Airfield Notams

[alan.batchelor]

I am a GA VFR pilot who is new to Spine. I find it almost entirely intuitive, and very useable. However there is one option which has me beaten. When I select 'Include Aerodrome Notams' in the filter and then hit the 'get Notams from Web' button, I get a warning notice which says "you have requested Aerodrome and enRoute Notams, but file contains En-route Notams only". How do I ensure 'the file'! contains the airfield Notams that I want. I must explain that my 'web' knowledge is limited, so any help here is much appreciated.

regards

Alan Batchelor

[jeff]

Hello Alan, and welcome to the forum.

As you probably know, there have been changes at the AIS web site which meant that a lot of Notam-processing programs (including Spine) were broken for a while, and needed quite big changes to get them working again.

The new data downloaded from the web site does not contain airfield Notams, only en-route and warnings. The old one did.

However, I am working on an update (should be ready very soon) which will allow you to get the Notams you want by logging into the AIS web site, choosing the brief you want (the EGTT/EGPX FIR brief does contain all Notams - Airfield, En-Route and Warnings), and saving it to your computer. You can then load that file into Spine.

It's a bit long-winded, I know, but is only a few extra clicks once you get used to it. The quick download will remain available for people (like glider pilots) who don't need airfield Notams.

Note that you can also set the validity time on the web site different from the default of 24 hours from the time you access it, which is a bit short for some people.

Hope this explains everything.
Jeff.

PS: I noticed (as administrator) that you "doctored" your email address - this will probably mean that you won't get notifications from here. The email address is quite safe - spam bots can't get to it, since it's tucked away in a database.

[alan.batchelor]

Jeff

Thanks for your prompt reply - that's very helpful. Can you please let me know when the 'new' system for airfield notams is up and running. Thanks.
I didn't understand your comment about my email address being doctored though. I successfully received your  email confirmation of my registration with the provided email address.

thanks for your help so far

best regards

Alan Batchelor

[jeff]

You'll get automatic notification of an update either when you download the Notams, or you explicity click on "Check for Updates" (it checks before downloading). I have a few more changes to make, plus updating the help, then I will release.

I realized you must have got the confirmation email, but in your profile it says "alandotbatchelor..." instead of "alan.batchelor...". It's not the forum doing that, since someone else with a similar email address format has the "." there. Now I'm confused - I can only see one place in the profile where the email can be entered, and that must be valid. Oh well - that's software for you.

[alan.batchelor]

Jeff

The simple explanation is that when I came to choose my email address from BT internet, alan.batchelor already existed (I suspect from an earlier use by me of btinternet when it was a dial up facility), so I chose alandotbatchelor@XXXXX

I look forward to using Spine regularly. I particulartly like the graphics plot with major controlled airspace depicted - especially as my particular area is just to the east of the Stansted zone. I understand the French manage to report UK Notams in a much more readable form than the UK authorities manage, so I'm especially keen to see whether Spine can deliver what I need to know in a form which is easily assimilated.

very best regards

Alan Batchelor

edited full email address - Jeff

[jeff]

I hope you find the program useful. As Spine was originally designed for use by glider pilots (and they remain the main audience), you may find some things not totally suitable for a GA pilot, though I have done my best with the Filter settings. If you find problems, or have suggestions for improvement, please feel free to post here.

[jeff]

V4.4 has just been released. This allows you to process NOTAM briefs saved from the AIS web site, as well as the quick download. The AIS briefs contain Aerodrome NOTAMs.

Jeff.