whilst
others are aerodromes and others are 3 or 4 letter codes for places
without an aerodrome,
Apart from the fact that these are what is used in all sorts of
weather reports and forecasts, as others have said there is no reason
not to use their real names (where they have one) but it will still
need a map of some sort to see where they are - hence the PCA and its
regular updates.
And if you think people don't need a special map for the purpose, can
readers pinpoint the following without referring to a map?
Gulargambone
Tullibigeal
Oodnagalarvie
Bolivia
Richmond - all 7 of them?
Point Perpendicular
Seal Rocks
Warburton
Cape Leveque
Coober Pedy
(just to pick 10 location names at random)
Wombat
At 07:20 13/05/2008, you wrote:
Mike Cleaver wrote:
Alternatively you could go to your local Airservices' map reseller
and buy a copy of the current PCA (Planning Chart Australia) which
shows the locations and the Area Forecast boundaries. You can carry
them around more easily than Robert's Google Earth map too - even
on the cockpit if you want.
Very true, Mike.
However, the PCA only helps in locating places you don't know (or
are unsure about) once you have decoded them and then looked up the
lat/long in ERSA.
I have been using the area met briefings somewhat irregularly for a
few years and, while I know quite a number of the ICAO airfield
codes around Qld and northern NSW, I don't know many (if any) if the
three letter VFR way point codes that are also regularly used in the forecasts.
So, from now on, when I'm on the ground getting together a weather
briefing, using Google Earth is going to be the way I cope with
these wretched codes from now on!
I do question why we are still using these codes today. I can
understand that in the days of slow morse code and then
teletypewriter transmission short codes saved time. In today's
world, I can see only one reason - and that's because it has always
been done that way!
--
Robert Hart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
+61 (0)438 385 533 http://www.hart.wattle.id.au
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