What Would You Do......
 

**** THIS IS JUST A SCENARIO ****

I just ran into a situation today on a flight I released. The flight was into JFK this afternoon where the weather made the typical JFK experience even worse.

I dispatched the aircraft with two alternates, KEWR and KACY, which according to the dispatched weather (20Z TAF) was OK. KACY was marginal but the best choice in the area so I added KEWR (98 feet above C055 using 200 1/2 on ILS4L/4R) making the dual alternate legal with fuel to the most distant (KACY).

While enroute they added a TAF for 23Z and KACY actually dropped below legal minimums but KEWR remained legal. So I was required to amend the release per FAR 121.631. Since our wording for marginal is "at legal minimums," I decided to keep KEWR and take off the second alternate.

Would anyone have done it different and/or accepted this amendment?

We have guidelines for using airports as alternates when it comes to WX.. it would depend on the exact WX at EWR for the ETA. but if it met the minimums I don't see why it'd be a problem

The place I just came from loved using KACY/ACY for an alternate when going into the NYC area if one was required. That is why I picked it right away. sEWarK was OVC005 & 3SM when I released the flight as well as when the updated TAF came out. C055 minimums using 4R/4L was 402-1. The reason I put two on in the first place is, in theory 402-1 is actually 500-1 :D