Important Info re UK AIS

[Mike Cross]

I have been asked by Steve Harben, Head of Data Management at AIS to pass on the information below.
On Monday 2nd of August there will be an interruption to the AIS web site.
The Service, currently operating at 512Kbyte, will be upgraded to 1Mbyte
Bandwidth. (More power!) I am informed that we are required to change our public IP address and as such our public DNS records. The new Http address of the web site will be 62.232.19.147

There will be an outage programmed to commence at 10:00 on Monday 2nd August, which we estimate could last for up to two hours.

For a period, which may last up to a week, some Web users will recognise a 'redirect' when they wish to access the site.

All the usual contingency briefings are still available from the NATS web site. On the day, we would recommend that users obtain briefings prior to the 10:00 deadline however NOTAM office staff are available to assist users to obtain a briefings during the period using Tel No 020 8745 3450 or 3451.
To put this into perspective, there are now over 50,000 registered users on the AIS site. In the last year there have been an average of 19,200 log-ins per month with 16,500 briefings delivered per month.

If you experience any problems following the upgrade try forcing a full refresh (Ctrl+F5 on Internet Explorer anyone know how to do it on other browsers?). This will clear out your cache and re-load the page.

Edited 3/8/04 to correct IP address

[englishal]

anyone know how to do it on other browsers
I think Shift+refresh works on all browsers

(refresh = reload )

EA

[DFC]

Will there be a NOTAM to warn everyone?

Is the time you quote local or UTC?

Regards,

DFC

[Evo]

To put this into perspective, there are now over 50,000 registered users on the AIS site. In the last year there have been an average of 19,200 log-ins per month with 16,500 briefings delivered per month.


Out of interest, and this is not intended as yet more AIS-bashing, are there any figures for the number of briefings provided by Avbrief for use with Notamplot? It would hopefully be quite persuasive if the third-party solution was more popular than the official source.

I always check Notams for any flight out of the local area, but rarely use the AIS website because the Avbrief/Notamplot combination is so much easier to use. It sounds from the figures that most people either don't read them at all or feel the same way - if we all read the NOTAMs from the AIS website I would guess that there would be a lot more than 16,500 briefings a month (equal to one every three months for each registered user)?

[Mike Cross]

I am advised that the time is local and there will not be a NOTAM issued.

Mike

Evo

WRT numbers. Although there are 50,000 registered user i.d.\'s it is pretty clear that there are a lot of multiple registrations where people have forgotten passwords etc.

Working on the number of active UK pilots would be a better basis.

It\'s around 500 briefings a day which seems reasonably high to me.It would hopefully be quite persuasive if the third-party solution was more popular than the official source. And the third party solution gets its data from?

It\'s all the same data, what Avbrief and NotamPlot do is offer alternative presentations. How you prefer your brief is up to you.

Mike

[Evo]

And the third party solution gets its data from?


Oh, I understand that - however, at the moment, it's my fault if I bust a TRA that Notamplot failed to plot, so I would obviously like to see an officially supported and endorsed graphical Notam plotter. That way, while it still may be my fault, I have something of a defence ;)

I'd hope that if Avbrief/Notamplot was clearly preferred to the AIS text-based tool, it might help persuade the CAA of the need to provide a graphical tool.

[englishal]

Maybe they could incorporate an official "Notam Plot Java Applet" on the AIS web site? Would be relatively simple, and great for broadband users :D

Notam plot is :ok:

[Squadgy]

I have been asked by Steve Harben, Head of Data Management at AIS to pass on the information below

Mike, I know you do an excellent job ensuring GA's 'voice' is heard within AIS - but why don't they post messages like this themselves? Just looking at the AIS site now - they are good at posting the server uptime, but why not notify users of planned outages on the site?:confused:

[Mike Cross]

Squadgy
Good question and I shall put it to m'learned friend when I see him tomorrow evening. (There are some at White Waltham who are masochistic enough to have asked Steve and I to perform):p

I do get the impression that they are very wary of making any page changes other than at the time of scheduled AIRAC updates.

As for posting on the Web, I am led to believe that NATS have a policy covering that.

Mike

[Mike Cross]

Updated infor from Steve at AISMike,
The web site upgrade has taken place, It took a bit longer than expected.
Apologies for the 'dis-information' but the http address I was given was one
digit out!
The redirect works but it sends to 62.232.19.147 (not 146)

I am informed that apparently some users may need to re-visit their Firewall
settings. It is likely that they have allowed cookies through for AIS.org.uk
and until the DNS address is promulgated the firewall will see the site as
the pure TCP/IP address. The clue is an error message at the bottom left of
the page saying error on page.

Best regards
Steve