Coding

Definition

The temporary closure of area(s) intended to accommodate aircraft for purposes of loading or unloading passengers, mail or cargo, fuelling, parking or maintenance. The closure can be total (any traffic is forbidden) or partial (with the exception of particular operations, flights or aircraft categories).

Notes:

• this scenario includes the closure of one or more aprons (could be all the aprons at the airport);
• this scenario includes closure of apron portions, defined by reference to intersection with other airport surfaces;
• this scenario also includes closure of an apron except for flight and/or aircraft categories;
• more than one apron and apron element can be included only if the closure conditions (closed, exceptions, parts) applies equally to all. Otherwise, separate NOTAM shall be issued;
• this scenario does not cover the temporary addition of a supplementary restriction to the apron availability, such as "closed for aircraft heavier than...". This will be dealt with in a separate scenario;
• this scenario does not cover the temporary change of the operational hours of an apron or apron element;
• this scenario does not cover the situation when the apron and/or apron element is operating normally, but subject to a reason for caution (such as "grass cutting in progress", etc.). Such situations will be covered in a different scenario.

Event data

The following diagram identifies the information items that are usually provided by a data originator for this kind of event. Note that the flight and/or aircraft categories branch is optional, but can be more than once.

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input = "airport designator" ["airport name"] ("apron name" ["closed_apron_portion_input"]) {("apron name" ["closed_apron_portion_input"])}\n
["closure reason"] {"except" ["PPR time" ["PPR details"]] [["aircraft"] ["flight"] {"other combination" ["aircraft"] ["flight"]}]} \n
"start time" "end time" [schedule] \n
{note}.

closed_apron_portion_input = ("between" ("taxiway designator" | "runway designator" | "apron designator" | "stand designator") "and" ("taxiway designator" | "runway designator" | "apron designator" | "stand designator") | "relative position to" ("taxiway designator" | "runway designator" | "apron designator" | "stand designator")) {"between" ("taxiway designator" | "runway designator" | "apron designator" | "stand designator") "and" ("taxiway designator" | "runway designator" | "apron designator" | "stand designator") | "relative position to" ("taxiway designator" | "runway designator" | "apron designator" | "stand designator")}.

The table below provides more details about each information item contained in the diagram. It also provides the mapping of each information item within the AIXM 5.1.1 structure. The name of the variable (first column) is recommended for use as label of the data field in human-machine interfaces (HMI).

Data item

Description

AIXM mapping

airport designator

The published designator of the airport where the apron is located, used in combination with other elements in order to identify the apron(s) and/or apron portion(s) concerned.

AirportHeliport.designator

airport name

The published name of the airport where the apron is located, used in order to identify the apron(s) and/or apron portion(s) concerned.

AirportHeliport.name

apron name

The published name of the apron concerned. This information is used in combination with the airport designator/name in order to identify the affected  apron(s) and/or apron portion(s)

Apron.name

closed apron portion input

The portion of a published apron, specified using intersection elements between that apron and other taxiways, runways, aprons or stands.

See note on closed apron portion input below.

ApronElement(s) identified as explained in the Data Encoding Rule ER-01. 

closure reason

The reason for the apron(s) and/or apron portion(s) closure.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronAreaAvailability.operationalStatus with propertyName="operationalStatus" and purpose="REMARK". Note that the property "warning" of the ManoeuvringAreaAvailability class is not used here because it represents a reason for caution when allowed to operate on the apron, not a reason for a closure.

flight

The description of one or more type of flight categories (such as "emergency") that are exceptionally permitted on the apron(s) and/or apron portion(s) during closure.

Apron or ApronElement/ApronAreaAvailability/..Usage/../FlightCharacteristics

aircraft

The description of one or more aircraft (such as "helicopter") types that are exceptionally permitted on the apron(s) and/or apron portion(s) during its closure.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronAreaAvailability/..Usage/../AircraftCharacteristicsNote that only certain properties can be used in this scenario. See data validation rules for details.

other combination

Another combination of aircraft/flight characteristics that are excepted from the closure.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronAreaAvailability/..Usage/ConditionCombination.logicalOperator with its value set to "OR".

PPR time

The value (minutes, hours, days) of the advanced permission request associated with the permitted operation.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronAreaAvailability/..Usage.priorPermission with uom attribute

PPR details

Additional information concerning the prior permission requirement.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronAreaAvailability/..Usage.annotation with propertyName="priorPermission" and purpose="REMARK"

start time

The effective date & time when the apron closure starts. This might be further detailed in a "schedule".

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronTimeSlice/TimePeriod.beginPosition, Event/EventTimeSlice.validTime/timePosition and Event/EventTimeSlice.featureLifetime/beginPosition

end time

The end date & time when the apron closure ends.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronTimeSlice/TimePeriod.endPosition and Event/EventTimeSlice.featureLifetime/endPosition also applying the rules for {{Events with estimated end time}}

schedule

A schedule might be provided, in case the apron is effectively closed according to a regular timetable, within the overall closure period.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ApronAreaAvailability/Timesheet/...according to the rules for {{Schedules}}

note

A free text note that provides further details concerning the apron closure.

Apron/ or ApronElement/ManoeuvringAreaAvailability.annotation according to the rules for encoding annotations

Note on closed apron portion input:

1. The application shall allow graphical display and selection of apron(s) and/or apron portion(s) to be closed;

2. The HMI application should support the operator in identifying all relevant portions that are affected by the closure and have an impact on operations. Generally, the application shall support the operator in avoiding cul-de-sac/dead-end situations and warn on situations leading to nowhere. E.q. if a taxiway leads to a closed apron, the appropriate taxiway portion leading to the closed apron shall be closed as well. 

3. If the operator selects a closure which extends over multiple ApronElements (e.g. t.b.a.), the application shall split the selection in individual TaxiwayElements and request operator confirmation for the selection. 

Assumptions for baseline data

It is assumed that Airport/Heliport BASELINE Timeslice covering the entire duration of the event exist and have been coded as specified in the Coding Guidelines for the (ICAO) AIP Data Set. In addition:

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Data encoding rules

The data encoding rules provided in this section shall be followed in order to ensure the harmonisation of the digital encodings provided by different sources. The compliance with some of these encoding rules can be checked with automatic data validation rules. When this is the case, the number of the encoding rule is mentioned in the data validation rule.

Identifier

Data encoding rule

ER-01

The temporary closure of an apron or portion thereof shall be encoded as:

• a new Event with a BASELINE TimeSlice (encoding=DIGITAL, scenario=APN.CLS, version=2.0), for which a PERMDELTA TimeSlice may also be provided; and
• in case of complete apron closure:
  • a TEMPDELTA TimeSlice for each affected Apron feature, for which the "event:theEvent" property points to the Event instance created above;
• in case of partial apron closure:
  • a TEMPDELTA TimeSlice for each affected ApronElement feature, for which the "event:theEvent" property points to the Event instance created above;
  • a TEMPDELTA TimeSlice for each affected Apron feature for which the above ApronElement describesPartOf (associatedApron), for which the "event:theEvent" property points to the Event instance created above;

Identification of the ApronElements to be closed shall be done as follows:

• The application shall support the operator in order to automatically select the ApronElements that are concerned, as much as possible with a graphical view. When no graphical view is available, the application would need to analyze the closed apron portion input provided by the operator in comparison with the baseline data descriptions.
• If the operator specifies that the portion concerned is spread across multiple ApronElements, then the application shall automatically select the portions highlighted. 

In case of apron portion closure, a TEMPDELTA TimeSlice for the affected Apron feature for which the ApronElement describesPartOf (associatedApron) shall be created and shall have Apron.availability/ApronAreaAvailability.operationalStatus=LIMITED.

ER-05

If the closure is "except for" flight and/or aircraft categories, all specified exceptions shall be encoded as ApronAreaUsage child elements with:

• either type=PERMIT, if there is no prior permission requirement;
• or type=CONDITIONAL, if a prior permission requirement was specified. Note that this implies that a "closed" apron can still allow certain particular operations.

ER-06

If a unique flight or aircraft are specified as being excepted, they shall be encoded as one ConditionCombination with logicalOperator="NONE".

ER-07

Each pair of flight and aircraft conditions specified as being excepted shall be encoded as one ConditionCombination with logicalOperator="AND".

ER-08

If the "other combination" branch is used, then a root ConditionCombinations element shall be encoded having logicalOperator="OR" and each pair of flight/aircraft included as a sub-condition (with logicalOperator="AND", see ER-07).

ER-09

If the closure is limited to a discrete schedule within the overall time period between the "start time" and the "end time", then this shall be encoded using as many as necessary timeInterval/Timesheet properties for the ApronAreaAvailability of all affected Apron and/or ApronElement TEMPDELTA Timeslice(s). See the rules for Event Schedules. (e.g. If a ApronElement is closed based on a schedule, its associatedApron TEMPDELTA shall have the same associated schedule )

ER-10

If there exists aircraft stands on the closed Apron and/or ApronElement and if the apron closure makes the aircraft stand unavailable, then a consequence STAND.CLS scenario shall also be encoded for the relevant AircraftStand feature and shall include a reference to the current event with role 'causeEvent'. (STAND.CLS under development)

Decoding

Q code

The following mapping shall be used:

Availability.usage

Corresponding Q codes

none specified

QMNLC

there exist associated ApronAreaUsage.type PERMIT or CONDITIONAL

QMNLT

If apron elements are used, the automatic generation of an easy human-readeable NOTAM text is practically impossible using just the AIXM encoding. Some pre-defined groups of ApronElements could be pre-defined in the application, which would then generate directly the desired text, such as "between A and C", "between A and D", etc. This is considered a limitation of this scenario - although the Digital NOTAM is accurate, the NOTAM text but cannot be automatically re-generated by the end user based on just the AIXM code.

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Reference

template = ["(1)" "AHP.BL.type (2)" ("AHP.BL.name (3a)" | "AHP.BL.ARP (3b)")] \n "Apron (4)" "APN.BL.name" ["(5)" ("," | "and")] {"APN.BL.name"  ["(5)" ("," | "and")]}
\n "closed" [ "due to" "APN.TD.availability.annotation (6)"]\n
{"\n" "APN.TD.availability.annotation(7)" "."} ["."].

If more than one ApronElement has a TEMPDELTA associated with the Event, then the application shall identify the connected elements and generate the text in a logical order (e.g. "between Acft stand 1 and Acft stand 10" could be generated from two ApronElements - one from Acft stand 1-5 and one from 5-10)

*Note: value is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

AircraftCharacteristics.weight - insert the value followed by the value of the uom attribute. Prefix with the value of AircraftCharacteristics.weightInterpretation, decoded as indicated in the following table:

AircraftCharacteristics.weightInterpretation

Text to be inserted in Item E

ABOVE

"acft mass heavier than"

AT_OR_ABOVE

"acft mass equal to or heavier than"

AT_OR_BELOW

"acft mass equal to or lighter than"

BELOW

"acft mass lighter than"

OTHER:MY_TEXT*

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

*Note: value is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

(11)

If TD.usage.selection.logicalOperator=OR (there are more than one flight/aircraft combinations that are excepted), then select and decode each FlightCharacteristics/AircraftCharacteristics consecutively.

(12)

If there exist one or more TD.availability.usage then decode them following this branch, in the following order of priorities:

• TD.availability.usage that have operation="ALL"

• TD.availability.usage that have type="PERMIT"

• ... other situations ...

• TD.availability.usage that have priorPermission which is not NIL shall be decoded last.

(9)

Decode here each FlightCharacteristics property that was specified, as detailed below. If more than one FlightCharacteristics property was used, insert blanks between consecutive properties.

FlightCharacteristics.type*

Text to be inserted in Item E

OAT

"Operational Air Traffic"

GAT

"General Air Traffic"

ALL

"Operational Air Traffic/General Air Traffic"

OTHER:MY_TEXT

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

*Note: type is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

FlightCharacteristics.rule

Text to be inserted in Item E

IFR

"IFR"

VFR

"VFR"

ALL*

"IFR/VFR"

OTHER:MY_TEXT

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

*Note: value is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

FlightCharacteristics.status

Text to be inserted

HEAD

"Head of State"

STATE

"State acft"

HUM

"HUM"

HOSP

"HOSP"

SAR

"SAR”

EMERGENCY

"EMERG"

ALL

"State acft/HUM/HOSP/SAR/EMERG"

OTHER:MEDEVAC

“MEDEVAC”

OTHER:FIRE_FIGHTING

“fire fighting”

OTHER:MY_TEXT

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks and convert to lowercase)

FlightCharacteristics.military

Text to be inserted in Item E

MIL

"MIL acft"

CIVIL

"civil acft"

ALL*

"civil/MIL acft"

OTHER:MY_TEXT*

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

*Note: value is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

FlightCharacteristics.origin

Text to be inserted

NTL

"domestic"

INTL

"intl"

HOME_BASED

"home based"

ALL*

"domestic/intl"

OTHER:MY_TEXT*

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

*Note: value is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

FlightCharacteristics.purpose

Text to be inserted

SCHEDULED

"scheduled"

NON_SCHEDULED

"not scheduled"

PRIVATE*

"private"

AIR_TRAINING

"training"

AIR_WORK*

"aerial work"

PARTICIPANT

"participating acft"

ALL*

"scheduled/not scheduled/private/training/aerial work/participating acft"

OTHER:MY_TEXT*

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

*Note: value is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

(10)

Decode here each AircraftCharacteristics property that was specified, as detailed below. If more than one AircraftCharacteristics property was used, insert blanks between consecutive properties.

AircraftCharacteristics.type

Text to be inserted in Item E

LANDPLANE

"landplanes"

SEAPLANE*

"seaplanes"

AMPHIBIAN

"amphibians"

HELICOPTER

"hel"

GYROCOPTER

"gyrocopters"

TILT_WING

"tilt wing acft"

STOL

"short take-off and landing acft"

GLIDER*

"gliders"

HANGGLIDER*

"hang-gliders"

PARAGLIDER*

"paragliders"

ULTRA_LIGHT*

"ultra lights"

BALLOON*

"balloons"

UAV*

"unmanned acft”

ALL*

"all acft types"

OTHER:MY_TEXT

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

*Note: value is unlikely to be used in a NOTAM, its decoding is provided for completeness sake.

AircraftCharacteristics.engine

Text to be inserted in Item E

JET

"jet acft"

PISTON

"piston acft"

TURBOPROP

"turboprop acft"

ELECTRIC**

“electric engine acft”

ALL

"all engine types"

OTHER:MY_TEXT

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

**Note: new in AIXM 5.1.1.

AircraftCharacteristics.wingSpan - insert the value followed by the value of the uom attribute. Prefix with the value of AircraftCharacteristics.wingSpanInterpretation, decoded as indicated in the following table:

AircraftCharacteristics.wingSpanInterpretation

Text to be inserted in Item E

ABOVE

"acft with wingspan more than"

AT_OR_ABOVE

"acft with wingspan equal to or more than"

AT_OR_BELOW

“acft with wingspan equal to or less than"

BELOW

"acft with wingspan less than"

OTHER:MY_TEXT*

"my text" (replace "_" with blanks)

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template_cancel = ["(1)" "AHP.BL.type (2)" ("AHP.BL.name (3a)" | "AHP.BL.ARP (3b)")  ] "\n" \n 
"Apron" "APN.BL.name" ["(4)" ("," | "and")] {"APN.BL.name" ["(4)" ("," | "and")]} ("resumed normal operations." | " : New NOTAM to follow.(8)").