Narrative:

During my preflight duties I was reviewing the flight release when I saw that our destination had a NOTAM issued that its AWOS was inoperative until further notice (ufn). I know our opspecs requires us to have an approved weather source at the airports we fly into. I called the dispatcher to discuss this and her response was that we get our weather from national weather service (NWS) and it had just come out so it should be valid by the time I got into there. She also said that she just called the AWOS telephone number and it seemed like it was working and offered to give me the phone number to verify it myself. My response was that I don't doubt her that she called the AWOS but it was still notamed out. I don't know what it was notamed out for (could be inaccurate weather reporting) and that I wasn't trying to delay or cancel the flight; I was just doing my due diligence and making sure the paperwork was correct and I was legal to take the flight out. At that point I requested to speak with the dispatch supervisor expecting to have a knowledgeable conversation about my issue. I had called well in advance to take care of it. The supervisor got on the phone and immediately said to me: 'I do not understand what the problem is here. We have weather that is 11 minutes old you can go; go' and then continued on saying that he was going to give me the AWOS phone number to verify myself that it was working; without me ever saying anything. At that point I stopped him and told him that it wasn't necessary. I wasn't doubting that he could reach the AWOS on the phone. My concern is that the AWOS was officially notamed out since august. It was on the flight release and I was trying to verify what our 'approved source of weather' was; as stated by our opspecs. I tried to explain that I only wanted to make sure I was legal with the paperwork I had. I even offered up as an example that if I did not have an RNAV/GPS and I use a VOR on my route that was notamed could I legally fly to it if I was receiving it? The answer is no. I am not to make those determinations. The conversation was really going nowhere and I opted to tell the supervisor that I was going to look into it in my manual and call him back; at that point I was getting pressured into flying without being given a clear reason or shown somewhere in my manuals that I was wrong. Dispatch would not even try to look into the NOTAM. As far as they were concerned I was being a problem for actually trying to see if I was legal to take the flight. I looked into my manuals and opspecs and could not find any more elaboration on 'approved weather source'. I know we can use certified weather observers on the field that are approved but we hadn't even got to that in our conversation. All dispatch was concerned about is that they could call the AWOS and it was giving them weather so it was ok to go ten though it was notamed. I called dispatch again and requested to speak with the supervisor who proceeded to tell me at that point that he called the airport manager and that he was canceling the NOTAM as the AWOS was working. I took his word and departed. Thinking about it (today - a day later) I am not 100% sure I did the right thing. I took the dispatch supervisor's statement to mean that the NOTAM cancellation was in effect and I had checked the weather in the surrounding areas and it was VMC everywhere; but I'm not sure anymore if I was correct in taking the flight. I believe this is a safety concern. I know the weather was fine but would dispatch really try to make me go if it was hard IMC? Should it even make a difference? The reason we as flight crews bring up issues like this to dispatch's attention is so that we can resolve them. We want to complete our flights in a safe and legal manner. We need to communicate and take each others' concerns seriously. As I stated before I took the flight based on the dispatcher's statement that the NOTAM was canceled.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain questioned Dispatch's release to a CTAF airport with the AWOS NOTAMed inoperative Until Further Notice when the OpSpecs required an approved weather source at the Airport.

Narrative: During my preflight duties I was reviewing the Flight Release when I saw that our destination had a NOTAM issued that its AWOS was inoperative Until Further Notice (UFN). I know our OpSpecs requires us to have an approved Weather Source at the airports we fly into. I called the Dispatcher to discuss this and her response was that we get our weather from National Weather Service (NWS) and it had just come out so it should be valid by the time I got into there. She also said that she just called the AWOS telephone number and it seemed like it was working and offered to give me the phone number to verify it myself. My response was that I don't doubt her that she called the AWOS but it was still NOTAMed out. I don't know what it was NOTAMed out for (could be inaccurate weather reporting) and that I wasn't trying to delay or cancel the flight; I was just doing my due diligence and making sure the paperwork was correct and I was legal to take the flight out. At that point I requested to speak with the Dispatch Supervisor expecting to have a knowledgeable conversation about my issue. I had called well in advance to take care of it. The Supervisor got on the phone and immediately said to me: 'I do not understand what the problem is here. We have weather that is 11 minutes old you can go; go' and then continued on saying that he was going to give me the AWOS phone number to verify myself that it was working; without me ever saying anything. At that point I stopped him and told him that it wasn't necessary. I wasn't doubting that he could reach the AWOS on the phone. My concern is that the AWOS was officially NOTAMed out since August. It was on the flight release and I was trying to verify what our 'approved source of weather' was; as stated by our OpSpecs. I tried to explain that I only wanted to make sure I was legal with the paperwork I had. I even offered up as an example that if I did not have an RNAV/GPS and I use a VOR on my route that was NOTAMed could I legally fly to it if I was receiving it? The answer is NO. I am not to make those determinations. The conversation was really going nowhere and I opted to tell the Supervisor that I was going to look into it in my manual and call him back; at that point I was getting pressured into flying without being given a clear reason or shown somewhere in my manuals that I was wrong. Dispatch would not even try to look into the NOTAM. As far as they were concerned I was being a problem for actually trying to see if I was legal to take the flight. I looked into my manuals and OpSpecs and could not find any more elaboration on 'approved weather source'. I know we can use certified weather observers on the field that are approved but we hadn't even got to that in our conversation. All Dispatch was concerned about is that they could call the AWOS and it was giving them weather so it was OK to go ten though it was NOTAMed. I called Dispatch again and requested to speak with the Supervisor who proceeded to tell me at that point that he called the Airport Manager and that he was canceling the NOTAM as the AWOS was working. I took his word and departed. Thinking about it (today - a day later) I am not 100% sure I did the right thing. I took the Dispatch Supervisor's statement to mean that the NOTAM cancellation was in effect and I had checked the weather in the surrounding areas and it was VMC everywhere; but I'm not sure anymore if I was correct in taking the flight. I believe this is a safety concern. I know the weather was fine but would Dispatch really try to make me go if it was hard IMC? Should it even make a difference? The reason we as flight crews bring up issues like this to Dispatch's attention is so that we can resolve them. We want to complete our flights in a safe and legal manner. We need to communicate and take each others' concerns seriously. As I stated before I took the flight based on the Dispatcher's statement that the NOTAM was canceled.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.