AspEdit manual      NOTAM

Purpose

• A text file containing only NOTAM's that are active within a selected time interval, and meeting the filter requirements set in the file NOTAM_Filter.txt. This will greatly reduce the number of NOTAM's, and thus improve the readability.
• An airspace file (xml) containing all relevant NOTAM's, with the NOTAM text included in the comments field and, where applicable, the graphical representation of the NOTAM's.
  The xml will have the same functionality as a standard airspace file, allowing to display areas on the map, and exporting them to OpenAir formatted files. This way, you can show NOTAM information on your navigation display in flight.

Importing NOTAM data

1. Downloading data manually from any site that provides NOTAM data in raw format.
   Make sure you obtain raw data. Raw data include field identifiers Q, A, B, ... AspEdit can't handle data in plain text format.
   Save the data in text format: right-click in the text of the web-page, then select "Save as", save as text. After that open the file in AspEdit via the "File - Open" or "File - Open NOTAM file" menu commands. When using the standard File-Open command, you will have to select "NOTAM files" in the file type field at the bottom right of the dialog box. When you use the Open Notam file command, this selection will be made automatically.
   After a file is selected, the NOTAM Setup dialog box will be displayed.
   
   
2. Using the "Open FAA DINS" command.
   This command will open the site https://www.notams.faa.gov/dinsQueryWeb/. This web-page provides access to worldwide NOTAM data.

   In the "Locations" field on the page, you can enter the FIR's and airfields for which you want to obtain the NOTAM's. A drawback of the website is that if you enter a FIR, you will receive NOTAM's for the FIR only, and not the airfields located in the FIR. So you will have to enter the FIR + all airfields individually.
   To help you with this, AspEdit will automatically open the file "NOTAM Locations.txt". In this file you can write sets of locations to be used in the PilotWeb website. Enter as many query strings as desired, and then copy/paste them into PilotWeb, as required.

   Make sure to select "raw" in the text type field, then click "View NOTAMs". A page showing NOTAM's for the requested locations will appear. Right-click the mouse in the page. In the resulting menu select "Save As", Save as text. Make sure that the file is saved in the downloads directory.

   After this, AspEdit will automatically come to the foreground, displaying the NOTAM Setup dialog box.

NOTAM data generated by AspEdit

• AspEdit will generate a text file containing only the relevant data. The file is located in the NOTAM folder, in the AspEdit folder.
  The file name consists of "Import_", the FIR code, and a date code (yymmdd).
  Depending on the selection made for "Verbose" in the NOTAM setup dialog box, the file will contain just plain NOTAM text, or also error or debug output.
  When the NOTAM import is complete, the text file will be opened automatically.
• The NOTAM data will be written to an xml-airspace file. The file is located in the standard AspEdit airspace folder. The file name consists of "NOTAM_", the FIR code, and a date code (yymmdd). The file will be opened automatically when the import is complete.

  The file will be opened automatically in AspEdit. The airspace list will contain all active NOTAM's. The NOTAM names are coded by their NOTAM number and the affected airspace area name, the airfield or the FIR ICAO code.

  The NOTAM's can contain following data:
  • Class / type fields: will be set if the NOTAM contains a specific class or type, else it will be set to "restricted" by default.
  • Top / bottom levels: will be set if this information is included in the NOTAM. Units are always "FL", also below transition level.
  • Activity times: The "Hour" field of the activity times will be filled in if the NOTAM contains specific activation hours. The "Day" and "Condition" fields are not used.
  • Frequency: if the NOTAM text contans a frequency, AspEdit will include it in this field. If the NOTAM refers to an airspace in the linked airspace file, the frequency of that area will be used.
  • Comment field: will include the NOTAM text. The NOTAM text may be truncated in case it exceeds the maximum length of the comment field.
  • Airspace area: AspEdit will attempt to read the affrcted airspace area from the NOTAM, in the following order:
    • if the NOTAM contains coordinates, AspEdit will construct the area from that. It will also try to find the radius and its units, if a single point is found
    • Else, if the NOTAM refers to an area in the linked airspace file, the shape of that area will be used.
    • If no airspace area is recognised, the Aerea Select dialog box will open, allowing to manually set the designator of the airspace area.
    • If the above dialog box is canceled, AspEdit will use the coordinate and radius given in the Q-record.