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[2.0] [TWY.CLS] Taxiway - closure

[2.0] [TWY.CLS] Taxiway - closure

    Definition

    The temporary closure of movement areas established for the taxiing of aircraft or parts thereof. 

    Notes:

    • this scenario includes the closure of one or more full taxiways (could be all the taxiways at the airport);

    • this scenario includes closure of taxiway portions, provided the taxiway elements exist in the baseline data (see the specific assumptions for baseline data);

    • this scenario requires a graphical view of the taxiways and taxiways portions;

    • this scenario does not cover the "partial" closure, nor the temporary addition of a supplementary restriction to the taxiway availability, such as "closed for aircraft heavier than...". This is referenced in TWY.LIM scenario;

    • more than one taxiway can be included only if the closure conditions applies equally to all taxiways. Otherwise, separate Events shall be coded;

    • this scenario does not cover the temporary change of the operational hours of a taxiway;

    • this scenario does not cover the situation when the taxiway is operating normally, but subject to a reason for caution (such as "grass cutting in progress", etc.).

    Event data

    The following diagram identifies the information items that are usually provided by a data originator for this kind of event.

    input = "airport designator" ["airport name"] \n ("taxiway designator" ["closed taxiway description"] {"closed taxiway element"}) {("taxiway designator" ["closed taxiway description"] {"closed taxiway element"})}\n "status=CLOSED" ["closure reason"]\n "start time" "end time" [schedule] \n [note].

    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

    Data item

    Description

    AIXM mapping

    airport designator

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

    AirportHeliport.designator

    airport name

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

    AirportHeliport.name

    taxiway designator

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

    Taxiway.designator

    closed taxiway description

    In case of a partial closure, a textual description of that taxiway portion concerned should be provided

    Taxiway.availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability.annotation (see TWY.CLS.04)

    closed taxiway element

    In case of both a partial and a total closure, the exact geometry of the closed taxiway portion should be precisely identified by specifying the concerned taxiway elements

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

    2. The HMI application should support the operator in identifying all relevant taxiways, taxiways portions and other elements that are affected by the closure and have an impact on operations. As general rules, if an intersection has to be closed, the Taxiways and/or TaxiwayElements linked to this intersection shall also be closed up to the intersection. The application shall support the operator in avoiding cul-de-sac/dead-end situations and warn on situations when other Taxiways and/or TaxiwayElements are leading to nowhere. The application shall suggest to either include them in the NOTAM or generate a new NOTAM, as appropriate. 

    3. The operator shall be the one manually selecting all the portions to be closed. 

    TaxiwayElement(s) identified as explained in the Data Encoding Rule TWY.CLS.01. 

     

    status=CLOSED

    The operational status of the taxiways concerned. In this scenario, it is only possible to indicate a complete closure.

    Taxiway.availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability.operationalStatus and TaxiwayElement.availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability.operationalStatus

    closure reason

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

    Taxiway.availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability.annotation 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 taxiway, not a reason for a closure.

    start time

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

    Taxiway/TaxiwayTimeSlice/TimePeriod.beginPosition, TaxiwayElement/TaxiwayElementTimeSlice/TimePeriod.beginPosition, Event/EventTimeSlice.validTime/beginPosition and Event/EventTimeSlice.featureLifetime/beginPosition

    end time

    The end date & time when the taxiways closure ends.

    Taxiway/TaxiwayTimeSlice/TimePeriod.endPosition, TaxiwayElement/TaxiwayTimeSlice/TimePeriod.endPosition, 
    Event/EventTimeSlice.validTime/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 taxiways are effectively closed according to a regular timetable, within the overall closure period.

    Taxiway.availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability/Timesheet/... and TaxiwayElement.availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability/Timesheet/...according to the rules for Schedules

    note

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

    Taxiway.availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability.annotation with purpose='REMARK'

     

    Assumptions for baseline data

    It is assumed that the related 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:

    1. the information about each Taxiway concerned already exists in the form of a Taxiway BASELINE TimeSlice, which contains as a minimum:

      1. designator,

      2. type (ex: EXIT, FASTEXIT, etc), and

      3. association with the AirportHeliport;

    2. If taxiway portions are concerned, it is assumed that they are encoded in BASELINE TaxiwayElements, including their horizontal extent (geometry) to enable graphical selection. 

    3. It is assumed that the following principle has been followed for the encoding of BASELINE Taxiway.availability and TaxiwayElement.availability data (as available in the BASELINE data):

      1. the operationalStatus has the value 'NORMAL' (meaning that the facility operates with nominal parameters) for all Taxiway.availability and/or TaxiwayElement.availability that are part of the BASELINE data; 

    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. To the maximum possible extent, the compliance with these encoding rules shall be verified with automatic data validation rules. For this purpose, the UID of the corresponding AIXM Business Rule, where applicable, appears in the first column.

    Identifier / UID

    Data encoding rule

    Identifier / UID

    Data encoding rule

    TWY.CLS.01

    (213BD0, 1F47D0)

    The temporary closure of a taxiway or portion thereof shall be encoded as a new Event with a 'BASELINE' TimeSlice (scenario='TWY.CLS', version='2.0'), for which a PERMDELTA TimeSlice may also be provided

     

    TWY.CLS.02

    (1F5F53, 1F4BBD)

     A TimeSlice of type 'TEMPDELTA' shall be added for each affected Taxiway feature, for which the "event:theEvent" property points to the Event instance created above;

    • if present in the baseline data, a 'TEMPDELTA' TimeSlice for each affected TaxiwayElement feature, for which the "event:theEvent" property points to the Event instance created above;

    Important Note: the application shall support the operator in order to automatically select the TaxiwayElements that are concerned with a graphical view, as indicated in the figure below. By default, intersections are supposed to remain open, unless explicitly specified as closed.

    TWY.CLS.03

    (1FD938)

    First, all the BASELINE availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability (with operationalStatus='NORMAL'), if present, shall be copied in the Taxiway and TaxiwayElement (if applicable) 'TEMPDELTA'  (see Usage limitation and closure scenarios).

    Then:

    • for each TaxiwayElement TEMPDELTA coded, an additional availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability element having operationalStatus='CLOSED' shall be added.

    • for each Taxiway TEMPDELTA coded, an additional availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability element shall be added having:

      • operationalStatus='CLOSED'; if the complete Taxiway is closed;

      • operationalStatus='LIMITED' if only one or more portions of the Taxiway are closed, but some portions remain usable.

    TWY.CLS.04

    (1FDC20)

    The textual description of the taxiway closed portion, if provided, shall be encoded as part of the Taxiway TEMPDELTA as availability.ManoeuvringAreaAvailability.annotation and purpose='DESCRIPTION'

    • E.g.  “intersection TWY A and TWY B”, "between RWY 08L/26R and TWY J", etc.

    TWY.CLS.05

    (1FDF08)

    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 ManoeuvringAreaAvailability (that have operationalStatus='CLOSED'/'LIMITED') of all affected Taxiway and TaxiwayElement TEMPDELTA Timeslice(s) See the rules for Event Schedules. 

    TWY.CLS.06

    (1FE2F0)

    If there exists a single Taxiway leading to an Apron and if the Taxiway closure makes the Apron unavailable, then a consequence APN.CLS scenario shall also be encoded for the relevant Apron feature and shall include a reference to the current event with role 'causeEvent'. 

    TWY.CLS.07

    (1F72C8)

    The system shall automatically identify the FIR where the AirportHeliport is located. This shall be coded as corresponding concernedAirspace property in the Event

    TWY.CLS.08

    (1F7A98)

    The AirportHeliport concerned by the closure shall also be coded as concernedAirportHeliport property in the Event.

    Examples

    The following examples can be found on GitHub (links attached):