ortac wrote:
But for any kind of VFR flying, the ATIS is really not super useful.
Well, some controlled airfields (like my homebase) have a lot of traffic at times, mixed IFR and VFR. All handled by a single tower controller: IFR takeoffs and landings and VFR departures and arrivals. If this controller would be required to pass wind, runway, weather and other information to each an every aircraft on his frequency, there would be insufficient time to handle them all. Two seconds for transmiting “information charlie received” will save 20 seconds for reading everything to the aircraft and waiting for it’s readback (runway and QNH need to be read back). I think in these circumstances this ATIS system is not only super useful but essential.
what_next wrote:
If this controller would be required to pass wind, runway …
He’ll have to give this information (in the form of a landing clearance) to every aircraft anyway… and if an aircraft ahead of you is cleared for a runway, chances are you’re not going to the opposite runway end in Stuttgart…
tomjnx wrote:
He’ll have to give this information (in the form of a landing clearance) to every aircraft anyway
Yes, but without ATIS he is also required to give you that information on first contact, doubling the amount of radio traffic.
tomjnx wrote:
chances are you’re not going to the opposite runway end in Stuttgart
Actually, we have lots of opposite traffic here because of a small hill at one end of the runway which poses a threat to fully loaded airliners. So just watching (and listening) to what the other aircraft do is not always helpful.
tomjnx wrote:
and if an aircraft ahead of you is cleared for a runway, chances are you’re not going to the opposite runway
LJLJ very often uses such approach in order to optimize the traffic when the wind is acceptable, so it’s quite common that one aircraft lands at 30 and the next one at 12 (no parallel runways).
ortac wrote:
But for any kind of VFR flying, the ATIS is really not super useful
what_next replied:
Well, some controlled airfields (like my homebase) have a lot of traffic at times, mixed IFR and VFR. All handled by a single tower controller: IFR takeoffs and landings and VFR departures and arrivals. If this controller would be required to pass wind, runway, weather and other information to each an every aircraft on his frequency, there would be insufficient time to handle them all.
Mixed VFR and IFR traffic operate on three runways simultaneously at my base, on one or two tower frequencies depending on traffic density and roughly 600 operations per day. Aircraft types at the airport commonly range between non-transponder Cubs with handheld radios and Gulfstreams making straight in approaches to the longest runway. The controllers job is to keep the traffic moving, creating a pattern not unlike road traffic in central Rome. 
Pilots need to have ATIS on initial call and then be immediately responsive to the controller as he/she mixes planes and airspace to get everybody in and out without delay. There would be no place for pilots without the numbers or for extended back and forth communications. It’s not relaxing, it’s necessary to get the business done. I think people (pilots and controllers) who have operated in a lazier environment could probably benefit from the experience, not withstanding that they (and I) would probably enjoy a quieter airport with lots of time and attention devoted to arrivals and departures… or ideally no ATC or traffic at all!
