We seem to be getting better

[Mike Cross]

At pre-flight briefing.

The UK AIS website stats which can be found at http://www.ais.org.uk/aes/en/useage1.gif indicate that both the number of logins and briefings served is up on last year (with the exception of February, which is probably weather related). Over 700 logins and over 550 briefings PER DAY delivered during March.

[LondonJ]

I think it may well have something to do with Notam plot (and similar programs). You could spend literally hours if you are inexperienced (i.e. me) looking through all the co-ordinates to find conflicts.

[Monocock]

What's a NOTAM?

[Sir George Cayley]

And wot does AerBabe look at?..

A NOTAW

Sir George Cayley

[Laundryman]

I think NOTAM is short for NO TAMishanter (spelling) which in turn is Scotish for "I've lost my hat" I could be wrong of course.

[S-Works]

I think it might be IT Technical speak meaning no use whatsoever for a useless and confusing site that pumps out information relevant for someones else flight but never your own.

[BEagle]

But it's sooooo useful for learning that someone is training buzzards in the London FIR......

With modern IT, why can't there be an interactive method of entering points on a map (e.g. MS Autoroute style 'drawing pins'), then asking for NOTAMs to be displayed pictorially and in text form for a user-specified time period and distance from the route. E.g. from 0900-1300 tomorrow for anything within 30 miles of the specified track?

The plethora of co-ordinates in the UK NOTAM brief make it virtually useless for quick reference - it's almost just a TCIC site for the UK AIS.

[Mike Cross]

OK BEagle, I'll rise to the bait.

Use the Narrow Route Brief. That does precisely what you want.
It wants to know:-
A briefing ID - anything you want - it's for your reference.
Where you are going from
Where you are going to
How high you are going to fly.

If you enter only that info you will get a brief giving all NOTAM affecting a corridor 10nm either side of the direct track between your departure and arrival a/d's plus NOTAM for the two a/d. It will be suitable for VFR and IFR, will include Nav Warnings, and will be valid for 48 Hrs from when you click the button.

You can filter it down more by tweaking the controls.

If you want to work your way through the entire FIR brief be my guest, but if you learn how to drive the thing you will find life a lot easier.

Mike

[High Wing Drifter]

Mike,

I think it is more likely the model rocket, falconary and RC aero clubs realised what a good tool it is for locating meetings!

[BEagle]

"Use the Narrow Route Brief. That does precisely what you want.
It wants to know:-
A briefing ID - anything you want - it's for your reference.
Where you are going from
Where you are going to
How high you are going to fly.

Except that it requires me to log in every damn time, it has that stupid arse-about-face way of entering the time and date (why no drop down?), it doesn't understand aerodromes without ICAO locators, it doesn't seem to allow intermediate waypoints to be entered in lat and long (or if it does, it isn't obvious), doesn't display the results on a printable map....

And quite what exclude NOTAMs with effective date earlier than () days. (Range 1-999, leave blank to include all) means, I don't know. Why not use the date?

Sorry, it needs to be better.

How do you enter "I want to fly from Enstone to Bourn via the Olney VRP tomorrow at 2500ft and want NOTAMs to cover 10 nm from track from 0900 to 1700"?

[High Wing Drifter]

BEagle,

Intermediates can be entered thus:

DCT 5137N00156W DCT 5120N00145W DCT

[Aussie Andy]

BEagle, surely at least it's better than the old system, i.e. a great long list that you had to wade through!

I want to fly from Enstone to Bourn via the Olney VRP tomorrow at 2500ft and want NOTAMs to cover 10 nm from track from 0900 to 1700"?

OK, it could be better, but it's hardly unusable (not since all the efforts of Mike Cross & co at the start!). It's not onerous to login ... you have to login to Met Office, or Av Brief, or the French OLIVIA systems for example too. Here is how to enter the route you suggest:

• Departure a/d EGTK (ok, it's not Enstone but it's nearby...)
• Arrival a/d EGSN
• From 050508 0900
• To 050508 1700
• FL020 (it's +/- 4,000')
• Route: DCT DTY222019 [= Enstone] DCT DTY100015 [= Olney] DCT

The waypoints take about 10 seconds to calculate. How hard is that? If you think it's easier to look at the whole long list, then don't bother with the Narrow Route Briefing, and just use the AREA BRIEF instead if you prefer (not sure why you would).

Here is the result from the above query for tomorrow:

Pre-Flight Information Bulletin

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRE-FLIGHT NARROW U N I T E D K I N G D O M
INFORMATION ROUTE AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION SERVICE (NATS LTD)
BULLETIN R0701128 05/05/07 20:10 UTC
UK AIS Telephone: [phone]. WEB SITE: WWW.AIS.ORG.UK

PERIOD: 05/05/08 09:00 UTC TO 05/05/08 17:00 UTC

PIB INCLUDES NOTAM/SNOWTAM/BIRDTAM

FLIGHT NUMBER: TEST ADEP: EGTK ADES: EGSN
TRAFFIC: VFR PURPOSE: GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
HEIGHT: +/-4000FT WIDTH: +/-10NM SUBJECT:

ALTN:
FIR : EGTT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F020 DCT DTY222019 DCT DTY100015 DCT

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
INCLUDES ALL NOTAM AVAILABLE

A E R O D R O M E - I N F O R M A T I O N :

AERODROME (DEPARTURE) - EGTK (OXFORD KIDLINGTON) :

NO INFO RECEIVED OR MATCHING THE QUERY.

AERODROME (DESTINATION) - EGSN (BOURN) :

NO INFO RECEIVED OR MATCHING THE QUERY.

E N - R O U T E - I N F O R M A T I O N :

EGTT (LONDON) :

RAC : FROM 05/04/13 12:36 TO PERM B0721/05
E)UNLICENSED AERODROMES-LANDING AND TAKE OFF NEAR OPEN AIR
ASSEMBLIES:
RULE 5 OF THE RULES OF THE AIR REGULATIONS 1996 HAS BEEN AMENDED.
FOR LANDING AND TAKE OFF WITHIN 1000 METRES OF AN ORGANISED OPEN AIR
ASSEMBLY OF MORE THAN 1000 PERSONS COMPLIANCE IS REQUIRED WITH
PROCEDURES NOTIFIED BY THE CAA. AT A LANDING SITE OTHER THAN AN
AERODROME THE WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE ORGANISER OF THE ASSEMBLY IS
ALSO REQUIRED. FULL DETAILS OF THE PROCEDURES ARE AVAILABLE ON THE
CAA WEBSITE WWW.CAA.CO.UK AND WILL BE INCLUDED IN THE NEXT AMENDMENT
OF THE UK AIP.
REF UK AIP GEN 1-6 REFERS


RAC : FROM 04/05/01 00:01 TO PERM B0741/04
E)PENNINE RADAR WITHDRAWN.
PILOTS REQUIRING AN ATS WI THE FORMER PENNINE AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY
SHOULD CONTACT LATCC (MIL) (CALLSIGN LONDON MIL) ON FREQ 135.275
ENR 1-6-6-1 REFERS


OTH : FROM 05/05/02 12:58 TO 06/01/31 09:00 EST N0061/05
E)OXFORD JOHN RADCLIFFE HOSPITAL. 3 CRANES ADJACENT TO SITE.
ALL HEL TO CALL HOSPITAL SWITCHBOARD BEFORE USE TO ENSURE CRANE JIBS
NOT OBSTRUCTING HEL LDG SITE. MAX 249FT AGL.


OTH : FROM 05/05/02 13:03 TO 05/12/07 10:00 EST N0062/05
E)SANDY HEATH OBST LGT U/S. PSN 520748N 0001430W HGT 972FT/AMSL
790FT/AGL


OTH : FROM 05/05/04 15:16 TO PERM B0905/05
E)AIR NAVIGATIONAL OBSTACLE
SINGLE UNLIT WIND TURBINE FOLLOWING DETAILS:
COL 1. LONGHILL (REF NUMBER TBN)
COL 2. TURB S
COL 3. 523426N 0000510E
COL 4. 365 351
COL 5. NO
UK AIP REFERS ENR 5-4-1-6 (23 DEC 04) COLUMN 1-5


OTH : FROM 05/03/29 14:43 TO 05/06/06 16:00 EST N0042/05
E)OBST LGT ON THE STEEL LATTICE TOWER TO THE NORTH OF THE HELICOPTER
LANDING SITE AT RAF BRAMPTON IS UNLIT, HGT 130FT


NAVW: FROM 05/05/08 13:35 TO 05/05/08 14:05 H0879/05
E) AUS 05-05-0141/957/AS1
AIR DISPLAY. FLYPAST BY BBMF ACFT WI 2NM RADIUS 5200N 00044W
(BLETCHLEY PARK, MILTON KEYNES)
F)SFC G)2000FT AGL


NAVW: FROM 05/05/08 12:55 TO 05/05/08 13:25 H0743/05
E)AUS 05-05-0063/810/AS3
AIR DISPLAY. FLYPAST BY BBMF LANCASTER ACFT WI 2NM RADIUS 5224N
00005W (HUNTINGDON).
F)SFC G)2000FT AGL


NAVW: FROM 05/05/08 13:30 TO 05/05/08 14:00 H0691/05
E) AUS 05-05-0064/760/AS1
AIR DISPLAY. FLYPAST BY FORMATION OF BBMF ACFT WI 2NM RADIUS
5208N 00047W (STOKE GOLDINGTON, BUCKS)
F)SFC G)2000FT AGL


NAVW: FROM 05/05/08 12:45 TO 05/05/08 13:15 H0860/05
E) AUS 05-05-0016/938/AS2
FREEFALL TEAM PJE WI 2NM RADIUS 5201N 00013W (STOTFOLD MILL, NEAR
HITCHEN, HERTS). DROP TIME 1300. HGT SUBJECT TO ATC CLEARANCE.
F)SFC G)10000FT AGL


NAVW: FROM 05/05/08 08:45 TO 05/05/08 20:15 H1002/05
E) AUS 05-05-0017/1088/AS5
KITE FLYING 2NM RADIUS 5208N 00025W (BEDFORD).
F)SFC G)1500FT AGL


NAVW: A)EGSU FROM 05/05/06 14:00 TO 05/05/08 17:00 H0647/05
D)MAY 06 1400-1730, 07-08 1200-1700
E) AUS 05-05-0015/717/AS1
AIR DISPLAY WI 3NM RADIUS 5205N 00008E (DUXFORD, CAMBS).
AIC 13/2005 (MAUVE 138) REFERS.
F)SFC G)4000FT AMSL


NAVW: A)EGSU FROM 05/05/07 12:15 TO 05/05/08 17:00 J1705/05
D)1215-1700
E) AUS 05-05-0004/1066/DAPLC
DUXFORD AIRSHOW. RESTRICTION OF FLYING REGULATIONS HAS BEEN MADE
UNDER ARTICLE 85 OF THE ANO 2000. NO ACFT SHALL FLY WITHIN AREA
BOUNDED BY CIRCLE RADIUS 2.2NM CENTRED AT 520527N 0000755E (DUXFORD)
EXCEPT FLYING WITH PRIOR PERMISSION OF DUXFORD FLYING DISPLAY
DIRECTOR OR IN THE SERVICE OF CAMBRIDGE POLICE.
AIC 13/2005 (MAUVE 138) REFERS.
F)SFC G)4000FT AMSL

END.

Andy

[BEagle]

Well, I tried entering lat/long but kept getting 'syntax error'.....

Thanks anyway - it is indeed better than the previous system.

I'd still prefer to be able to 'stick pins' in an electronic version of the CAA 1/2 mill chart to define my route.

And to have drop-downs for the time and date.

And to have the resulting NOTAMs displayed on a chart showing position and radius of activity where applicable.

[Aussie Andy]

And you can have all those things, but not entirely for free: get yourself a copy of "Notam Plot" (free s/w from http://www.notamplot.flyer.co.uk/) and a subscription to Avbrief (free for "registered guests" for NOTAM in EGTT, EGPX, EGGX, subscription required for NOTAM from EISN, LFFF, LFRR) and you can see the NOTAMs plotted on the map.

Andy

[Mike Cross]

The sticking pins on the map idea is attractive but some of the NOTAM affecting your route will have their centres off your map. This is because they have a very large radius of influence (e.g. a long-range navaid u/s or a notification of a number of geographically separated restricted areas like nuclear sites).

Ian Fallon has done a good job with NotamPlot, helped by AvBrief providing the data feed. Peter Mundy and Olof Bakker have made a start with Navbox providing a smilar facility but last time I looked it still had a long way to go.

And as for that "stupid arse-about-face way of entering the time and date", you can thank the inventors of the machine you fly for that. As the two bicycle mechanics from Dayton Ohio were American, ICAO chose their way of writing dates. You have to write it the same way for a flight plan so you may as well get used to it. Ditto for the route syntax by the way.

ICAO indicators are hardly difficult to find, they are after all printed on your chart next to the a/d. a/d names are not unique worldwide and this is a resource with worldwide capability. If you put Manchester in do you mean
EGCB (Manchester Barton)
EGCC (Manchester International)
EGCD (Manchester Woodford)
or
KMHT (Manchester, New Hampshire)?

Try clicking the down arrow next to the box you need to fill in and you will get a search screen that allows you to fill in the name. Try sticking X in the ICAO code box on the search screen and you will get a list of dummy ICAO codes that have been created to cover UK a/d that do not have their own code.

Lastly, spend half an hour reading the documentation, it's worth the effort.

Mike

[jabberwok]

Try sticking X in the ICAO code box on the search screen and you will get a list of dummy ICAO codes that have been created to cover UK a/d that do not have their own code.

That doesn't work for me - it throws up a box saying that "Only EG locations are allowed".

Under PIB Help there is a document called UK AIS Additional Locations which gives a list of the X codes (like XLOC for Locking) but I can't seem to use these in the Departure or Destination boxes..

jb

[rustle]

jabberwok if that doesn't work for you it may be because when you set up your AIS account you selected "UK FIR only".

You need multiple FIR access to use the "X" codes.

[jabberwok]

Ah.. Got it now.

I couldn't see how to alter the FIR limitation in the user settings so I had to create a new account. Fiddly but it now works.

jb

[BEagle]

Why should it require half an hour to 'read the manual'? That implies that the system is insufficiently intuitive. As is anything which is 'fiddly, but now works'......

Still, it will only improve with user feedback.

And WTF is 'route syntax'? Plain English please, not geekspeak!

Drop downs for time and date should be the norm - let the software translate that into ar$e-about-face flight plan date/times IF required.

[Aussie Andy]

Hi BEagle,

Why should it require half an hour to 'read the manual'?

You've spent more time than that getting us to tell you how it works...!

Anyd