Introduction
For special activity airspace, PANS-AIM requires as part of the minimum AIP data set to provide information about the type of restriction or nature of hazard. In case of an ADIZ (Air Defense Information Zone), the risk of interception in the event of penetration shall be indicated.
In addition, information on system and means of activation announcements, together with information pertinent to civil flights and applicable ADIZ procedures shall be provided.
The figure below shows the main AIXM 5 classes used for the airspace activation concept, including relevant list of values for some properties.
The AirspaceActivation class is used to provide information about the status of the airspace (active/inactive) and eventually the type of activity (i.e. the primary situation or reason on the ground or in the air, which may have an impact on airspace usage) that takes place in the airspace.
The AirspaceActivation is derived from PropertiesWithSchedule, allowing to associate a schedule with the status and the activity properties, when necessary. In addition, it may also be associated with one or more AirspaceLayer, which allows to indicate that the activation concerns only some particular vertical bands.
The status might carry the following values:
| Status | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 'AVBL_FOR_ACTIVATION' | The feature may be activated. | |
| 'ACTIVE' | The airspace is active (but it might not be in use yet). | |
| 'IN_USE' | The airspace is actually used inside the activation period. | Note Do not use 'IN_USE'! The initial proposal was to use ACTIVE for SAA airspace and IN_USE for ATS airspace. That would be in conflict with the coding rules for digital NOTAM and I do not really see a justification for using two different codes. Therefore, this is now modified to use ACTIVE for all types of airspace. |
| 'INACTIVE' | The airspace is not active. | |
| 'INTERMITTENT' | The Airspace is active but with periods of no real usage. | |
| 'OTHER' | Other. |
For the AIP data set, the status should be coded:
- as ACTIVE for the time and levels when the airspace is actually operating;
- as AVBL_FOR_ACTIVATION when the actual activation is "announced by NOTAM", which is a frequently encountered situation for certain D and R areas;
- as' INACTIVE' for the time and levels when the airspace is know to not be operating.
See also coding rules of topic Schedules for Airspace.
In addition to the list of activity types listed above, the following activities might occur in relation with certain danger areas. They should be encoded prefixed by OTHER:, as indicated below:
| activity | coded value |
|---|---|
| rocket launch | 'OTHER:ROCKET_FIRING' |
| gun firing | 'OTHER:GUN_FIRING' |
| hot air balloon | 'OTHER:HOT_AIR_BALLOON' |
| MET balloon | 'OTHER:MET_BALLOON' |
| free balloon | 'OTHER:FREE_BALLOON' |
| Lights out night vision Goggle training | 'OTHER:LGT_OUT_NVG' |
AIXM 5.1.1 issue_033_activity
AIXM does not provide a sufficiant list of values.
Workaround AIXM 5.1(.1): Use 'OTHER'.
Status AIXM 5.2: CCB issue AIXM-226 contains proposal to add more values (including the above ones) to the enumeration list for activity.
The restriction may be limited within the airspace to a certain vertical portion of airspace by using the AirspaceLayer class. The vertical limits of the airspace concerned may be defined by a certain upper and lower limit of the AirspaceVolume, which by a digital NOTAM may be limited to the actual AirspaceLayer used, which may be just a portion of its whole vertical extent .
More details about airspace activation in regard to digital NOTAM can be found in the Digital NOTAM Event Specification.
Coding Example
The figure below gives a simple example of an airspace activation for BERTRIX AREA.
It is available for activation by a defined schedule. Its actual activation is announced by NOTAM. When activated, the vertical limits may be adjusted to the applicable airspace layer portion.
More coding examples can be found in the AIP Data Set - Specimen (DONLON).
| No. | Description | XPath Expression |
|---|---|---|
| ASE-EX-03 | Special activity airspace, Prohibited Area, Circle | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_VAARDNOR_P'] |
| ASE-EX-04 | Special activity airspace, Restricted Area, Arc segment (Arc by centrepoint) | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_BRAVO_R'] |
| ASE-EX-05 | Special activity airspace, Restricted Area, Rectangle | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_BURGENVALK_R'] |
| ASE-EX-06 | Special activity airspace, Restricted Area, reference to state boundary (annotation) | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_WINSWUK_R'] |
| ASE-EX-07 | Special activity airspace, Local type, reference to state boundary (xlink:href) | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_EAMOA01_MOA'] |
| ASE-EX-08 | Special activity airspace, Danger Area, Active weekday schedules | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_HORSHAM_D'] |
| ASE-EX-09 | Special activity airspace, Danger Area, within CTR | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_DONLON_D'] |
| ASE-EX-19 | Aerial sporting activities airspace | //aixm:AirspaceTimeSlice[@gml:id='ASE_DONBURG_PARACHUTE_JUMPING_AERA'] |