PANS-AIM does not require the type of traffic permitted to be part of the minimum/conditional AIP data set, but it is listed in the PANS-AIM Appendix 1 (Aeronautical Data Catalogue).
However, at least the indication if IFR and/or VFR flights are permitted at the aerodrome/heliport may be important for data provider organisations.
The diagram below shows the AIXM classes, including the relevant data types and code lists, needed to encode that information.
AIXM 5.1(.1) issue:
AIP context
In an AIP, this information is published in
- AD 1.3 and
- AD 2.2
In AIXM, this information will be coded as AirportHeliport.availability. Actually, a set of classes, attributes and potentially also combinations are needed to code the type of traffic permitted, which makes the coding complex and opens opportunities for ambiguities.
For coding that IFR traffic is permitted at the airport/heliport, the following guidelines are given.
First the AirportHeliportAvailability class is used to define the operational status of the airport/heliport and any reason for caution when operating at the airport/heliport. In order to code the IFR/VFR availability, neither the operationalStatus nor the warning attribute is needed to be coded. This information may only be necessary for the coding of digital NOTAM.
Open question operationalStatus:
In order to code that IFR traffic is permitted, the AirportHeliportUsage.type attribute will be equal-to 'PERMIT', except the IFR traffic is only allowed under certain conditions, then 'CONDITIONAL' shall be used with a Note explaining the conditions. The corresponding code list CodeUsageLimitationBaseType provides the following values:
Value | Description |
---|---|
'PERMIT' | Permission. |
'CONDITIONAL' | Permission but with additional instructions. Failure to comply with the additional instructions invalidates the permission. |
'FORBID' | Interdiction. |
'RESERV' | Exclusive usage (reservation). |
'OTHER' | Other. Note Other should not be used! |
The AirportHeliportUsage.operation attribute will be equal-to 'ALL', except IFR is not allowed for certain operations such as training, touch and go, etc.
In the latter case, more than one AiportHeliportUsage have to be coded. One for each operation for which IFR traffic is allowed (e.g. one for 'LANDING' and one for 'TAKEOFF').
Open Question AirportHeliportUsage.operation
Or is there no need to code the operation at all, if there is no limitation? What in case there are only IFR approach procedures but no instrument departures at the airport. In this case shall 'LANDING 'be coded?
How to use ALL? What in case IFR is not allowed e.g. for training, but for all other operations will there be one record 'FORBID' for 'TRAIN_APPROACH' and one 'PERMIT' for 'ALL'?
The ConditionCombination class has to be used in case a combination of flight characteristics and/or aircraft characteristics and/or meteorological conditions shall be defined for the airport/heliport usage.
The ConditionalCombination.logicalOperator has to be used correspondingly, e.g. equal-to 'NONE' for a single operation (e.g. if only IFR shall be coded).
The corresponding code list CodeLogicalOperatorBaseType provides additionally the following values:
Value | Description |
---|---|
'AND' | The result is true only when all operands are true. |
'OR' | The result is true if any operand is true. |
'NOT' | The result is the opposite of the operands true/false state (it applies to a single operand). |
'NONE' | No operation (used for single conditions). |
'OTHER' | Other Note Other should not be used! |
Finally, the FlightCharacteristic.type will be coded equal-to 'IFR', or 'ALL' in case all the availability parameters specified also apply to VFR traffic.
In AIXM 5, 'ALL' is defined as "Both IFR and VFR".
Open Question FlightCharacteristic.type
Below you find two examples in tabular format, one for the most simply encoding of IFR traffic permitted and a more complex one.
No limitations to the IFR operation at the airport/heliport, also VFR is permitted without limitations:
AirportHeliportAvailability | AirportHeliportUsage | ConditionalCombination. | FlightCharacteristic | |
---|---|---|---|---|
operationalStatus | type | operation | logicalOperator | type |
'NORMAL' | 'PERMIT' | 'ALL' | 'NONE' | 'ALL' |
IFR operations neither allowed for training nor touch and go, for all other operations IFR and VFR is allowed.
AirportHeliportAvailability | AirportHeliportUsage | ConditionalCombination | FlightCharacteristic | |
---|---|---|---|---|
operationalStatus | type | operation | logicalOperator | type |
'NORMAL' | 'PERMIT' | 'LANDING' | 'NONE' | 'ALL' |
'PERMIT' | 'TAKEOFF' | 'NONE' | 'ALL' | |
'FORBID' | 'TRAIN_APPROACH' | 'NONE' | 'IFR' | |
'FORBID' | 'TOUCHGO' | 'NONE' | 'IFR' |
Note
All Baseline availability shall have status NORMAL, see the Digital NOTAM Event Specification assumptions for AD.CLS scenario.
Coding Rules for Type of Traffic Permitted - IFR/VFR
Identifier | Data Encoding Rules | Justification | Data Verification Rule (UID) | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|
AHP-201 | If a related FlightCharacteristic.type equal-to 'VFR' or 'ALL', then the AirportHeliport.landingDirectionIndicator attribute of the related aerodrome/heliport is mandatory. | EAD | TBD | Open Question LDI Shall we keep this rule |
Coding Examples
Coding examples can be found in the DONLON AIP data set file:
No. | Description | XPath Expression |
---|---|---|
AHP-EX-01 | Type of Traffic Permitted - IFR/VFR | //aixm:AirportHeliportAvailability[@ gml:id='AHY_EADD_PERMIT'] |
AHP-EX-01 | Type of Traffic Permitted - VFR | //aixm:AirportHeliportAvailability[@ gml:id='AHY_EADH_PERMIT'] |