Aeronautical information management
AIS and AIM
Who publishes aeronautical information, and what they provide.
The service itself: gathering aeronautical information and publishing it, in the products further down this note.
Paper productsThe same job handled as data rather than as paper products, so it can pass straight between systems. The newer name, and the reason this lesson is called management.
DataMost countries have scrapped theirs and run everything from one central unit instead.
Whatever it is called, it is staffed 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Nationally it goes by:
That AIC is a centre, not the Aeronautical Information Circular further down this note.
Everything the crew needs before the flight.
The service that lets pilots report what they met on the way: birds, and any navigation aid that was not working.
Pre-flight information
Getting briefed is the pilot’s own responsibility, not something done for them.
It is the pilot’s responsibility to obtain the pre-flight briefing.
Before the flight, become familiar with all available information appropriate to the intended operation.
Make a careful study of the four below.
SERA asks for two more. SERA.2010(b) requires the same careful study to take account of fuel requirements and an alternative course of action if the flight cannot be completed as planned. Both come from the regulation, not from the lesson notes.
A careful study of the Integrated Aeronautical Information Package: the AIP, NOTAM, maps and charts. Broken down below.
A careful study of the relevant METAR, TAF, SIGWX and the rest: forecast and actual weather for the route and for the aerodromes along it, and en-route the winds and temperatures at cruising level, cloud, turbulence and icing, shown on special charts.
Route selection, chart preparation, and preparing and submitting the flight plan. How it is filed is next.
Weather is MET’s work, not AIS’s. MET produces it, AIS makes it available and gives basic route guidance. For anything deeper the pilot is referred to the MET services.
Filing the flight plan
The same pipeline under both sets of rules, with a different office in the middle.
Run by EUROCONTROL, it takes every IFR flight plan for the airspace it covers, checks it, and passes it on.
The answer that goes back to whoever filed the plan: accepted, or what is wrong with it.
The Integrated Aeronautical Information Package
Everything AIS publishes, held together as one package.
The current NOTAM information of operational significance, put together before the flight. A recapitulation of the NOTAM in force and anything else of urgent character, in plain language for the crew.
Published so you can check you are holding the latest pages and the right messages. Updating an AIP by hand is easy to get wrong, and what is in it matters operationally.
Keep track by handThe eAIP is always current, and the AIS website lists the NOTAM in force, so there is nothing to keep track of by hand.
Nothing to keep track ofAIP
What is in it, and how the three parts are organised.
Information of lasting character, essential to air navigation. A manual with the regulations, procedures and other significant information for one particular country. Issued by, or with the authority of, the State.
GEN 0Table of contentsGEN 1National regulations and requirementsGEN 2Tables and codesGEN 3ServicesGEN 4Charges for aerodromes and air navigation services
ENR 0Table of contentsENR 1General rules and proceduresENR 2Air traffic services airspaceENR 3ATS routesENR 4Radio navigation aids and systemsENR 5Navigation warningsENR 6En-route charts
AD 0Table of contentsAD 1Aerodromes: introductionAD 2AerodromesAD 3Heliports
Every part starts at 0 with its own table of contents.
Which message type is used
The type depends on how permanent the change is and how important it is operationally.
Permanent changes to the AIP, the ones that are not of essential operational importance. Issued when needed.
- Validity
- Permanent change
- Takes effect
- On the publication date shown on it.
- Cover sheet
- Light blue, in many countries.
- Numbering
- A consecutive serial number. The dates of publication and of effect are published, with a brief changelog.
- Advance notice
- No time limit.
Operationally significant permanent changes, published on the AIRAC cycle.
- Validity
- Permanent change
- Takes effect
- On the AIRAC effective date shown on it, not on the day it is published.
- Cover sheet
- Pink, in many countries.
- Examples
- Changing ATS frequencies, changes to charts or to airspace.
- Advance notice
- 42 days, or at least 56 for major changes. See below.
Temporary changes of long duration, 3 months or longer, supplementing the permanent information in the AIP.
- Also used for
- Short-duration changes, when a lot of text or graphics has to be added to the permanent information.
- Numbering
- A consecutive serial number, counted by calendar year.
- How long it stays
- Kept in the AIP for as long as any of its contents are still valid.
- Pages
- ICAO recommends colouring them so they stand out, preferably yellow.
- Replacing one
- A new AIP SUP replaces the old one if an error is found in it, or if the period of validity changes.
- Checklist
- A checklist of valid AIP SUP is published.
Issued promptly whenever the information is temporary and short. Also used when a change that would normally go in the AIP has to go out at short notice, whether it is a permanent change of operational significance or a temporary one of long duration.
- Validity
- Temporary and short, or short notice
- Examples
- Unserviceable ground equipment, SNOWTAM, ASHTAM, closed parts of aerodromes.
A notice about flight safety, air navigation, or technical, administrative and legislative matters. For information that does not qualify for a NOTAM and does not belong in the AIP.
- Issued for
- A long-term forecast of a major change in legislation, regulations, procedures or facilities. Or information that is purely explanatory or advisory and could affect flight safety.
- Examples
- Coming changes to air navigation procedures and services, new navigation systems, safety findings from accident investigations, medical advice for pilots, warnings about physical hazards, the rules on carrying restricted articles, licensing and training, a new edition of the AIP or a change to the NOTAM series, the snow plan.
- Series
- A: international and national. B: national only. The letters are a national convention, not an ICAO rule.
AMDT is the ICAO abbreviation for Amendment. The IAIP handout writes the same two messages as AIP AMD and AIP AIRAC AMD.
In Denmark there is no plain AMDT. AIP Denmark GEN 3.1 states that AIP Amendments are not published: the AIRAC AMDT carries what a plain AMDT carries elsewhere. Both types are on the course, so both are here, but the one you will meet is the AIRAC one.
Updating the AIP
AIRAC is Aeronautical Information Regulation And Control: a set of fixed dates for changes to take effect on, so everyone changes over on the same day.
An AIRAC change is published weeks before it bites, so a crew reading only the pre-flight bulletin on the day would never see it land. The trigger NOTAM is what tells them.
Issued whenever an AIP AMDT or an AIP SUP is published under AIRAC. Its NOTAM Code ends in TT, which is how you pick one out of the Q line. From ICAO Annex 15 and PANS-AIM 6.1.4.7, not from the lesson notes.
Decoding a NOTAM
Every NOTAM belongs to a series, identified by one letter, such as A, B, M or S. Then a four-digit number, a slash, and the year of issue. Each series starts again at 0001 on 1 January.
Try it
The handout example. Click a part of the message, or a group below it, to see what it means.
(A0024/13Message envelopeOne letter for the series, then a four-digit number, a slash and the year of issue. Each series starts again at 0001 on 1 January. Which series exist, and what each is used for, is decided nationally and published in the AIP.
Two real ones. The first is the Entry Point North handout example, a Norwegian danger area. The second is a temporary restricted area over Malmö: no Q line, a schedule that runs through midnight, and limits in feet rather than a flight level.
SNOWTAM
The first of two special series NOTAM met in passing earlier in this note, now in full.
Reports snow, ice, and, where there is enough of it, standing water on the movement area. Published daily while conditions call for it.
SNOWTAM 0151, for EKCH: three runways in the same report, each inspected in turn.
SNOWTAM 0151EKCH 02170055 04L 5/5/5 100/100/100 NR/NR/NR WET/WET/WETEKCH 02170135 04R 5/4/3 100/50/75 NR/06/06 WET/SLUSH/SLUSHEKCH 02170225 12 3/2/1 75/100/100 06/12/12 SLUSH/WET SNOW/WET SNOWRWY 04L SNOWBANK R20 FM CL. RWY 04R ADJ SNOWBANK TWY B POOR APRON NORTH POOR)The best of the three: every third comes back at RWYCC 5.
- RWYCC
- 5 / 5 / 5
- Coverage
- 100% / 100% / 100%
- Depth
- NR / NR / NR
- Contaminant
- Wet / wet / wet
RWYCC drops from 5 to 3 as the thirds go on.
- RWYCC
- 5 / 4 / 3
- Coverage
- 100% / 50% / 75%
- Depth
- NR / 6 mm / 6 mm
- Contaminant
- Wet / slush / slush
RWYCC 1 in the final third, the poorest reading in the whole report.
- RWYCC
- 3 / 2 / 1
- Coverage
- 75% / 100% / 100%
- Depth
- 6 mm / 12 mm / 12 mm
- Contaminant
- Slush / wet snow / wet snow
Each runway is split into three equal thirds, first third to third third. RWYCC is the runway condition code for that third, NR means not reported. A SNOWTAM also reports snow banks where they narrow a runway, taxiway or apron: this example noted one alongside runway 04L, marked “R20” from the centreline, an adjacent one by runway 04R, and poor braking action on taxiway B and the north apron.
ASHTAM
The second of the two, built the same way but read by its colour code.
Uses an ICAO colour code to signal the activity. Structured like a NOTAM, in lettered items.
Issued as VALI0021, from LIRR, on 01 09 at 14:10.
(VALI0021 LIRR 01091410ASHTAM 005/10A) ROMA FIRB) 01091350C) ETNA 101-06D) 3744N01500EE) RED ALERTF) AREA AFFECTED 3700N01500E 3900N01600E SFC/35000 ftG) NEH) ROUTES AFFECTED WILL BE NOTIFIED BY ATCJ) VULCANOLOGICAL AGENCYThe lettered items, A to H and J. Item I, closure of airspace or routes, is absent because nothing was closed.
- A) FIR
- Roma FIR
- B) Observed
- 01 09, 13:50
- C) Volcano
- Etna, number 101-06
- D) Position
- 37°44′N 015°00′E
- E) Colour code
- Red alert
- F) Area affected
- 37°00′N 015°00′E to 39°00′N 016°00′E, surface to 35 000 ft
- G) Movement
- Moving north-east
- H) Routes
- Routes affected will be notified by ATC
- J) Agency
- Volcanological agency
F to I are the items only present when needed. This one carries F, G and H, and no I, because no airspace or route was closed. J, the source of the information, is always given, whether or not there has been an eruption. A K item can follow it, for plain-language remarks. Items I and K are from ICAO Annex 15, not from the lesson notes.
The aeronautical fixed network
The telecommunications system AIS and the rest of the network run on.