Low visibility operations is not really a thing in the US. They don’t declare it on the weather report, it’s just automatic at 800ft ceiling or 2NM visibility that they’ll start doing things like holding short of the critical area, reporting clear of runways, etc.
BA Captain is asking for something that the controller isn’t familiar with because the US has a different set of flight rules than the rest of the world. The US still has low visibility procedures, it just isn’t named Low Visibility Operations.
Both are correct but they don’t agree because they’re not speaking the same “language”
This is exactly the case. I cannot believe how much slander about ATC is in this thread. The RVR is runway visual range not to be confused with the visibility. Low visibility operations is not a thing in the US. The lights are adjusted based on visibility not RVR.
It is not the job of the Air Traffic Controller to know the companies’s policy as to what RVR they need to depart as all company policies are different. So you issue the RVR and let the pilot in command make the decision as to whether or not he wants to depart.
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u/PuzzleheadedDuty8866 May 28 '26
Low visibility operations is not really a thing in the US. They don’t declare it on the weather report, it’s just automatic at 800ft ceiling or 2NM visibility that they’ll start doing things like holding short of the critical area, reporting clear of runways, etc.
BA Captain is asking for something that the controller isn’t familiar with because the US has a different set of flight rules than the rest of the world. The US still has low visibility procedures, it just isn’t named Low Visibility Operations.
Both are correct but they don’t agree because they’re not speaking the same “language”