Air Information Publications — Page 10, Lesson 13

I want to walk you through the Air Information Publication — the AIP — because this is the fundamental reference document you will use for flight planning and monitoring. Let's start with how an AIP is structured. Every ICAO contracting state — that is, every country that has signed up to the International Civil Aviation Organization standards — produces an AIP. And the format of that AIP conforms to a common standard. That standard comes from two sources: the Standards and Recommended Practices, or SARPs, of Annex 15 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the Aeronautical Information Services Manual, which is ICAO Doc 8126. So the AIP for any country follows the same basic layout. The Air Information Publication United Kingdom is a typical reference document — it follows that standard, so if you learn its structure, you can navigate any AIP. The UK AIP is divided into three volumes. Volume I contains AIP Part 1, which is GENERAL, abbreviated GEN, and it also contains AIP SUPPLEMENTS, which are temporary changes published as AIP SUP. Volume II is AIP Part 2, EN ROUTE, abbreviated ENR. Volume III is AIP Part 3, AERODROMES, abbreviated AD. So GEN, ENR, AD — that is the three-part structure you will always look for. Now let's zoom into one specific section within the GEN part: GEN 2.4, which is titled LOCATION INDICATORS. This is a critical piece of navigation data. Location indicators are allocated mainly to licensed aerodromes, to Air Control Centres, and to Flight Information Centres. An indicator comprises four letters. The first two letters denote the country, and the last two letters denote the airfield or the centre. So let me give you some examples from the table you have in front of you. Take the indicator EG. That is the country code for the United Kingdom. So EGLL — the first two letters EG tell you it is the UK, and the last two letters LL tell you it is London Heathrow. EGTT — again EG for the UK, and TT tells you it is the London Air Traffic Control Centre, specifically the Area Control Centre and Flight Information Centre, abbreviated ACC and FIC. Now look at LF. That is the country code for France. So LFPG — LF for France, PG for Paris Charles de Gaulle. ED is the Federal Republic of Germany for civil airfields. ET is for German military airfields. EDD is for international aerodromes in Germany, so EDDM is Munich. LI is Italy, so LIRA is Rome Ciampino. LE is Spain, so LEMD is Madrid Barajas. For the United States, the codes run from KA through to KZ. For Canada, the codes are CY and CZ. So the pattern is simple: the first two letters of the four-letter ICAO location indicator tell you the country, and the last two letters identify the specific aerodrome, control centre, or flight information centre within that country. You will use these indicators constantly in flight planning — on flight plans, in ATC communications, and when reading charts and AIP entries. That figure shows you the table of location indicators I have just described. Take a moment to look at it — you will see the pattern of country codes and specific airfield codes laid out clearly.