Honestly, I never interpreted it that way. And never allowed it either. But, I always have been the underdog. It seemed(s) pretty clear to me.
What section is that statement in? 3.7 General WPS Requirements. So, allowable but the welder still has to be qualified for it and it is it's own qualification separate from the standard vertical up which is pre-approved. Items not pre-approved need PQR's.
Anyway, committee cleared it up. No wiggle room now.
Brent
Never done the downhill repair. A friend of mine and I were talking one time and he said, "there's no downhill in D1.1". Kind of stuck with me, uphill repairs only. Arm is already calibrated for that direction when actually doing the work so to much trouble to recalibrate hand and eye coordination specs, arm speed and angle are also issues that would have to be recalibrated and since those are essential variables I would have to have metal certifications registered and tested before I could alter my settings to accomplish the repair. So, it's just easier to do any repairs uphill, typically though I prefer to just weld it out the first time, leave the repairs to the other guys.