Aeronautical Information Publication

In aviation, an Aeronautical Information Publication (or AIP) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization as a publication issued by or with the authority of a state and containing aeronautical information of a lasting character essential to air navigation. It is designed to be a manual containing thorough details of regulations, procedures and other information pertinent to flying aircraft in the particular country to which it relates. It is usually issued by or on behalf of the respective civil aviation administration.

Overview

The structure and contents of AIPs are standardised by international agreement through ICAO. AIPs normally have three parts - GEN (general), ENR (en route) and AD (aerodromes). The document contains many charts; most of these are in the AD section where details and charts of all public aerodromes are published.

AIPs are kept up-to-date by regular revision on a fixed cycle. For operationally significant changes in information, the cycle known as the "AIRAC (Aeronautical Information Regulation And Control) cycle" is used: revisions are produced every 56 days (double AIRAC cycle) or every 28 days (single AIRAC cycle). These changes are received well in advance so that users of the aeronautical data can update their flight management systems (FMS).For insignificant changes, the published dates calendar is used.

In some countries the AIP is informally known as the "Airman's Manual" or the "Air Pilot".

Electronic AIP

EUROCONTROL has published a specification for an electronic AIP (eAIP) [ [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/eaip_specification.html EUROCONTROL - Specification ] ] . The eAIP Specification aims to harmonise the structure and presentation of AIPs for digital media [ [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/eaip.html EUROCONTROL - Electronic Aeronautical Information Publications (eAIP) ] ] . In this respect, a digital AIP is a digital version of the paper AIP, usually available in PDF format, while an electronic AIP is available in PDF as well as other formats, more suitable for reading on the screen and for electronic data exchange. Many countries around the world provide digital AIPs either on CD-ROM subscription or on a Web site. The external links section below lists AIPs which aim to follow the EUROCONTROL eAIP Specification.

AIRAC effective dates (28-day cycle)

Note: * = leap year containing 29 Feb (2004, 2008, 2012, etc.)

References

*PDFlink| [http://www.icao.int/icaonet/anx/info/an15_info_en.pdf ICAO Annex 15: Aeronautical Information Services] at ICAO web site
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/qm_airacadh_intro.html AIRAC Adherence] at EUROCONTROL Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) web site
* [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/qm_airac_calendar2008.html AIRAC Calendar 2008] at EUROCONTROL Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) web site

Notes

External links

* [http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/air_traffic/publications/ifim/country_list/ FAA International Flight Information Manual - Country List]
*EUROCONTROL
** [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/web_eur.html European AIP]
** [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/web_af.html African AIP]
** [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/web_ap.html Asian and Pacific AIP]
** [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/web_me.html Middle Eastern AIP]
** [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/web_na.html North, Central America and Caribbean AIP]
** [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/web_sa.html South American AIP]
** [http://www.eurocontrol.int/aim/public/standard_page/web_mil.html Military AIP]
*Countries publishing Electronic AIPs
** [http://www.armats.com/rus/sai/products/eaip/html/index-en-GB.html Armenia]
** [http://www.airservices.gov.au/publications/aip.asp?pg=10 Australia]
**Azerbaijan (CD-ROM subscription only)
** [http://www.belgocontrol.be/belgoweb/publishing.nsf/Content/Operational Belgium] (registration required)
** [http://www.navcanada.ca/NavCanada.asp?Language=en&Content=ContentDefinitionFilesPublicationsAeronauticalInfoProductsAIPdefault.xml Canada]
**Hungary (via the European AIS Database)
**Latvia (via the European AIS Database)
** [http://aip.dca.gov.my/ Malaysia]
**Moldova (CD-ROM subscription only)
** [http://www.aip.net.nz/default.aspx New Zealand]
**Portugal (via the European AIS Database)
**Romania (via the European AIS Database)
** [http://www.caas.gov.sg/caas/en/Regulations_And_Guidelines/Rules_and_Regulations/ATS/AIP/?__locale=en Singapore]
** [http://www.lps.sk/aim Slovak Republic] (registration required)
** [http://www.sloveniacontrol.si/acrobat/aip/eaip/Operations/history-en-GB.html Slovenia]
** [http://eaip.caa.gov.tw/ Taiwan]
** [http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/index.html The Netherlands]
** [http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/air_traffic/publications/ United States of America]