Stumped by a question

[ptthome]

As I live in France the guys at my flying club always throw English language questions at me. I'm stuck with one now which I can't find a definitive answer to - so Help!

The english language ATIS transmission from a local airfield gave us a visibility distance of 5Km followed by a variable "FIELD 500 FEET"

What is "FIELD" ?

I've already checked radio and weather terminology manuals with no luck. I've checked with an airbus driver - who says he doesn't have to listen to ATIS as it comes to him on a screen.

It is not the elevation of the Airfield as I checked that airfield and it's not at 500 feet.

It is a height as in France we use metres for everything else.

From it's position it could be height to first clouds?? but why "FIELD" - perhaps because it's QFE???

Right - does anybody have a definitive answer - before I face the ignominy of phoning up the control tower and asking them what they are on about.

If I do that they will probably say "zees eez Eeenglish Rossbeef stupeedo you do the me telling"

[Splinter562]

I've never heard "Field" used for anything else other than "Airfield" in American aviation before. Over here, the field elevation usually is not given in automated weather broadcasts, but sometimes it it. When it is, they use the term "FIELD ELEVATION XXX FEET". What usually is given in automated weather broadcasts is the density altitude. The terminology for that is "DENSITY ALTITUDE XXX FEET".

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it is probably the density altitude. But the wording seems strange. It might help to see the entire broadcast.

(By the way, your English is very good.)

[eno]

It could be that visibility is varying by 500ft over the field or that the visibility is 5km variable at 500ft over the field.

It is rather strange.

[C]

How odd. The only thing I can think of - in the context of an ATIS, where normally visibility is followed by sky conditions (be it CAVOK, "Sky Clear" or various cloud descriptors), would be that what they have heard  is "Few at 500ft" - the "few at" being misheard (or badly recorded) as "field".

Very odd though.