We have already published our account of the meeting held at AIS Heathrow on 15 November. The Chairman has now published his report, which can be considered to be the official version.

The Chairman was John Gentleman, Manager, Aeronautical Charts and Data at the CAA’s Directorate of Airspace Policy, who is the Regulator for AIS.

It is important to understand the relationship between the CAA and AIS when considering the results.

CAA intends changes to satisfy stated requirements to be completed by the beginning of the new GA flying season.

This Annex addressed the need to "fix what is there".

CAA requires that AIS/NATS should instruct Thales to address at once the outstanding issues raised in Annex A of the "Suggestions for Improvement" document. In addition the Area Brief is to be made capable of providing a brief for an area based on a radius round a given point, i.e. an aviation site. CAA has given NATS a medium-term task to devise and implement a system whereby ADIMS will recognise non-licensed aviation sites.

This Annex addressed the need for a printed briefing for display on the notice board at an airfield.

CAA requires AIS/NATS to immediately contact Thales to address the requirements of Annex B. A separate Aerodrome and En-Route Bulletin for each of the UK FIR’s to be produced as a "one click" download to provide a common format. En-Route information to be sorted into geographic order.

These bulletins also to be made available for fax download.

This Annex proposed the provision of a raw data download so that third party software (e.g. NotamPlot and NortamPro) could be used to filter and display NOTAM.

CAA recognises that for many users this is the most important issue.

NATS concerned over possible liability issues and seeking guidance from CAA.

CAA consulting internally, starting immediately but no date for a ruling can yet be given. AIS/NATS have stated that it could take up to 12 months for the information to be provided after a ruling has been given.

This Annex contained suggestions for future development, which will be considered by CAA and NATS

This Annex contained details of minor problems requiring attention. The CAA understands that AIS/NATS accepts these suggestions and intends rectifying them ASAP.

CAA has stressed the need for an educational drive to bring to users the importance of reading and understanding NOTAM. The intention is to issue an AIC or Safety Information Bulletin.

Overall this is an excellent start, however we can only treat it as a good result once implementation has been completed.

We remain to be convinced that NATS are committing sufficient resource to the project. The platform being used to provide the service is still not functioning properly more than three months after implementation and NOTAM continue to be absent from briefing boards at many aerodromes.

We are also not convinced that NATS as an organisation is sufficiently committed to improvement. NATS have suggested a timescale of up to 12 months for the provision of downloadable raw data, however Thales have not been asked to provide an estimate. This figure therefore seems to confirm NATS lack of commitment to meeting users needs.

AIS are attempting to follow this policy but are not succeeding. A number of the policy objectives are not being delivered and there appears to us to be an element within NATS that is resisting delivery of the policy requirement.

Rod Bailes-Brown

CAA OnTrack Project

Michael Cross

Russell Howton

Martin Robinson – AOPA UK

Andrew Roch