Air Information Publications — Page 10, Lesson 14

I want to walk you through the Air Information Publications chapter, starting with how we identify locations and agencies in aviation, then moving into NOTAMs — the notices that keep us operationally current. Let’s begin with Location Indicators. Every aerodrome or facility on the planet has a unique four-letter code. The first one or two letters tell you the country or region — for example, EG is the United Kingdom, LFP is Paris. The full four-letter code is what you write on a flight plan form — the CA48 — for your departure airfield, destination, any alternate or diversion airfields, and for the FIR/UIR boundaries you’ll cross. So when you file a flight plan, every one of those entries is a four-letter Location Indicator. Now, you can also add an Agency Designator and an Office Designator after the Location Indicator. The Agency Designator is three letters that identify a specific agency at that location — for instance, ZAZ means Air Traffic Control Unit, and ZIZ means Flight Information Centre. The Office Designator is a single letter that identifies a specific office or function — for example, F for Freight and Cargo, and P for Passenger Handling. So a full address might look like EGLLZAZF — that would direct a message to the Air Traffic Control Unit’s Freight and Cargo office at London Heathrow. But for day-to-day flying, you as a pilot mainly need to know the four-letter Location Indicator itself. Now let’s move to NOTAMs — Notices to Airmen. This is covered in the UK AIP under GEN 3.1. The principle is simple: any operationally significant information that is not covered by an AIP Amendment or an AIP Supplement will be issued as a NOTAM. So if something changes that affects safety or operations but isn’t big enough to warrant a full amendment or supplement, it goes out as a NOTAM. There’s also a special category called AIRAC — Aeronautical Regulation and Control. When an AIRAC AIP Amendment, AIP Supplement, or Aviation Information Circular (AIC) is issued, it gets announced by a Trigger NOTAM. That trigger NOTAM remains valid for 15 days after a permanent change, and for the complete duration of any temporary change or condition. So it’s a heads-up that a significant change is coming or is in effect. NOTAMs themselves come in three categories, disseminated through the Aeronautical Fixed Service (AFS): - NOTAMN — contains new information. The N stands for New. - NOTAMR — replaces a previous NOTAM. The R stands for Replacement. - NOTAMC — cancels a previous NOTAM. The C stands for Cancellation. In the UK, NOTAMs are further divided into two categories based on who needs the information: - The first category contains information on UK International Airports and en-route information of interest to both international and domestic recipients. These are series A through H, J, and exceptionally X. - The second category contains information on domestic aerodromes and information for domestic recipients only. These are series L through N, R, and exceptionally X. Let me give you two edited examples so you can see the format. First, a Series A NOTAMN — new information. It reads: `(A0012/99 NOTAMN) E) MIDHURST DVOR ‘MID’ 114.000MHZ U/S`. That means the MIDHURST DVOR, identifier MID, on frequency 114.000 MHz, is unserviceable — it’s out of service. Second, a Series E NOTAMR — replacement. It reads: `(E0011/99 NOTAMR) E) NO STOPWAY LIGHTS ON RWY 09 DUE WIP RESITING`. That means there are no stopway lights on Runway 09 because of work in progress — resiting the lights. This NOTAM replaces a previous one on the same subject. So in summary: Location Indicators are your four-letter codes for filing flight plans; you can add agency and office designators for message routing. NOTAMs are how we get operationally significant information that isn’t in the AIP itself, and they come in three types — new, replacement, and cancellation — with trigger NOTAMs for AIRAC changes.