The Dutch national weather forecasting service (KNMI) has moved the aviation weather data from their public website to a restricted website.
Access to this website is limited to licensed pilots, and you need to become a member of the national AOPA (or another affiliated Dutch branch organization which is on their list) in order to get access.
I contacted KNMI to request an account because since I am a licensed pilot I do have a verifiably significant interest in Aviation Weather.
Initially they refused my request for a login telling me to become a (paid) member of a branch organization.
I told them that I have no interest in becoming a member.
I’ve sent them a copy of my license and logbook to prove my “significant interest”, and finally got a login to the website.
In their reply they were stating that they might charge me for administrative costs in the future, and this costs will probably outdo the membership cost.
Now I’m not a lawyer but some strange things are happening here:
- KNMI has a legal requirement to supply pilots with Aviation Weather (law here, in Dutch only)
- Pilots have a legal requirement to do flight preparation, and getting a Weather briefing is one of them.
- KNMI (a government body) is forcing pilots to become paid member of a political association (what AOPA and the like essentially are). I wonder whether this is legal at all?
How is access to aviation weather arranged in other European countries?
Not that I know much about that but unlike the U.S. we in Europe don’t have this rule that whatever is taxpayer funded has to be public and in the open. We probably have a similar rule in the EU. It would make sense I think and provide a lot of benefit in many areas.
Stephan this applies to all sorts of things funded entirely by the taxpayer here in UK but we still have to pay individually to use. For example we are allowed to use “government” airfields and have to pay, even if we simply wish to practise an ILS approach we are sent an invoice for this use, even though we have paid for the equipment and the people to man it, through our taxes.
Skyguide and Meteoschweiz interpret their ICAO obligation to provide briefing information to only apply to the airports themselves. So if you brief at the airport, you get away without paying, if you want a login for briefing from home, you’ll pay…
If one thinks the German CAA, called DFS, even want to be paid for consulting the VFR AIP online…
it seems this is a new trend, I still hope for some judge to forbid it, but am not holding my breath.
No, the German CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) is the LBA (Luftfahrt BundesAmt). The DFS (Deutsche FlugSicherung) is in charge of ATC (Air Traffic Control).
And the thinking is, that the AIP is maintained for the pilots and should be paied by the pilots, rather than by every tax payer. I can certainly live with that, since I don’t want to pay for other peoples hobbies – like churches and stuff. However, issuing trip kits or have lower fees for limited time use would be nice.
The German met office DWD charges around 80 € a year for access, more to flying clubs, FTOs, etc.
Germany and most other European countries have the concept of mixed funding of government agencies. Some money is provided by the taxpayer and the remainder has to be collected by the users of the service. That’s also a fair concept. Obviously I am glad to have the free US NOAA GFS data for use in my application but I realize that I do not pay for it and they are not obliged to make it available, especially since I’m not a US taxpayer.
I’m not sure which system is better. Both have their advantages.
This “Dutch solution” is obviously different. Forcing people to become a member of a political organization (any organization really) to obtain a public service is against the principles of human rights I would think, and illegal. Paying for the service is a different matter.
This reminds me of when I picked up my FAA pilot license validation at a FSDO in the US. After everything was done and I had my temporary certificate, I asked her how much money I owe her. She thought I was trying to bribe her. Virtually all government actions over here come with a (usually modest) fee.
The German LBA used to grant individual aircraft maintenance programs for free because the law about LBA fees did not include that item and no government agency is allowed to charge unless there is a suitable entry in the law. It took them years to add it and now it costs 500-700€!
According to the LuftKostV the fees are between 100€ and 2000€. Better, if a CAMO does it for it’s customer, I guess.
RE “The dutch way” – I think there should be a possibility to get the data, while not in any association. Otherwise, Topmeteo or the DWD will be glad selling data and interpretations, I guess.
